1.
Land
Rover
North
America,
Inc
Case
Study
Case
Analysis
by
Taposh
Dutta
Roy
HBS
9-­‐
596036

2. Land
Rover
North
America,
Inc
HBS
9-­‐596036
Case
Analysis
submitted
by:
Taposh
Dutta
Roy
Charles
Hughes,
president
and
CEO
of
Land
Rover
North
America
(LNRA),
had
to
make
strategic
and
tactical
decisions
in
launching
new
products
for
the
US
Market.
LRNA
had
grown
from
a
distributorship
selling
one
Land
Rover
model
in
1987
to
three
vehicles
by
1994.
Charles
knew
understanding
the
consumers
and
positioning
the
new
models
were
very
critical.
The
main
products
were
introduction
of
Land
Rover
Defender
(1992),
introduction
of
Land
Rover
Discovery
(1994)
,
and
plans
for
the
launch
of
2nd
generation
Range
Rover,
the
Range
Rover
4.0
SE.
Land
Rover
Defender
was
the
original
Land
Rover,
re-­‐branded
to
have
an
identity
separate
from
the
Corporation.
Range
Rover
4.0
SE
was
the
first
total
redesign
with
US
customer
in
mind.
Land
Rover
Discovery
was
a
new
model
considered
as
the
logical
evolution
of
Land
Rover,
family
focused
and
affordable
for
a
US
customer.
There
were
three
key
decision
to
be
made
–
positioning,
marketing
mix
and
retail
strategy.
Positioning
involves
analyzing
the
consumers
and
competitors.
Consumer
research
and
analysis
was
to
done
to
look
into
various
segments
and
to
understand
what
people
valued
the
most.
Since
the
SUV’s
were
mainly
targeted
towards
families
and
adventure
seekers,
the
key
features
are
shown
in
the
chart
below.
People
with
kids
valued
Quality,
Safety
and
Service,
where
as
those
without
kids
valued
Quality,
Safety
and
economics.
Chart
is
based
on
the
data
provided
in
exhibit
8,
extracted
for
targets
–
kids
(family)
and
without
kids.
The
top
three
competitors
to
LRNA’s
Discovery
were
Jeep
Grand
Cherokee,
Ford
Explorer
and
Chevy.
Jeep
Grand
Cherokee
had
an
AD
budget
of
$67.8
millions,
Ford
Explorer
had
a
budget
of
$24M,
in
addition
to
$1B
corporate
Advertisement
and
Chevy
had
a
budget
of
$60
million.
Land
Rover
Discovery’s
brand
awareness
was
2%
and
hardly
had
any
AD
Recall,
but
purchase
consideration
of
Land
Rover
was
around
15%.
Thus
advertisement
focused
on
increasing
brand
awareness
and
targeted
to
the
right
audience
was
much
needed.
Based
on
the
perception
maps,
Land
Rover
Discovery
was
better
than
average
SUVs,
exception
being
in
economy
and
Ride/Handling
(performance).
Recommendation
#1:
Land
Rover
Discovery
should
position
towards
consumers
who
value
Quality,
and
Safety.
Targeting
consumers
with
kids
and
females
would
be
ideal,
based
on
the
exhibit
8
data.
Since,
Discovery
is
priced
at
$29,350,
it
is
around
mid-­‐way
of
the
range
of
SUVs
($10K
-­‐
$60K).
Based
on
the
usage
data
in
exhibit
16,
I
can
say
that
the
consumers
mainly
used
Discovery
model
for

3. Land
Rover
North
America,
Inc
HBS
9-­‐596036
Case
Analysis
submitted
by:
Taposh
Dutta
Roy
transportation
to
work
and
running
errands.
Land
Rover
had
a
perception
of
being
the
trail/off
road
vehicle,
however
the
new
Discovery
had
to
be
positioned
to
be
on
the
road
vehicle.
Defender
had
the
perception
of
being
a
Strong
and
Sturdy
vehicle
without
creature
comforts.
Range
Rover
was
perceived
as
a
prestigious
vehicle
with
on
and
off
road
capabilities.
Recommendation
#2:
Marketing
Mix
allocations
were
crucial,
since
LRNA
wanted
to
sell
40,000
cars.
The
old
budget
was
$9M.
However,
I
agree
with
Hughes
that
budget
needs
to
be
increased
for
new
brands.
Based
on
a
$30M
marketing
budget,
here
is
how
I
would
allocate
funds
across
various
marketing
mix
sections.
Considering
we
have
3
new
brands;
I
would
allocate
50%
of
total
marketing
budget
for
ADS.
Out
of
the
total
$15M,
allocated
I
would
allocate
$8M
for
Disovery
,
$4M
Defender
90
and
$3M
for
Range
Rover
4.0
SE.
Discovery
is
new
model
and
needs
more
positioning
and
perception
change
from
the
existing
Land
Rover
brands.
Defender
90
is
the
next
logical
improvement
of
Defender
110
similar
to
Range
Rover
4.0
SE
which
is
next
logical
improvement
over
Range
Rover.
Experience
marketing
activities
such
as
website
should
be
developed
as
best
in
the
class.
Given
the
new
technology
trend
consumers
would
like
to
learn
and
compare
as
much
possible
from
the
website,
before
they
make
it
to
the
store.
Recommendation
#3
:
Consumers
considered
car
buying
was
most
“anxiety-­‐provoking”
and
“least
satisfying”.
LRNA
wanted
to
change
this
experience.
The
best
way
to
change
this
to
have
their
controlled
centres.
The
total
expenditure
for
this
set-­‐up
was
between
$500k
to
$3M.
I
like
the
concept
and
this
would
make
LRNA
stand-­‐out
of
the
competiton
and
create
a
more
valued
perception.
However,
the
centre
expenditure
should
wait
till
atleast
80%
(32,000)
of
the
planned
units
are
sold
(i.e
0.8*40,000
=
32000).
A
portion
of
the
profit
can
be
used
for
this
concept.
Also,
existing
dealers
should
be
provided
by
LRNA
branded
merchandizes.
This
will
help
in
increasing
the
brand
awareness.