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Rover Group Sales Up As Land Rover Marks 50th Anniversary

7 January 1998

Rover Group Sales Up As Land Rover Marks 50th Anniversary

               Chairman announces new Discovery due in late '98

    DETROIT, Jan. 7 -- Dr. Walter Hasselkus, Chairman and Chief
Executive of Britain's Rover Group today said the company expects its 1997
sales of Rover cars and Land Rover four-wheel drive vehicles to have increased
more than three percent during 1997 to around 523,000 units.  Final results
will not be confirmed for several weeks.
    Dr. Hasselkus also said that the average value-per-sale has increased over
the past year as the Group's mixture of products continues to move up-market.
    Since acquisition by Germany's BMW in 1994, Rover Group has invested more
than eight percent of its annual turnover in upgrading product quality and in
research and development and manufacturing facilities.  This amounts to some
2 billion pounds (more than $3 billion) according to Dr. Hasselkus.
    "Not only will we build the existing model range to the highest standards
in our fifty-year history, but the products under development will become
benchmarks in each of their segments," Dr. Hasselkus said.
    Speaking from the Land Rover display at the North American International
Auto Show, the chief executive revealed that a new Discovery is under
development and will be released for sale at the end of the year.  The new
vehicle will feature unique technology among four-wheel drive vehicles
including the world's first Active Ride Control which limits body roll during
cornering; four-wheel electronic traction control and Land Rover's patented
Hill Descent Control.  Discovery has been a highly successful competitor in
the medium size sector of the market since its European introduction in 1989
and in North America since 1994.
    Dr. Hasselkus said the new Discovery will be launched in the US shortly
after its debut in its UK home market next Autumn.
    The chairman also stated that the entire Land Rover model range will be
revised over a five year period beginning in 1999.  He said that all future
products from the Group will be engineered from the outset for all the world's
markets thereby giving the company maximum flexibility.
    Dr. Hasselkus cited the pioneering work done in the US by its unique
retail organization which now counts more than 60 specialized Land Rover
Centres in its North American network.  "Land Rover Centres have set a new
standard of performance, knowledge and customer care," said the Rover Group
chairman.  "We are adapting this concept to other markets; around the world
including France, Australia, Holland, the UK, South Africa and Italy."
    At the conclusion of his remarks, Dr. Hasselkus offered a champagne toast
alongside the first Land Rover which debuted in April of 1948 at the Amsterdam
Motor Show.  Since that time, more than two million Land Rover vehicles have
seen service in every country in the world with some 70 percent believed to
still be in use.  Land Rover will observe 50th Anniversary events throughout
1998.
    Rover Group is Britain's third largest exporter, selling cars and Land
Rover four-wheel drive vehicles in more than 120 countries around the world.
Rover Group is part of the BMW Group of Munich, Germany.

SOURCE  Land Rover North America, Inc.