Struggling To Make Ends Meet? You Should Buy This Range Rover!
Unemployment is up, companies are going bankrupt, and Americans are struggling to make ends meet. Naturally, it is in these harrowing times that Land Rover wants you to buy a luxury SUV.
Land Rover's ad for its Range Rover Sport plays off the recession theme several times, noting that the Range Rover Sport drives well on all types of terrain, as well as the economy itself.
The Consumer Reports Car Blog rips Land Rover's pitch apart, noting that aside from the price, the product isn't even that great. Consumer Reports notes:
What says practical recession-era transportation better than a $60k luxury SUV that gets 14 mpg overall and has much-worse-than-average reliability? Should things get tough, you could make a coat out of the leather seats, but there probably isn't enough wood on the dashboard to burn to keep you warm. (Doing either would incur a damage penalty when the lease ends.)
We'll stick with our Metro pass.
Recession vehicle = Land Rover Range Rover Sport? [Consumer Reports Online]
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Comments:
From a mechanics perspective a Range Rover is a great choice to buy during a recession.
This reminds me of a local commercial in Minneapolis for Carhop. A couple are screaming at eachother over a pile of bills marked "past due" in big red letters. The Carhop guy appears and says "Tax refund time is car buying time." The couple becomes jubilant and says "We're listening!"
Every time I see that commercial I want to punch the writer in the face. It makes no sense. People arguing over a pile of past due bills should pay them off with their tax refund, not buy a car. Grrrrrrr.
Is buying Range Rover EVER a good idea? Recession or not? I LOVE the look of the Range Rover Sport, but I still think I'd be an idiot to buy such a piece of shoddy workmanship.
The TV version of this ad has been running on CNBC for several weeks. It seems stupid on one level, but what they are attempting to do is pretty smart. People associate themselves with ther cars - they are saying that their cars "easily" ride out the hard times. It is pretty well aimed at the kind of person who wants to make the statement that they also easily ride out hard times. What better way to "prove" that to the world than to buy a $70k truck in the middle of a recession? This is aimed at the people who associate their wealth with material posessions rather than net worth - the "big hat" types who have high incomes and massive debt - The demographic that thinks they are rich - even though they have a negative net worth. One thing about that demographic is that they view the recession differantly - remember that they equate wealth with posessions. Sure they owe $800k on a house woth $300k, and they have so much debt that missing one paycheck would result in a disaster - but they DON'T REALIZE they are broke. They think the are rich - they think that being rich means bringing home a nice paycheck and driving a $70k truck - not making $70k a month in dividends/interest like people who are really rich do. The only problem is that most of the "big hat" types are so maxed out and upside down that they couldn't borrow enough money to buy a paperclip - I doubt this ad will be effective.
This reminds me of an ad for Swiss Army watches (Victorinox?) that had a whole thing about how the watch could track multiple timezones because during training, the Swiss Army has to march across "several" timezones in terrible conditions, etc. etc. etc.
I e-mailed the company to ask how, exactly, that could be the case, given that Switzerland is entirely in one timezone and to get through just THREE you'd have to march from Portugal to Belarus and I'm pretty sure that a) that would have no remotely useful training purpose and b) other countries sort-of frown on you marching your army through them.
I oddly got no response. :P But I didn't see the ad again!
@puddinhead: So what you are saying is that if one is having trouble paying the bills, then one should not use a small windfall of cash to leverage more debt??? Thinking like that won't get you behind the wheel of a new Statusmaster Debtmobile.
Am I seriously the only Consumerist editor who owns a car?
Last gasps? Jaguar/Land Rover is the "over there" version of Chrysler. Ford bailed just in time. Tata was refused further financial aid, so it's up to them to stop the bleeding.
I doubt either brand will vanish but they'll be lucky to keep their plants.
Buy a Land Rover of any kind and you'll be able to stop struggling to make ends meet, because there just won't be any point trying anymore.
@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): That's awesome!
Your question that is. Very very interesting, lol.
Haha - I just bought an LR3 in March - it was SUPER on sale and I can't believe how busy the dealership was (it was like there was no recession!).... So yes, I'm a sucker, but I'm a happy sucker.... driving all over the economy!
@Laura Northrup: Car power! I've got your back, Laura. Screw those bike-riding, subway-taking hippies. ;)
I doubt Land Rover is targeting the unemployed homeless, please.
great idea - till it breaks.
Nothing says "wise investment" for the struggling family like a ridiculously overpriced SUV!
In fact, if you're really close to personal bankruptcy, consider buying two!
Hey, at least it'll be nice and cushy to live in when you lose your house.
Well, you can live in your car, but you can't drive your house...
So funny. Yesterday, these were two of my tweets:
1. Land Rover trying to spin its SUVs as a "good long-term investment." Laughable & indicative of our poor financial thinking. It depreciates!
2. After describing what a great investment a Land Rover is, they follow with their leasing rates. It's rare that a vehicle makes you money.
When I saw the ads I was in shock. It's a disgusting, misguided strategy they're adopting.
Please find the commercial on YouTube and post it! I'd love to see it, if only to see the couple totally over-egg their enthusiasm!
C'mon Laura, car ownership totally ruins your blog-cred. Well, either that, or blogging being the 24/7 operation that it is, the others simply have no need for a car! (On account of them never being able to leave their computer, you see....except to make donations videos...)
Land Rover, you are simply genius. Let's just wait to see what the naysayers have to say when the buildings and streets (literally) crumble due to the economy failing, and they can't get anywhere in their well-built, fuel-efficient, earth-friendly Priuses!
@idip: I probably would never have noticed but I lived in the non-daylight-savings part of Indiana at the time and we'd just not-changed, so suddenly my timezone went from basically me to Colorado, when the week before it had gone from me to the Atlantic Ocean, and I was like, "Why exactly would you march from the end of ONE timezone to the other, let alone multiple zones? How long would that take and what possible purpose could it serve?" Then the more I thought about it the more absurd the claim became.
@WOPDingo: I bought a new Discovery II 8 years ago and it was in the shop every few months. Cool SUV but totally impractical. Now I have a hybrid sedan. Taken it in for regular service, no problems whatsoever.
My buddy works at a local Land Rover dealership. He tells me that most transactions in his store are via cash or check. They rarely do financing.
Cars hold value poorly, but the Land Rover holds value the way a colander holds water. Enjoy the relationship you develop with your mechanic.
I suspect my 4wd Ford Ranger will do just as well in post-apocalyptic America, for 25% of the price.
This article is funny for consumer reports. Thier latest "Best Picks" car survey promotes 8 out of 10 cars that cost between $40,000 and $70,000 dollars. This is right about where Range Rover is. I don't find that price to be great during a resseion.
Elgog Partynipple
Why didn't they throw a reference to Jesus in their ad? I think that would have been the icing on the cake.