JLR, formerly Jaguar Land Rover, is investing yet more millions of pounds to tackle car crime, especially organised criminal gangs who have been using British ports to ship stolen examples of its SUVs out of the country.
The British car maker – owned by Indian giant Tata – has announced it will pump ‘more than £1million’ into supporting proactive policing around vehicle theft.
It is part of an unprecedented £16million drive by JLR, which has included updating the security software in its older vehicles in a bid to fend off well-funded groups of professional motor thieves.
JLR to pump more than £1m to support proactive policing at UK ports exploited by criminal gangs to export vehicles, including stolen Range Rover models, which remain at the top of criminals’ wish lists
Ports have been used by organised criminal groups to export stolen premium cars – especially Range Rover models – out of the country to overseas black markets. JLR is helping to fund a crackdown
JLR’s says the latest investment drive will support several police forces with additional, dedicated resources to respond to vehicle thefts in hotspots across the country.
It will also go towards funding a new national policing unit to gather intelligence.
This will inform increased activity at the ports exploited by criminal gangs to export vehicles, including stolen Range Rover models, which remain at the top of criminals’ wish lists.
Thousands of UK owners of expensive Range Rover and Land Rover cars have become the unfortunate casualty of these well-funded organised gangs seeking out high-end motors to steal, often to quickly load into containers to keep them out of sight before shipping them overseas without a trace
‘Specialist officers will now also have more capacity to investigate these crimes,’ the car maker said in a statement on Wednesday.
‘Pilot operations with two police forces have already resulted in stolen vehicle recoveries and arrests.’
According to ONS data, vehicle theft compared to 2014 is up 86 per cent across England and Wales.
A higher than usual percentage of the vehicles being stolen are premium models, with well-funded criminal groups coming equipped with expensive technology to steal cars to order based on black-market demand.
And it’s JLR that has been thrust to the forefront of this mounting luxury car theft problem, with global desirability of its SUVs making them prime target.
Thousands of owners of expensive Range Rover and Land Rover cars have become the unfortunate casualty of these well-funded organised gangs seeking out high-end motors to steal, often to quickly load into containers to keep them out of sight before shipping them overseas without a trace.
Essex Police earlier this year revealed images of a shocking find of more than £14m worth of ‘chopped’ luxury cars as they were due to be shipped out of the country. One of the cars is a Range Rover hidden behind – and under – a dismantled bed
More than 600 cars, some chopped in half and crushed into containers to ship abroad, were recovered by Essex’s Stolen Vehicle Intelligence Unit (SVIU) in 2022, including this Range Rover
Two Range Rovers reportedly stolen using keyless tactics recovered from a shipping container at Liverpool Docks as part of Greater Manchester Police’s Operation Norma in 2020
While the number of Land Rover models being stolen is on the decline (according to DVLA figures), some 5,400 examples of its popular Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport were pinched last year, records show.
Patrick McGillycuddy, managing director at JLR UK, said: ‘We are constantly developing our systems and security features and through our close collaboration with police, we stay ahead of any emerging methods and quickly deploy anti-theft measures.
‘This additional investment, coupled with our other ongoing and proactive action, shows our commitment to supporting the authorities in having a tangible impact on combating this issue in the UK.’
JLR said it will also support police by sharing vehicle location and telematics data that ‘aids prosecution and vehicle recovery efforts’.
As part of this, JLR has trained more than 650 officers to assist the search of recovered stolen vehicles and seizure of the tools used.
JLR has confirmed it has upped its total investment to upgrade its customers’ older car with the latest security tech to £15million. This will cover up to half a million of its models dating back to 2016
JLR cars as old as 2016 are eligible for the theft prevention upgrades to bring them in line with the latest models in showrooms today. But that hasn’t prevented a fall in value for its cars that are already on the road
The new investment puts JLR on course to spend over £16million in its efforts to reduce the growing car crime epidemic in Britain.
The majority of this spending has been used to upgrade older generations of its cars with the latest Body Control Module (BCM) security technology that’s fitted to its newest models in a bid to help protect owners.
Police National Computer (PNC) data suggests JLR’s latest security is highly-resilient to keyless car thefts – the tactic most commonly employed by today’s tech-savvy car thieves.
Since January 2022, only 0.2 per cent of new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sports fitted with the latest BCM system have been stolen, while only 0.3 per cent of new Defenders have been affected since launch in 2020, the database shows.
JLR is accelerating the roll-out of this technology upgrade to vehicles manufactured back to 2018, across its range of Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar models.
And it has also suggested it could soon begin inviting owners of models dating back to 2016 to have the security tech update free of charge.
So far, more than 160,000 vehicles have received the software upgrade.
In October 2023, JLR also introduced Jaguar Insurance and Land Rover Insurance, to help new and existing owners obtain competitive cover after premiums spiralled on the back of rising thefts.
The company says it has already provided more than 46,300 quotes, with an average quote premium of £183 per month.
JLR is offering a new insurance initiative to customers who buy one of its latest Range Rovers or Range Rover Sports – £150-a-month off the cost of their premiums
The Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Velar do not qualify for the discount, nor do any of the Discovery, Defender or Jaguar new vehicles. Only Range Rover and Range Rover Sports (pictured) covered under Land Rover’s in-house insurance product are eligible and the car’s value cannot exceed £150,000
In May, it launched a new offer of £150 per month towards the cost of its in-house insurance for buyers of new Range Rovers to encourage sales.
The offer applies only to new Range Rover and Range Rover Sports registered between 1 May 2024 and 30 September 2024.
The Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Velar do not qualify for the discount, nor do any of the Discovery, Defender or Jaguar new vehicles.
Only those covered under Land Rover’s in-house insurance product are eligible and the car’s value cannot exceed £150,000 – meaning the deal excludes the ultra-exclusive range-topping SV variants of both models, with the Range Rover Sport SV ringing in at just under £162,000 and the Sport SV a whopping £168,500.
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