Latest / That Car Show / Land Rover Defender's Sam Allen

Transcript

Land Rover Defender's Sam Allen · That Car Show

0:00
Defender owners, they're typically very interesting
0:03
people who've done things in their lives that are
0:07
mechanically or problem solving or expedition wise or but The
0:14
thing is they're not selfish about it.
0:16
They share it with you. So you bring a few Defender
0:19
customers together and you have this community.
0:21
You could, you know, you put 5 Defender owners on an island,
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they're going to survive fine. They'll be, they'll be just
0:26
fine. I love it.
0:29
That differs, I think from other products that I've worked on
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where you have, yeah, different mindsets, different skill sets,
0:37
different personalities. I think I am now working with
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the greatest owners customer group.
0:45
Yeah. That I that I've ever been
0:47
involved with you. Today on that car show, we've
0:49
got Land Rovers. Sam Allen.
0:52
Sam's the Brand Director for The Defender here in America, where
0:55
he leads the strategic vision and execution of one of the
0:58
world's most iconic automotive brands.
1:02
We talked about The Defenders heritage, its role in the
1:04
American market, and Sam's personal journey with the brand.
1:07
Also, the Defenders design evolution its community impact
1:11
through initiatives like the Defender Service Awards and the
1:15
unique experiences offered by the Defender Experience Centers.
1:19
Sam shares his insights into The Defenders appeal, its
1:22
adventurous spirit, and future plans, including participation
1:26
in the DACA rally. Sam's a good dude with a real
1:29
passion for Defenders and everything they touch.
1:32
If you didn't already want a Defender going into this
1:34
episode, you will by the end of it.
1:36
If you're new to that car show, please give us a follow on your
1:38
podcast platform of choice. And if you like what you hear,
1:42
please tell your enthusiast friends.
1:45
Every follow makes a difference. It's Land Rover's Sam Allen, and
1:50
it's that car show. Welcome back to that car show.
1:54
I'm Lindsay and I'm here with Ryan.
1:55
And today we have a really cool guest that I'm so excited to
1:59
chat with. We have Sam Allen from Jaguar
2:02
Land Rover, and Sam is actually the brand director for the US
2:07
for Defender. And that's a vehicle that is
2:10
very near and dear to both Ryan's and my hearts and Dan who
2:13
is here in Spirit. So I'm really excited to chat
2:16
with Sam. We got to meet just a few weeks
2:19
ago in person at the most recent Destination Defender in
2:23
Temecula, CA and had some really fun moments, but it was very
2:28
busy. So I'm really excited to get
2:29
this undivided time with Sam and have Ryan and Sam get to know
2:33
each other and obviously share Sam with our audience.
2:36
So I'll do a little bit of Sam's background and then maybe Sam
2:39
you can tell us in your own words because you are the expert
2:41
on your experience. So Sam has been with Jaguar Land
2:46
Rover in a variety of roles for many years and he drives
2:51
initiatives with the goal of further strengthening Defenders
2:54
position as what I think Ryan and I would very much agree
2:58
with. The ultimate symbol of
2:59
capability and modern luxury in the American market.
3:04
Sam currently overseas brand strategy, experiential marketing
3:07
and partnerships that connect Defender with the passionate
3:10
communities of enthusiasts who love these vehicles and his work
3:15
celebrates Defenders heritage while inspiring new generations
3:18
of drivers. And obviously that car show team
3:21
is part of that group. His Under his leadership,
3:24
Defender has expanded its presence into metropolitan
3:27
growth areas and he has led the curation of unique lifestyle
3:32
events that blend music, culture and off road adventure.
3:37
And in his free time, Sam is an advocate for outdoor adventure
3:40
and authentic connections. And that reflects the spirit of
3:44
the vehicle that he represents. So welcome Sam.
3:46
Thank you so much for joining us.
3:48
Thank you, Lindsay. What a what an introduction that
3:51
makes me sound very important. I would only add to that for
3:58
those that are hearing my voice for the first time is that yes,
4:00
you can guess I'm not from Tennessee or New York
4:04
originally. I've actually been living in the
4:07
USA for two years now, and I'm unashamedly to say that I've
4:14
been working at Jaguar Land Rover or its previous iterations
4:19
for 37 years now. That's amazing.
4:23
I'm glad you did the math. I knew you would know off the
4:26
top of your head. Yeah, I, I get reminded every
4:29
now and again by people that I work with that, you know, I was
4:31
becoming part of the furniture right in the West Midlands in
4:35
Gaden. So it's just time to move to a
4:36
new country. Time to shake things up a little
4:39
bit, right? I know well and I appreciate the
4:41
commitment to authenticity with the British accent, obviously
4:45
with the British brand. Absolutely.
4:47
And I, I applied for this role. I had as you say, I've had a
4:51
number of roles in product vehicle testing, moved into a
4:58
commercial role about 12 years ago, developed through the ranks
5:04
using my engineering background to help the transition when we
5:06
moved first for Jaguar. I pace into the electric cars
5:10
but also into technology innovations.
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So I oversaw the introduction of a number of research projects
5:15
that's that brought some fantastic technologies to the
5:18
Land Rover brands. Some things I'm really proud of
5:21
of, you know, like adapting the terrain response systems to the
5:24
automated versions, enabling the car to automatically know when
5:29
you're at a destination to lower and to raise doing some of the
5:33
the the tow assist technologies. So that was, that was a great
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period of development which I think helps me or helped me
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transition into the Defender world in the US But my personal
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authenticity with regards to Defender is I love travel.
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I've travelled, oh, I don't know how many continents, but you
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know, Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, America.
5:56
Awesome. It's probably simpler to like
5:58
the ones that you haven't visited.
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Exactly. Yeah, I've, I've not, I've been
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to the Arctic if you count Irish plug testing facilities, but
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I've never been, I've not been to the North or South Pole yet.
6:07
Let's let's let's make it an expedition one day.
6:09
Hey. Yes, we can be the official
6:12
podcast team of the Arctic Expedition for Defender.
6:15
Yeah, it's Did you grow up with Defenders?
6:18
Was Land Rover part of your family as a kid?
6:20
So yeah, a couple of family relatives have had defenders.
6:24
My direct family never did. But me and my father, we used to
6:29
restore cars when I was a kid. You know, I used to sit in the
6:33
corner with a dummy engine so that I didn't mess up the 1 he
6:36
was written. The one that needed to.
6:38
Run. Yeah, so I'm again, I'm
6:41
unashamedly third generation of automotive industry.
6:46
So yeah, it's in, it's in, it's in the blood.
6:48
And defenders, obviously, if you live in the UKI grew up in
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Oxfordshire where the old defenders were very common
6:57
amongst friends, family farmers. And now the new defenders are
7:02
equally as popular, I would say, you know, in the Cotswolds and
7:06
the, the well Herewood farmers now have the the new difference.
7:10
There's a lineage there. I love it.
7:13
Well, that's and that's something that, you know, I've
7:15
gotten to know Jeff Houdin on your team also.
7:17
And that's something he always talks about too, is that, you
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know, I think a lot of us see them in sort of the more urban
7:23
environments these days, at least in the States, you know,
7:26
doing the school run and that kind of thing.
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But there is so much heritage and lineage, and, you know, the
7:32
green Oval still means something.
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And like you were talking about all the technology and
7:36
engineering and it's all still there in this very luxurious
7:40
package now, which I think is the best of both worlds.
7:45
I mean, you, you mentioned talking about heritage in the
7:48
past. We don't.
7:50
We don't kind of lean into it as as a necessity, but we do rely
7:53
on it as a heritage. We're proud of it.
7:55
You know, right. There was, there was a scary
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stat once I, I read that something, you know, like in the
8:00
1970s or something, you know, 70% of the population, the first
8:03
car they saw was a Land Rover. I mean, that's amazing.
8:09
We talk about other brands going off road.
8:11
Well, there were no roads when we were going there.
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So it was all off road. You know, we kind of built the
8:16
map if you like. Well, it's an icon like so few
8:19
cars are, right? Like the Porsche 9/11, right?
8:21
It's an icon, you know? You know it when you see one,
8:24
right? How does your customer in the
8:27
United States differ from the one ones back home?
8:31
That's yeah, this is, it's really interesting because
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people that have a knowledge of defenders currently are almost
8:41
enthusiasts, ambassadors. They're knowledgeable.
8:46
But you have to remember that Defender or early Land Rovers
8:48
came here and were sold through, you know, random stores, almost
8:53
grocery stores on shop corners. They were, you know, they were
8:55
deals to be with, with businesses that would sell the
8:58
series. Land Rovers.
9:00
We didn't actually have a presence in New York.
9:03
And I think it's the 90s. I think the Range Rover came in
9:08
this in the late 70s and and Land Rover Defender itself
9:12
didn't start selling here until 1993 until 1997 or 99.
9:21
But we only, we sold 6 1/2 thousand original Defenders in
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the US Nespec Defenders first year being only the Defender 110
9:31
and then the subsequent years being the 90s and the, the
9:34
Cabrio, as you see with the roll cages and the customers, the
9:39
customers here, I mean, those original 90s cars are like
9:43
cherished possessions almost they've and they're and they're
9:46
becoming valuable assets. Actually, as our, as our new
9:49
brand grows, the the appeal of the old cars and people are
9:55
starting to learn more about them.
9:57
And I, I would say, you know, we had a 20 year gap between the
10:00
old defenders and the new defenders launching.
10:03
So we're still a fairly new or small brand, even though we had
10:08
a part of we had a part of the history and we're going from
10:12
strength to strength. But but yeah, there is there's
10:14
definitely a job to be done on my side.
10:17
From awareness in many parts of the country, there is an
10:22
absolute job to be done for the misplaced belief that all Land
10:27
Rovers are unreliable and breakdown.
10:29
And you know, if you see oil in it, it's good because it must,
10:33
if it's leaking, it must have oil in it.
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All of these stories are totally irrelevant to today's quality of
10:41
standard of the new defender. And that's, I'm not sure if you
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know, but we've, you know, we're entering the Dakar Rally.
10:48
That's that's specifically, you know, we're putting ourselves on
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the line against other manufacturers in the stock
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class. It's I think they have a 50%
10:56
attrition rate. And, you know, we're putting,
10:59
we're putting our money where our mouth is, Defender Octa.
11:02
And we're there to, we're there to win it, I hope.
11:06
Let's go back to like those 9495, I think they were Defender
11:09
90s because when those came out, I wanted nothing more than one
11:12
of those. And I think they were only about
11:13
$40,000 at the time. I could be wrong.
11:16
And it's amazing to me how how they've increased, increased,
11:18
increased, but they were just such wonderful, wonderful
11:21
vehicles. But you mentioned too the
11:22
Cabrio, the, you know, the, the soft top.
11:24
Will you ever bring the soft top Defender back?
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I know there've been some aftermarket outfits but.
11:31
So they're they're currently or and of new defenders.
11:35
We actually offered a drag top, rag top.
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I didn't know that and. No, exactly.
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And not many people do they they it.
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It did not prove to be a popular option.
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Now the the convertible styling is obviously very desirable.
11:53
It definitely suits the 90 and again, the 90 is not the most
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popular version of the Defender in the US.
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It amazes me. For me, it's a big car.
12:02
For the US it's a fairly small car.
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I love the Defender 90, especially the VA.
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It's incredible. Yes, that's the one I want done
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and done. Would I, would I like to see a
12:13
convertible version of it in the future That's we'd never shut
12:16
the door on any of the options, right?
12:18
It would be a cool, I think we'd agree it would be a cool thing
12:20
to. Do.
12:20
Yeah, absolutely. So we talked a little bit about
12:23
the differences between, you know, the, the, the customers in
12:26
the States in the UK and it sounds like, you know, folks in
12:28
the UK maybe put theirs to use in different ways than the
12:31
typical person in the States does.
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I don't with the modern defender.
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I'm not I I would actually say that the modern defender in the
12:44
US probably gets used off road more than it does in the UKI
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think it's I think it's split. Yeah, interesting.
12:52
The I love the attitude to the outdoors and the adventure that
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I meet with Defender customers here.
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You know, people would drive them thousands of miles often,
13:02
you know, across off road, you have vast, vast areas of off
13:08
roading. I went to Colorado with the
13:11
Optomedia Dr. and we, we off roaded for five or six hours,
13:15
you know, like, and that was we, we touched a a tiny area.
13:18
I think we went, yeah, from Grand Junction over towards
13:23
Moab. Oh fantastic.
13:25
If I drive that far off, you know, in any direction from
13:28
where I live in the Uki fall in the sea.
13:30
I know, right, Isn't that amazing?
13:32
Well, I want to be on the next the next tour in Colorado
13:35
because you know, that's a that's a fantastic part of the
13:37
state. There is so much and and I do
13:39
see so many defenders, new defenders here in Colorado,
13:42
which got me thinking, where are your big markets in the states?
13:45
Because I do see a lot here. I assume, I don't know, West
13:48
Coast is another big market, but where where are you selling so.
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And I think you could, you could canvas most premium luxury
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brands the the major metros we sell.
14:49
We we sell a lot of, you know, New York, Miami, LA, Austin,
14:54
Dallas, but we do sell, you know, significant numbers in, up
15:00
in like Salt Lake, specific areas of Miami.
15:06
I'm getting my geography right now, like Charleston, Charlotte.
15:13
OK, interesting. Yeah, it's the biggest numbers
15:19
are probably in the biggest metros, but the biggest
15:24
differences versus, you know, normal car sales are in very
15:28
specific areas like the Pacific Northwest or Denver and all the
15:33
way down. It's and and I love to see, I
15:39
mean, the scenery here and the diversity of geography is it's
15:44
mind blowing to me. Yeah.
15:46
You know, you've got 50 countries, not 50 states all in
15:48
one. Well.
15:48
That's a good way to country it. Yeah, it's, it's, it's very much
15:52
like that. I was just reminded of that a
15:54
couple weeks ago when I drove 900 miles to Wisconsin for
15:57
Thanksgiving and back. And, and I I've lived my whole
16:01
life doing those trips. But you do that in, in the, in
16:03
Europe and like your point, you're, you know, you're in the
16:05
sea or you're, you know, three countries.
16:07
So I, I actually took a photograph.
16:11
We're driving from where I live in New York to my partner's
16:17
parent's house in Detroit. And we kind of left New New York
16:22
into New Jersey, going to Pennsylvania.
16:24
And then the SAT NAV said something like 546 miles to the
16:31
next junction. I need to, to my next turn.
16:35
I don't need anything in my life.
16:38
Yeah. Those directions are always so
16:40
funny. It makes you, definitely gives
16:42
you pause where you're like, I'm sorry, 700 miles before I do
16:45
anything else. Like I'm I'm going to need gas
16:48
before I get to that junction. Right, exactly.
16:51
Can we go back real quick the breakdown of defender models
16:53
currently like what? What is the breakdown in the
16:56
States? You know what, I imagine it's
16:58
the 110 that's the most popular, but.
17:00
Yeah. So we offer, obviously we offer
17:02
the 90, the 110 and the 1:30. The 110 is significantly more
17:10
more popular with regards to volume, but it's really
17:13
interested in if you dive into demographics, gender, life
17:19
stage. And as you'd expect, we've got a
17:24
portfolio of vehicles to meet a portfolio of needs.
17:27
So Defender 130 America is by far the largest market for
17:31
Defender 1:30 and it's by far the highest female ownership.
17:38
And it kind of, you know, people are using it as a third row 7-8
17:42
seat family car. It's it's, it's a nice,
17:48
comfortable, safe, assured place to be.
17:53
What's what's strange, I've found, I thought it was strange
17:58
because it didn't stack with a typical Euro mindset of the
18:01
Defender 90 as the cheapest entry price, then the 1:10, then
18:05
the 1:30. So you would normally think that
18:06
the age demographic of those cars would, would be in line
18:11
with, you know, the cheapest cars, youngest people, more
18:14
expensive cars. It's the opposite.
18:16
It flips. So 110 is in the middle, but 90
18:18
is actually owned by a slightly older and a slightly wealthier
18:22
population. And the 1:30 and and then when
18:26
you dive even further into well, why is that?
18:29
It's because most of the defender 90 customers, other
18:32
than the avid design aficionados, that one, that
18:34
silhouette, the use cases seem to be a later life toy for
18:41
couples. So it and and and the cross shop
18:45
is incredible. You would think a cross shop
18:47
would be a Wrangler or a Bronco, right?
18:49
But 911 is up there. Interesting.
18:52
Right, So it's people who are saying I've got to a certain
18:55
stage of life. I want a a toy or I want an
18:58
adventure vehicle or I want, I want to project this outdoors or
19:03
actually, you know, I'm going to go be active like.
19:07
It's yeah. It's really interesting.
19:09
Yeah, really interesting. And I think it's being active,
19:11
but it's also doing at a different pace.
19:13
As a Porsche owner, I know that the capabilities of that car in
19:17
the street are very, very high and really have fun.
19:19
You have to push it and this kind of thing and and then I get
19:21
in something like the defender and I, I take it off road and
19:24
I'm like, oh, this is a different kind of fun.
19:26
Exactly. I'm I'm relaxed, I, I, I I it
19:30
makes more sense that than maybe it seems you know on the surface
19:33
right that. People and and actually the
19:35
defender night, I mean I've had a couple of defender nighties
19:37
both in the UK and here. It's huge in the back, it's not
19:43
the easiest ingress and egress. I'm not sure I would want to put
19:46
baby seats and everything into the back of a night here.
19:48
I would get a 110, Sure, sure. But actually karting for a
19:52
couple with occasional rear seat?
19:53
The rear seats are enormous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got to
19:57
drive. I've driven a few of the new
19:59
Defenders, but in a couple of occasions I've done them at
20:01
press events where I've got the competition there right.
20:05
And sometimes they're not even Land Rover of.
20:08
And I always find myself coming back to the defender because
20:10
it's just, it's so maneuverable off road.
20:13
It's narrow in a way that some of its competition isn't.
20:17
They're they're they're comfortable.
20:19
But personally, I like the heritage editions.
20:21
I like. Is it the county that you did
20:22
with the steel wheels and the white top?
20:25
Will you be doing more of those? Because that's the one that's
20:28
got my eye. Have you seen, Did you see the
20:31
beach break? We did a, a dish for the beach
20:34
break. Check out the beach break.
20:36
OK, this is my, that was my first, that was my first delve
20:39
into trying to make an American version of a defender.
20:43
And it's very I, my inspiration was from the county.
20:46
So I, we, we share that, that mindset.
20:49
I love the old vintage steely wheels and.
20:52
I do too. And this year, this year's
20:54
trophy car, actually, they're just starting to arrive.
20:58
You know, I'll be doing the trophy competition.
21:00
We're reinvigorating the trophy competition and we have a
21:02
limited edition, one in in San Glow yellow and one in Keswick
21:07
green and they both have now the steely wheels but in black.
21:10
OK, OK, camel is the word that cannot be said right?
21:16
Well, Camel Trophy was, you know, a legendary part of Land
21:21
Rover's history and and now we're reinvigorating the, the,
21:27
the defender trophy competition, which is it's being held, you
21:31
know, multiple nations having qualifying events for a, for a
21:35
global finals next year in Africa.
21:37
It's all leaning into defenders capability, but it's also about
21:44
the individuals taking part and coming together as a team doing
21:47
conservation work. It's I'm really excited to see
21:52
the trophy come back. It's.
21:54
Yeah, that's cool. It's an important part.
21:56
It's the link again between Heritage and.
21:58
And yes, yes, how do you walk that line, you know, of the
22:02
future in the past because you do have a different, I think
22:05
clientele and and you can't upset them, but you have to stay
22:09
competitive. So what are the traits that you
22:11
sort of identify as as, as traits that will always be baked
22:16
into a defender? Right.
22:18
OK. You know, because the defender
22:19
feels like a defender, whether it's an old one or whether it's
22:21
a new one, it's got it, right? It's got its own vibe.
22:24
So I have to say, I, I think the design of the modern, the
22:29
current iteration of Defender is exceptional.
22:33
You know, it's not, it's immediately identifiable of
22:37
having the lineage even though there isn't a single carryover
22:41
component, right, right. But that's is that a good thing
22:44
or a bad thing? Was a good thing because one was
22:46
designed or evolved from 1948 and then one was designed and
22:51
evolved from 2018, released in 2020.
22:54
So you would, you would be, I think, shocked if you found
22:57
shared componentry between the two.
22:59
But what's really clever is the silhouette.
23:03
You know you if you were to park one with the sun bright behind
23:06
it, one next to the old one, it's it's never been anything
23:10
other than a defender and one. Is very evident.
23:14
Correct. You know, the Alpine lights, the
23:18
waistline, the the tread plates on the bonnet.
23:21
It's they're, they're just things that the, the overhang,
23:25
you know, front and rear over, It's just everything is just
23:28
there. They did a perfect job of
23:30
reinventing the defender, but everybody, everybody was a
23:37
little bit cautious because it was less utilitarian.
23:40
But the world, all of the cars are, yes, less utilitarian.
23:43
You know, there isn't a car today, I don't think with manual
23:46
windy windows and doesn't have sat NAV.
23:48
And you know, so every single car in every single segment has
23:52
evolved and that's just part of human evolution, human
23:57
evolution, mechanical evolution, computer evolution.
23:59
The world has moved on. There was possibly some
24:05
negativity from, you know, owners on the sidelines of it's,
24:09
oh, it's more expensive. Oh, it's yeah, a house is more
24:12
expensive these days too. So, well, that's for sure A.
24:16
Cup of coffee is more expensive, but one of the interesting
24:19
things about old Defender customers, new Defender
24:22
customers, and I put them into a category that's quite
24:26
flattering, I think. I think they share this element
24:30
of being an expert and let let me break that down for you a
24:34
little bit. Yeah, do tell.
24:36
It's not often being said out loud, but defender owners,
24:40
whenever you meet them at destination defender owners
24:44
clubs or at a retailer or, you know, just out in general,
24:50
they're, they're typically very interesting people who've done
24:53
things in their lives that are mechanically or problem solving
24:59
or expedition wise or, but The thing is, they're not selfish
25:05
about it. They share it with you.
25:07
So you bring a few defender customers together and you have
25:09
this community. You could, you know, you put 5
25:12
defender owners on an, on an island, they're going to survive
25:14
fine. They'll be, they'll be just
25:16
fine. I love it.
25:17
And that differs I think from other products that I've worked
25:21
on where you have. Yeah, different mindsets,
25:25
different skill sets, different personalities.
25:28
I think I am now working with the greatest owners, customer
25:34
group that I've ever been involved in the market research.
25:38
They've all got clever ideas, they've all got solutions to
25:41
things, making recommendations, and typically that they, you
25:46
know, that they found something in their life that they've
25:48
become an expert at. It's a common trait amongst
25:52
defender owners that I find. Really interesting.
25:55
Yeah. I've never heard anyone
25:57
representing any brand say that about their client base.
25:59
That is really an interesting trait.
26:01
Wow. I know I love that description
26:05
and like what a flattering, you know, sort of inclusive approach
26:08
of just like, hey, we're all here because we love these cars
26:11
and we have this common approach to life.
26:15
And I love the idea that they're go getters and passionate too.
26:19
I mean, when you think about if you're becoming an expert on
26:21
something, it's because you love it.
26:23
And so that carries over. Into and you.
26:26
Vehicles on how you live your life.
26:28
And you, you, you persevere. Yeah, They, they, they, they're
26:33
pioneers, you know, they just we, we come to a another
26:39
analogy. You know, you're driving a car
26:40
through the the forest and you come across a stream.
26:46
I won't name any other brands because it would be
26:48
disrespectful. But you know, some manufacturers
26:51
get to this point where they have drivers and owners get to
26:53
this point and they say, oh, there's a river.
26:54
We'd better drive down, drive up, turn around.
26:58
But Defender customer says, how deep is it?
27:01
Like how deep is it? Can we go through it?
27:04
Can we push forwards? And then, oh, OK, well, let's
27:07
just we'll only go far enough until we can definitely make the
27:11
passage And and they just see this will to push past
27:16
boundaries and to go further. That car show is proud to
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know you heard about them on that car show.
28:01
Who do you think your closest competitor is then?
28:04
Is it the G Wagon? Like, I mean, you know, if you
28:06
were. I think you have to, yeah, you
28:10
have to. You have to split it out.
28:13
So Defender, Octa, Mercedes G Wagon, definitely, because when
28:22
you look at competitors, you're typically looking at
28:25
affordability as well as attributes.
28:28
You can't just say I've got a ride height and a width and a
28:32
power, therefore this is my competitor.
28:34
You know, people that are shopping always have a budget,
28:38
whether that be for shoes, jeans, a house a lot.
28:44
So I think during our or throughout our portfolio of
28:49
vehicles, the competitor set changes depending on whether
28:52
it's a devender 90 or 1:10 or 1:30 and Okta.
28:57
And that will change when we have strategies to make new
29:01
derivatives or new revisions to the product.
29:05
What what I think we share with a lot of the people is the
29:09
mindset rather than the attribute of the vehicle.
29:13
I think there are adventurous people that want to do
29:16
activities that have a budget and the same mindset of wanting
29:23
to have adventure to to portray toughness, durability, The go
29:29
getters with the roof tents and the ladders and the gear
29:31
carriers and the tyres. The mindset between a Wrangler,
29:37
a Bronco AGX and a Defender are probably fairly similar, but the
29:43
purchase decision comes down to affordability, levels of
29:49
tolerance to refinement and you know, right, getting to your off
29:56
road and off road what, what do you value the most?
29:57
Do you, are you going to put it on a trailer and go to Moab or
30:00
do you want to drive to Moab and drive back as well?
30:03
There you go, right? So the competitors, I think the
30:05
mindset is what unifies the the actual competitive choice comes
30:09
down to use case and affordability.
30:12
And this is something I always remark on about Defenders and I
30:16
compare it to a track car that someone is able to drive to the
30:20
track, drive on the track and drive home.
30:22
And I feel like Defender is that in the luxury off road because
30:27
you can drive it to the trailhead in comfort with all
30:31
the, you know, bells and whistles that you want and then
30:35
have an amazing time on the trail and then drive it home,
30:37
like you said. And that I think it's comes down
30:40
to kind of quality of life, I would imagine plays into it as
30:43
like, how do you want to be able to use it?
30:44
How do you want it to tie into your life?
30:48
And I think when you mentioned the Octa, which is something I
30:51
got to experience for the first time, I had seen them, but I got
30:55
to actually experience it off road at Destination Defender in
30:58
the fall just a few weeks ago and I am.
31:02
So jealous. They are just amazing.
31:05
I mean, I told Jeff and did. You go with Davy Jones.
31:09
I did go with Davy Jones, who is my new favorite driving coach or
31:13
vehicle host. You know, all the things.
31:16
And I could not stop smiling. I mean, it is the, the contrast,
31:22
the experience between what you're seeing, what the trail
31:25
looks like. And it was like we said, it was
31:27
very rainy and muddy. So it was a true test of the
31:31
vehicles capabilities, you know, and Jeff walked me through the
31:35
engineering team and kind of the thinking behind it and
31:38
everything that went into creating the Octa at the
31:41
Destination Defender in Malibu a couple years ago.
31:44
So Sam, I'd love to have you share more about that too, for
31:47
people that aren't familiar with kind of the history of that
31:49
vehicle being created. But just what you're seeing in
31:53
the terrain and then the actual physical experience being in the
31:57
vehicle is such a contrast because you're so comfortable
32:01
and you're chewing up these trails and it's like, it's
32:05
amazing. And you just keep smiling.
32:07
So Sam, your thoughts? Can I say that I am, I'm very
32:11
jealous of you as well because we met at Destination Defender
32:15
in Temecula. I was having quite a busy
32:17
weekend and I didn't actually get a chance to go with Davy
32:21
Jones in the Octa. I did go on the off road course
32:24
but not with Davey and the Octa. It's a must, of course I.
32:28
Didn't have the spare time to do that and.
32:30
I can't imagine well. If you're going to do an Octa
32:32
experience, why not do it with the with the 24 Hour Le Mans
32:36
Jaguar race winner, right? I know well.
32:38
And I got to go to Le Mans in June.
32:41
And so it was like this. It was such a full circle
32:44
callback moment for me personally.
32:46
And then you know to have that be the first thing to
32:48
experience. He's such a nice guide.
32:51
He's such a nice guide. So what does what does Okta mean
32:55
for Defender or why was it developed?
32:58
Ultimately, every successful brand has a Halo product, right?
33:05
We needed to have a Halo product to be the North Star.
33:09
If you like the ultimate Defender as we're moving, you
33:13
know we've evolved from classic Defender to modern Defender.
33:18
No secret modern luxury and tough luxury is our is our North
33:22
Star. So we wanted to build a car that
33:25
was everything that the Fender is refined, capable, powerful,
33:32
durable, reliable, provides confidence, and then just turn
33:37
that notch up and up and see where we could go.
33:41
So this the suspension system, the 60 suspension system, that's
33:46
we're not the first car to use that technology, but we're the
33:48
first car to use that technology off road with huge articulation.
33:54
You know, I think it's on Mclarens and things like that
33:56
for track cars and performance, but it's the first time it's
33:59
been used to have to increase articulation.
34:03
And if you were in the car, you said, Lindsay, that you see the
34:05
terrain in front of you and it looks like you're going to have
34:11
some crash and some bangs from, you know, it looks like you're
34:14
mechanically going to damage the car by hitting some of and then
34:18
you glide across it like you're almost in a hovercraft.
34:22
It's crazy. I remember my mechanical brain
34:26
the first time I went on a test track with the test engineers in
34:29
a prototype at Gaiden. Same thing.
34:32
They built a track that was almost like a rally stage.
34:35
It had deep ruts in it that you weren't following like you would
34:39
normally in a defender. You were going at 45° to them
34:42
and you were drifting through them like, And my mechanical
34:47
brain was wincing and you know, what's this going to do to the
34:51
car? And you just pass by it like it
34:55
was. It was phenomenal.
34:57
Yeah. And not not to mention it's
34:59
pretty quick too. Yes, the the acceleration, the
35:03
ride, the capability, the whole, I mean, it's the whole package
35:07
like no question, I got out of it and I'm like, well, I need
35:09
one of those obviously. When we went to when I went to
35:14
Grand Junction, we as part of the tour, they the media drive,
35:19
they said, well, we're going to go across, you know, we're going
35:21
to do some wading across the Colorado River.
35:24
It's like to a brick. That's Oh my God, a lot of
35:27
river. Are you kidding me?
35:28
And I thought we would I thought, you know, we'll drop
35:31
into the at a place where it's maybe 20 meters wide and we'll
35:36
come out the other we we drove into the river and then we
35:39
turned and drove downstream for, you know, a considerable
35:44
distance before we then exited somewhere else down the bank.
35:48
It was that was a that was an incredible experience for me.
35:51
That's amazing actually video, you know, being drone.
35:54
Drone Yeah, yeah, yeah. Recording you driving through
35:57
the collar, you know, not just across it, but through it, down
36:00
it, right? Yeah, Yeah.
36:02
Well, these these events are so integral to the brand, right?
36:04
And I think in a way that's unique.
36:06
I know Jeep does their thing, right?
36:07
And you know, Toyota has a fence, but, but Landover really
36:10
takes, you know, the driving part of it seriously in a way
36:14
they think other OEMs don't. I remember many, many years ago
36:17
when the Discovery 2 was new, my parents bought 1.
36:20
And the first thing we did was we went on a Land Rover
36:22
sponsored driving day. And from that point on, we just
36:25
felt so much more capable behind the wheel, like nothing could
36:28
stop us. And even though that was years
36:30
ago, that stuck with me. I remember that day vividly,
36:32
right. And, and, and I just talked to
36:34
us a little bit, if you would, about the importance of that.
36:36
And because I think Land Rover is unique in that in that way.
36:40
Yeah. We have a number of fixed site
36:42
Land Rover Experience centres. Every customer that buys a
36:47
Defender gets a voucher that they can redeem the Land Rover
36:52
Experience Center or the Defender Experience Center as
36:55
they're more commonly known now. We have one in Vermont, we have
36:58
one in Asheville and we have one in Carmel.
37:03
That's where I got to. Go California and they know some
37:09
visitors can just turn up and pay to use one of the cars or
37:12
clients can bring their own car. And the whole purpose of those
37:16
is to actually show what the vendors can do at their limit.
37:21
And the modern defender unless you're unless you're a trained
37:25
enthusiast off road driver, your brain would tell you to back out
37:30
before the car's capability is reached.
37:33
And so taking people into these environments to actually see
37:38
what a 45° slope feels like, what a 40° side angle feels
37:44
like, what trusting the hill descent control feature feels
37:49
like, that makes driving to the store in the snow feel extremely
37:58
confident, right? Well, it, it makes rain
38:02
irrelevant. So it's the, the, the purpose of
38:06
these centres and the, and the experiences and all of the trips
38:09
that we do and all of the off road that we do at Destination
38:11
Defender is about demonstrating that if you're a regular car
38:19
driver and you think you're adventurous because you drive
38:22
onto a grass field for, for your kids soccer training, or, you
38:26
know, or if you've got a bit of land and you use it to, you can,
38:30
you can turn it up a number of notches before the car's even
38:33
going to start sweating, let alone get worried.
38:37
So we, we, we do, I'm sure you're aware of the, the
38:43
initiative we do called Defender Service Awards.
38:46
So where we, you know, we give away 6 cars a year to worthy
38:51
causes, nonprofit organizations. One of the greatest days of my
38:56
year is when we do the handover and we take the new recipients
39:01
of these vehicles off road and we show them the technology and
39:05
we show them the capabilities. And some of these, you know,
39:08
that's search and rescue teams or they're animal rescue teams
39:11
or they're not novices to going off road and they're just blown
39:18
away once you show them how to use the technologies, how to,
39:21
you know, change the setup of the car because a lot of them
39:25
have been struggling with regular 2 wheel drives.
39:28
And, you know, we had this group, there were animal rescues
39:33
in Canada and they covered a, an area of thousands of kilometres
39:38
and, you know, driving in the winter in Canada.
39:40
And you can imagine it's, you know, was it Yamnuska?
39:43
I think it was. That sounds very far north.
39:47
Right and they're getting stuck. They had they had two wheel
39:50
drive sedans and they're going to rescue animals from like 10
39:54
hours away, 12 hours away and they're getting stuck in 2 wheel
39:57
drive sedans in snow Durst and there's pictures of the
40:00
volunteers sleeping in their cars on their weight in a now
40:04
they've got a defender they're sending us images of you know,
40:07
they're sitting there with a heated seat on.
40:11
They're listening to the music and they're just the dogs are on
40:14
the you know, in the cages in the back.
40:15
It's. It's life changing.
40:17
For them, what's the process for nominations and how does that
40:21
work? To get into so every year we
40:24
open up defender service awards on our on our website and
40:28
anybody can nominate any non profit organization so they
40:35
don't have to nominate themselves.
40:36
You know, somebody can say, I, I'm thinking of this animal
40:40
charity down the road, or I'm thinking of this veterans
40:44
outreach. You know, anybody can, can
40:47
supply their name to us. We contact them and say, oh,
40:51
you, you know, you've been nominated or we understand that
40:54
you're interested. Tell us why you need a new
40:57
defender and make a video about you and your team and how a, how
41:01
a new defender would improve or help you to further the services
41:05
that you do in your community. We had, I think this year we had
41:11
over 3000 applicants really. Right.
41:16
It's remarkable. Now this is this is where it you
41:18
know from there, you think we can't give away 3000 cars,
41:21
right? Well, you could, Sam not.
41:24
Yet. Well, I don't think we could.
41:26
I don't think we could one day. Yeah.
41:29
So we have. We split them into 6 categories
41:32
called veterans outreach, animal welfare, outdoor accessibility,
41:37
search and rescue, community services.
41:42
And then we have a 6th category which is the honorees category
41:46
of people that made it to the finals in previous events.
41:49
They get automatically put back into the the system for a second
41:53
chance. And actually at Destination
41:55
Defender this year, one of the finalists that had reapplied
41:58
every year for the last five years actually what?
42:02
So perseverance, you see it. But so yeah, we narrow down.
42:09
We have an agency that we give criteria to what are we looking
42:13
for? They narrow it down to about 20
42:19
charities in each category. And then the senior leadership
42:24
team here in Mahwah, New Jersey, split between each of their
42:30
teams. We have a category each.
42:31
We watch 20 application videos and we narrow that down to 10, I
42:37
believe it is. And then those 10 from each
42:39
category go onto the website, onto our Jaguar Land Rover North
42:43
America website and the public vote.
42:47
So it's not us, it's not us choosing.
42:51
And the efforts that the charities put into promoting
42:54
their charity, spreading the word in their, in their local
42:58
areas, obviously gets them more votes.
43:02
And, and one of one of the, you know, almost the winners are the
43:06
winners. That's great.
43:06
And the, and the runners up great.
43:09
One of the things that I love is that even people that don't make
43:13
it to be in the finals or don't win, write to me and say
43:17
participating in this helped our organization grow it.
43:21
You know, you made us go out and canvas more for attention.
43:25
You made us step up the gear a bit.
43:28
We got more recognition. Other people may have donated
43:30
more funds to them because they are more aware.
43:34
So even, I mean, for the winners, it's incredible for 2nd
43:39
place, we give them a cash, a cash remuneration to help them
43:44
with their, their 'cause even if they didn't win the car.
43:48
But the overwhelming thing is that it's actually highlighting
43:52
the good that so many of these charities do all of the time,
43:55
week in, week out across the country.
43:58
And they grow their own footprint and, and impact just
44:03
by participating in what, in what we sponsor.
44:05
So and we, and we, you know, it's not just us, we, we have a
44:08
number of sponsors that donate to the, to each category's
44:13
winning funds. Hearts and Science is one of
44:17
them. Disney as an organization is
44:19
another. Outside Pelican EI 3 and S&P
44:24
Global are the six category sponsors.
44:27
And then we have an overall 2 event and presentation sponsors,
44:31
that's Chase Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank and Artemis Cars,
44:37
which are a company that make accessories and kits and
44:42
modifications a bit like you would see on over Finch or Range
44:45
or overall. Sure.
44:45
Yeah. So without without their kind
44:48
generosity this this would not happen.
44:50
Because Artemis helps outfit the defenders that go to the
44:53
organizations. Is that correct?
44:54
Not. For the Defender service awards
44:57
cars, but optimists do supply. So Optimists are one of our
45:03
presentation sponsors and we have they've auctioned off some
45:08
of their components and some of the galas that we have and and
45:12
they do have some connections to our retailers for upfitting
45:17
Defender vehicles for clients that that that want a slightly
45:21
different look. I have to ask, I don't know if
45:23
either one of you saw in the news GameStop, it's this video
45:25
game store just had a promotion where, I don't know, you got $5
45:30
off, but you could trade in anything, right?
45:32
And so people would trade in anything from a paper clip to I
45:34
think there was a stuffed leopard.
45:36
And I guess what I'm getting at is I'm sure that you get all
45:38
sorts of organizations that apply for this thing, anything
45:42
stick out as a real outlier to you.
45:44
Or maybe you don't see those because you know, by the time
45:46
they get to you, they've been filtered out by your agency.
45:48
But what's the most unique application or of one of your
45:52
vehicles? We we get some incredible so the
45:56
one guiding principle for us is we don't care if you're a one
46:00
man band or a 10,000 person organization.
46:04
If your values and your purpose and your services in the
46:08
community match with our category, then you have as good
46:13
a chance to win as anybody else, as long as you can get yourself
46:16
out there for the reach and the votes.
46:18
We see in fact, an incredible submission last year came from a
46:23
filmmaker. So a professional filmmaker and
46:26
producer who an affinity to a charity, a search and rescue
46:34
organization in their town. And they used their own.
46:40
The film producer owned a Defender.
46:42
So they they literally went out and made a a video with drones
46:49
and proper professional editing and using a Defender original
46:54
content and storytelling. And it was for a charity that
46:59
they then approached and said, we've made this for you.
47:01
We're going to submit this for you.
47:02
Yeah. We raised the bar like.
47:04
Like that's insane. Yeah.
47:06
What a commitment. Wonderful at the same time,
47:08
right? When you talk about, I mean that
47:10
goes back to like the passion and perseverance and like, yeah,
47:14
that's a through line with defender enthusiasm.
47:17
But we have everything from we've had wolf dog sanctuaries.
47:23
We we have Nathaniel's hope, one of my favorite one of my
47:29
favorite charities that we dealt with.
47:32
It was such a, such a fantastic story behind it's the mother and
47:36
and father of a, a unfortunately very sick child and that after
47:43
the child passed away, the, the family just had the means to
47:47
start and had the enthusiasm and passion to continue offering
47:53
help to other families. It's down in in Orlando, FL.
47:58
They got one of the best logos for their companies.
48:02
It's actually like a caricature of their son Nathaniel's Hope.
48:05
It's it's, it's awesome. But defender service was just so
48:09
important to me. I would say it's the most
48:11
important or most impressive the, the thing I'm the most
48:15
proud of ever working on in, in my career.
48:18
And I'm a Brit and I'm an engineer.
48:20
So I, I'm not emotional and I cry very often.
48:23
And I, I, I can, I can tell you the day of the year, every year
48:27
that I will cry. And that's the Defender Service
48:29
awards handover, handover day. It's it's unreal.
48:32
Sam, we talked with so many people on this show who we just
48:37
can't imagine doing any other role, right?
48:38
And, and I think you're, you fit into that, that group.
48:41
I can't imagine anyone else in this, in this role for Land
48:44
Rover. You're just like the perfect
48:45
guy. Appreciate you say it, Matt.
48:47
Thank you. It's a perfect fit I know well.
48:50
And Sam and I had the chance to talk briefly at Destination
48:53
Defender about the service awards.
48:55
I had learned about them a couple years ago, but this was
48:57
the first year that I really I got to see the presentation and
49:02
be there when the winners were announced.
49:03
And Sam and I got to talk a little bit about how meaningful
49:06
it is to him. And he said, he said, I promise
49:09
you, you will cry. And he was not wrong because
49:11
it's just so incredible what the brand is doing.
49:16
You know, and I think Sam, you touched on this a little bit
49:18
because it is a lot of sort of micro organizations.
49:20
They're charities that maybe don't have the visibility before
49:24
this or even in their communities and hearing about
49:28
all of the amazing work that they're all doing.
49:31
And then getting to see what a difference the being recognized
49:35
and having this new Defender and the way that it allows them to
49:39
expand or increase the work that they do and the help that
49:43
they're providing to their communities is really
49:46
incredible. And I think, you know, I don't
49:49
think a lot of people know that Jaguar Land Rover does this and
49:52
the Defender does this. And it's really an amazing
49:56
service for these people that are doing these amazing
49:59
services. I love it.
50:01
And I think, Sam, could you talk a little bit too about Book
50:04
Trek, which was shared at the Destination Defender this year
50:08
and I thought was such a cool project.
50:13
Yeah, that's a great. That's a great segue, Lindsay,
50:16
because as you were just talking then I was thinking, oh wait, I
50:20
need to tell him about Book Trek.
50:22
We're on the same, we're on the same page.
50:25
So we have an internal competition with our retailers
50:30
and our training network with the we call Defender Trek.
50:34
So we wanted to do something that was purposeful because we
50:38
say that every, every journey in the Defender is purpose driven.
50:42
So how do we prove that? How do we stand by that?
50:43
How do we make that a real thing?
50:46
So to get to Destination Defender, which was in Temecula,
50:50
CA and our head offices in Mahwah, NJ, we decided to do a
50:54
Defender book trek. So we drove a Defender with Book
51:01
Trek library and a trailer that a formula trailer.
51:05
I have to give a shout out to them.
51:06
It's a Formula Triumph trailer that donated it to us for free
51:10
to use for the Book Trek. We put, you know, we put 2 1/2
51:16
thousand books in it when it left Mahwah and we drove it to
51:20
our first retailers in Parsippany.
51:24
And then the deal was it was a relay across the country.
51:28
So once our team had delivered it to Parsippany, the retailers
51:34
at, you know, the staff from Parsippany would drive it to the
51:38
next, which was in main line. Then we went to Alexandra and we
51:41
went to Virginia Beach. You know, we tracked it all the
51:44
way down the coast. But every retailer has stopped
51:46
that, had to replenish the books.
51:50
So they held a media event with children's charities, hospitals,
51:56
anywhere that would benefit from, and it was youth
51:58
children's to youth books. So literally, literally
52:02
spreading literacy across the country.
52:06
But every retailer paid out of their own pocket for the books.
52:10
They donated the time for their own staff to drive it and
52:13
transfer it to the next retailers.
52:15
And that went through 15 retailers, 3700 miles.
52:22
We delivered 40,000 books. I went through 11 States and I,
52:28
I actually flew, when I flew to Destination Defender, I didn't
52:31
fly to California. I flew to Phoenix, AZ because I
52:35
wanted to turn up the last leg from Phoenix, AZ to Temecula,
52:40
Destination Defender, past Joshua Tree, you know, through,
52:43
through the desert. It was just something that I
52:45
wasn't going to pass off. But in, in, yeah, yeah.
52:48
So in total, we we touched thousands of people's lives,
52:52
hundreds of organisations. And in return, they brought news
52:56
crews and they covered the journey and and now we've got a
53:01
trailer that's in California. And of course it's gonna have to
53:03
come back. So we're planning another route,
53:07
you know, instead of coming down and across, maybe we'll go up on
53:09
the cross next time or straight through the middle.
53:11
You know that's. Just fantastic.
53:13
That's just fantastic. I again, I don't know any other
53:15
manufacturer who's doing anything like that and just I
53:18
think more proof that that Land Rover is just a very unique
53:20
company and and the Defender is just a very unique vehicle from
53:24
that very unique company. I.
53:25
Mean at at destination defender talking about you know, we had a
53:31
number of there weren't really one was an expedition an
53:35
Overlander 1 was a private car. We had Pollyanna I don't know if
53:39
you know if you're familiar with Pollyanna for series 1.
53:43
So there's a car that was owned and bought in 1950 I.
53:46
Think I do know this? Called Barbara Toy and she went
53:52
on to write books about travelling with a defendant.
53:55
I think she's written four books.
53:56
She's driven. I think the first journey was
53:58
from London to Baghdad, but she's driven to Africa.
54:02
I think she had the car for 9 years, covered 250,000 miles in
54:08
a in a series 1. The vendor.
54:10
Yeah, yeah, then some. Miles in a Series 1.
54:13
Yeah, then she sold it for a Series 2A.
54:15
OK, She must have wanted the modern upgrades.
54:18
That's right, came with that. But then I think 4050 years
54:23
later, she bought the car back and she very, very kindly loans
54:28
it to us for special events, things like that.
54:30
So, so if you're talking about expeditions or driving these
54:34
miles, I find I have a personal responsibility to make sure that
54:38
we continue to put new defender through similar trials and
54:43
tribulations, right, Right. And Speaking of that, what's
54:47
next for the Defender you, because I feel like you've had
54:49
so many special editions in the ACTA and I mean, it's, it's been
54:52
a very busy few years since the new Defender came out, but
54:55
what's, what's coming up next? Being busy is better than the
54:59
alternative, right? Yeah, absolutely.
55:02
So I mean the next week obviously we are going to
55:05
continue with the service awards.
55:08
We continue destination Defender because we're we're really in
55:11
America trying to build this community.
55:14
We're re engaging with our old community, but we're also
55:16
building a new community. Then we have trophy that comes
55:19
back on that's going to be a global covered by media.
55:23
Can't say too much more about it than that.
55:26
Let's expect some very good coverage for for defender
55:30
trophy. And then the big one for me, and
55:34
I touched on it earlier with dispelling the myths of
55:36
durability and reliability, Opta and Dakar, the D7 XR race car.
55:45
We've we've got an exceptional driver line up and I'm super
55:49
happy. You may have met Sarah Price at
55:53
destination to vendor in Temecula.
55:54
Lindsay, she's. Wonderful.
55:56
The first American to win a Dakar stage.
55:59
We've signed her up as as our third driver.
56:01
We've got Stephen, Peter Hansel who Mr. Dakar getting.
56:09
Getting the rightful message about tough luxury and
56:14
durability into the market is so important to me.
56:17
It's so frustrating for, I mean, maybe it's a testament that
56:21
people talk about Land Rovers being unreliable because they're
56:24
talking about 1990, two, 1995. I'm glad they're still running.
56:29
They can't be that bad. If you're still, if you're still
56:31
talking about them, then they're 25.
56:32
So they can't be that bad. But the modern ones really have
56:37
an, an undeserving connotation. And it should it we're we're
56:44
going to remove that barrier to entry by saying that here we are
56:47
Dakar. Yeah, there you go.
56:49
It's. Mic drop.
56:52
Yeah, Mic drop. Exactly.
56:53
Mic drop. You know, I think we're, we're
56:56
setting ourselves up to, well, judges, Private attack up.
57:01
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Well, well, Sam Allen, brand
57:05
Director for the Land Rover Defender, It's been a real
57:08
pleasure speaking with you. And I apologize for the
57:10
technical difficulties with Lindsay here today.
57:13
If you've been listening and and seeing Lindsay come in and out,
57:16
it's because they're dealing with a big storm in Seattle at
57:18
the moment. So, but Sam, we will edit this
57:21
into a a nice pretty package with a bow on it and it'll be
57:24
fantastic. But anything we can do for you
57:28
on our end, you know, please let us know.
57:30
I aspire to own a defender at some point.
57:32
I'm a big fan that wasn't clear in the conversation, but I just
57:37
think what you're doing is, is really something special and
57:39
different and really admire what you're doing and what the what
57:42
the company's doing and, and just glad to so glad to see it
57:45
and hopefully see you out here in Colorado at some point as
57:48
well. That would be great.
57:50
So that would be great, Yeah. I mean, anything, anything that
57:53
you can do to help us with the, the spread of Defender Service
57:56
rewards, Destination Defender, our community, you know,
57:59
building this community, it's a passionate bunch of individuals
58:02
and it's coming together. Yeah, we've got my word.
58:05
So Land Rover and the Land Rover Defender, where do we find you?
58:08
Where do we follow you on Instagram and other places?
58:11
Yeah, so we have Instagram hashtag Defender, come straight
58:16
to it's a global side where you can get us Jaguar Land Rover,
58:20
northamerica.com. Yeah, go along to one of our
58:25
retailers, jump in the car, try one.
58:27
Yeah, yeah, try one. You'll be surprised.
58:30
Yes, that's it. Pleasantly surprised, yes.
58:34
Yes, fantastic vehicles. Sam Allen, brand director for
58:38
Defender at Land Rover. We're so glad to have had you
58:41
on. Thank you.
58:41
Fascinating conversation. You're doing wonderful things.
58:44
Hope to have you on again very soon and hope to see you here in
58:47
Colorado at some point soon as well.
58:49
Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it.
58:51
Well, until next time, we are that car show and always be
58:56
driving. Sam Allen, thanks again.
58:58
Thank you.