Land Rover Breaks U.S. Sales Records With High-End Models, Discovery Sport Is Almost Here

Friday, January 30, 2015

Land Rover Breaks U.S. Sales Records With High-End Models, Discovery Sport Is Almost Here

2014 was a record-setting year for the Land Rover brand in the United States, and the brand accomplished this feat even though the majority of Land Rover sales were generated by upper-crust Range Rover vehicles.

With the Discovery Sport set to arrive shortly in place of the oft-rejected LR2 (née Freelander), the potential for greater growth at the Land Rover brand becomes much more apparent.

• 51,465 Land Rovers sold in America in 2014

• Two top tier models account for six out of every ten Land Rover sales

• Discovery Sport expected to be volume model

60% of Land Rover sales in the U.S. in 2014 were produced by the Range Rover Sport (base price: $63,350) and Range Rover (base price: $83,495). The Range Rover Evoque, a very premium-priced small luxury utility, was the brand's third-ranked vehicle. The Evoque was responsible for nearly a quarter of all Land Rover sales, more than the LR2 and LR4 combined.

Combined sales of the Range Rover trio rose 9% to 43,167. Land Rover sold more Range Rover Sports than at any time since 2006, its first full year on sale. Range Rover sales rose to a nine-year high. Range Rover Evoque volume increased for the third consecutive year. 34,990 Evoques have been sold since the nameplate went on sale in the U.S. early in the fourth-quarter of 2011.

Regardless of status – luxury, premium, upmarket, volume, mainstream, niche – it's very unusual to see a brand ignited by its most costly models. At BMW, for example, the brand's two entry-level car lines and two entry-level utilities account for 61% of U.S. sales.

Look at Mazda on the opposite side of the coin: only 23% of its sales are produced by its flagship sedan and top-tier crossover, the 6 and CX-9. At Audi, it's the A3, A4, Q3, and Q5 that do the heavy lifting (to the tune of 59% of all Audi USA sales), not the A6, A7, A8, R8, and Q7, which account for only 31% of Audi sales.

Land Rover	2014	2013	% Change
Range Rover Sport	17,897	15,976	12.0%
Range Rover	12,830	12,221	5.0%
Range Rover Evoque	12,440	11,405	9.1%
LR4	4,679	7,093	-34.0%
LR2	3,619	3,315	9.2%
—	—	—	—
Land Rover Total	51,465	50,010	2.9%

Thus, if Land Rover's top-tier Range Rover models continue to steadily increase their popularity but are finally joined by an entry-level variant that bears a traditional portion of the burden, Land Rover's record-setting sales accumulation is likely to expand at a much faster pace than it did in 2014.

Overall new vehicle sales rose 6% and SUV/crossover sales were up 12%. Land Rover, which did indeed sell more SUVs than at any time in its history, only posted a 3% year-over-year improvement. Even if Discovery Sport sales begin at mid-pack levels in the small luxury utility vehicle arena – 20,000 annual U.S. sales, for instance – and the brand's other models failed to increase their volume, Land Rover could still potentially sell more than 65,000 vehicles in 2015. Who knows, diesel engines might help, too.