Jaguar Land Rover tells us it has been exploring new opportunities to distribute its vehicles following the sale of the company by Ford to Tata Motors Limited.
After reviewing its wholesale arrangements in Ireland, Jaguar Land Rover has decided to convert it to an importer market. Jaguar and Land Rover have for many years operated through a mix of national sales company in the case of Land Rover, and an independent importer for Jaguar. JLR says that it has a number of long and productive relationships with high quality independent importers around the world who have well established local infrastructure and can contribute local market expertise. There are also significant synergies in terms of cost, systems and management processes.
Land Rover and OHM Group have signed a formal agreement for OHM to become the Land Rover importer for the Republic of Ireland from June1, 2009. This transition should not present any difficulty for Land Rover owners and dealers.
OHM has been a long standing partner of Jaguar in Ireland and the group's CEO, Declan McCourt, said: "This is a great opportunity to build on our excellent relationship with Jaguar Land Rover. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the current Land Rover dealer partners and carry on the good work that has been done to build the Land Rover brand in the Irish market in the past few years. The Land Rover brand will be an excellent addition to our existing business and will complement our Jaguar importer business.
"Although market conditions have been challenging, this is a great time to take on the Land Rover business. Land Rover continues to invest heavily in new product and we are sure that this will lay secure foundations for us all in the months and years to come. Particular evidence of this can be seen in the new stop-start Freelander 2 TD4, the most fuel efficient Land Rover produced and in the major revisions that the 2010 model year products bring across the whole range.”
