Land Rover - The Best of British?

In a week that saw the unemployed English youths of Peterborough decline the offer of £7 per hour during a documentary about Eastern European immigrant workers, preferring to accept the generosity of the welfare sate, the BBC reporting that finally there is a call for broadband internet speeds to be “honestly” advertised and news that an accountant who claimed he injured himself by slipping on a grape in a Marks n Sparks car park has taken the case to the High Court bid for damages, the final straw has to be the impending demise of the once Great British Land Rover.

Its been hard to swallow that Land Rover has been run by Ford for sometime but news is afoot that it is shortly to fall under the control of Tata - an Enormous Indian Business Corporation NOT the caper and mayo accompaniment for a fish supper.

Tata Motors is amongst the world’s largest car companies known for its small hatchback motor vehicles including the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano - an unlikely bedfellow of the reassuringly expensive landrover.

A further blow to the future of Land Rover has to be the dear old Chancellor slapping an additional grand of taxation on most Landys claiming that their emissions are unacceptable.

As with the hunting ban - this is another demonstration of city suits’ failing to understand the ways and needs of English county life. The Land Rover has traditionally been the All Terrain Vehicle (work horse) of choice since the 1950s. It is only recently that the Off Roader has been rebranded a SUV (sports useless vehicle) and gained the interest of sad-wits who aspire to drive up mountains and plunge through rivers having watched over produced and cleverly edited videos such as this Land Rover Defender going through its paces.

They buy the dream and enjoy the comfort and safety of driving a landrover, but at the end of the vehicles grueling day - running the kids to school, meeting manicure deadlines and picking up some odds and sods from Waitrose they carefully slip the gleaming body and washed tyres into the garage to rest protected from the elements and ready for “action” the next day.

The penalty of higher taxation on the misuse of Land Rover and other 4×4 for urban driving is unlikely to deter their growing appeal. The name “Chelsea Tractors” was once appropriate when these vehicles did at least get to churn mud during Ya Yarrs weekend jollys into the sticks. But clever marketing has elevated the ownership of these four wheel monsters to be the height of fashion and pinnacle of success - price is unlikely to be a barrier and increased taxation a poor deterrent.

However those who actually need the power and versatility of these vehicles will be hit hard. Already on the the Land Rover forums the grumbles are being voiced. Farmers moaning - now there’s a surprise - HOWEVER they have good reason. They need these vehicles to go about their everyday tasks and as this fond landrover memories blog post about bygone times points out they are perhaps “green” in a very different way to the measure of carbon emissions - over 70% of all Land Rovers ever made are still in use somewhere on the planet!

Its a tough call - maybe would be buyers of these gas guzzlers should be assessed for genuine need of the vehicles before being allowed to own one.