Land Rover

Land Rover
Originally uploaded by ambroseneville.

I went to a Land Rover sales room in Cardiff a couple of days ago. It was quite an amusing experience. Land Rover dealerships seem to have an actual socio-political outlook; they advertise a 'lifestyle', an experience if you like, rather than the just the cars they sell. Now, some of this is obvious: the Countryside Alliance types are most often farmers, and the average farmer is presumably one of the main buyers of these vehicles, because they're well-suited to the purpose. But it goes deeper than that. The sofa area with the plasma TVs and the free coffee had a carefully-selected variety of literature. The Daily Telegraph was the only paper available, and the magazines were mainly Country Living and that sort of thing. Then there was the sales girl who asked if we needed any help - she was wearing one of those zip-up bodywarmer things and funny trousers that horse-riding people wear. And then to top it off there was a big surreal diorama featuring a meticulously-clean Land Rover in a woodland setting. I do wonder if any urbanite Labour or Lib-Dem voters drive these vehicles, and if they do, how they deal with the obvious Tory-centric nature of the showrooms. On the way home, we discussed the idea of a special edition model with Margaret Thatcher decals. Available in any colour, as long as it's blue.