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Land Rover is to Britain what Jeep is to America, and it could be said that over the years, Land Rover has grown into becoming the pride of the British automobile industry.

But as the face of the vehicle industry changes, the legend of Land Rover also changes. Ownership of the British marque has changed hands many times and every time the company is sold or bought, it is because of Land Rover's expertise in 4WD technology.

Recently, I received an e-mail from someone which read: "I have always been enthusiastic about Land Rovers since childhood because I liked the design and the image of being a vehicle that can go anywhere. I heard that in England, Land Rover is going through another change and I wonder whether it would affect Land Rover in Thailand."

I must say Land Rover is a brand that has been through a lot of fateful events that need to be studied carefully.

The four-wheel-drive vehicle division, which is the heart and soul of the Land Rover brand, is now owned by Tata Motors of India.

The new ownership will surely affect the market for Land Rover globally, including Thailand, as the new owners may not run the company like its previous owner, Ford.

In Thailand, a new distributor has been appointed, although the people in the company are the same old faces who have been in the Thai auto industry for a long time.

For Land Rover users, the change should not bring any negative or positive effects. However, there is need for improvement in the marketing of the brand.

I think the new distributor will do just fine if they take one step at a time - by not expecting too high sales and by offering limited models.

What they need to do is to study the market carefully and select just two or three models which are capable of being marketed here.

If it was up to me, I would choose the Freelander as the main model because with its price and body size, there is a good chance that it would be able to compete with rivals.

For the Discovery, I'll choose just one version which will be the diesel.

Last but not least, the Range Rover will be for image building and it will be sold only "by order".

Ultimate in Luxury

The Luxury LS 460 is a wonderfully comfaortable car fitted with all mod cons, althoough not necessarily the most fun vehicle to drive.