Interview of the Head of Sales Department of “Fora” Company Lilit Nersisian to Mediamax news agency and Banks.am portal

-When was the Land Rover trademark first presented officially in the Armenian market?

- It happened about 3 years ago, in 2005, when Ford Motor Company became the large owner of Land Rover trademark. The same year, “Fora” signed a contract for the exclusive import of Land Rover trademark cars, a recognized world producer of “luxurious off-road cars”.

It is already 3 years that Land Rover has been officially imported to Armenia, and I can say with confidence that in our market this brand occupied a lading position among “premium” class cars.

The prestige of Land Rover is very high both in the whole world and in Armenia and this is conditioned also by the high quality and comfort of the cars and their adherence to the English traditions.

Land Rover is the only company, specializing only in the production of off-road cars, and it was the very company, which in the middle of the last century, realized the need of the market in more comfortable all-wheel drive cars. As a result, models were created, in which comfort and riding qualities of a family car go with the off-road abilities.

For today, all the 5 models of Land Rover are well known in Armenia, but of special popularity are the models Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. The basic factor, determining the popularity of Range Rover, is the high level of comfort, easiness and evenness of driving, and the outstanding rolling characteristic, due to which Range Rover occupies a completely special place on the road and dominates in conditions of off-road driving. It is not for nothing that Range Rover was once exhibited in Louvre as the highest achievement of car design and technique.

A peculiar characteristic of Range Rover Sport is the athletic and sport appearance, which attaches to the car an irreproachable aerodynamics and impressing maneuverability, as a result of which an impression of prestigious racing car is created. Due to all these qualities, Range Rover Sport is very popular in Armenia among the people loving dynamic drive.

- A few more models enter the model list of Land Rover. The renovated Discovery, the more compact Freelander 2, the world premiere of which took place recently. What models of Land Rover are more of demand at this moment in the Armenian market?

- The model line of Land Rover includes Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Defender, Discovery, Freelander. The last two models were renovated recently. In 2004, Discovery was renovated with an absolutely new design of the third generation, thus establishing a high barrier in the category of luxurious off-road cars.

The world premiere of Freelander 2 took place just recently, in 2007. The arrival of a new Freelander2 changed the notion of what the compact off-road car of “premium” class should be like. Freelander2 attaches to the trademark absolutely new dimension, combining in itself sport dynamics and maximum level of comfort.

I can say that in the Armenian market the models of Land Rover are quite demanded, and this is evidenced by the number of sold cars in the course of 3 years. However, special popularity is enjoyed by Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models.

- We would like to know the details of Freelander2 model sales – which customer is the given model targeted to?

- Elaborating Freelander, the Land Rover Company set for itself a goal to establish a car, which would have compact size, and at that would have the technical qualities of a full off-road car and would be of an available price - today the “luxurious trademark” of Land Rover becomes available for the consumers of a middle class as well. This model is targeted to the customer, who appreciates dynamics, maneuverability qualities, and the most important – the compactness of the off-road car.

What concerns the sales of Freelander2, the new model has already managed to win the love of our consumers, and the number of customers in Armenia is dynamically growing. In the period of the last year only, about 40 cars of all Land Rover models were sold, 20% of which were Freelander2. Taking into account the fact that Freelander2 arrived in the Armenian market only in September 2007, I consider this a good and dynamic start of the sales process.

- What novelties are there to come for the admirers of Land Rover trademark this year?

- This year, Land Rover is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its establishment. The beginning of the year was marked for us with a new victory – Land Rover again confidently won in the struggle for the title of “The best compact off-road car” and “The best volume off-road car” in the nominations of an authority “What car? Awards 2008” Prize.

And for the Armenian market, “Fora” Company will introduce a few gifts: firstly, to make the Land Rover trademark more available for the consumers, we offer a unique system of purchase of the car on credit with a minimal pre-pay of only 15%.

Secondly, for all the purchasers of Land Rover, we give a guarantee of 3 years, or 100.000 km run for all the units unrestricted.

I believe that such gifts will not leave indifferent all the admirers of Land Rover trademark.