Jaguar Land Rover says it has invested greater than £10 million in creating and offering safety upgrades to reduce the possibilities of Vary Rovers being stolen.

It’s attempting to fight the scourge of key cloning and keyless automotive theft and criminals focusing on its excessive worth autos to strip for components or resale overseas – latest DVLA information confirmed that the Vary Rover was the second most stolen automotive of 2022, and the Land Rover Discovery was the fifth most stolen. 12 months-on-year the variety of stolen Vary Rovers elevated by 47% to five,533 since 2021.

JLR says its autos manufactured from 2022 onwards are constructed on JLR’s most superior electrical structure, that means they’ve the most recent security measures and are proving resilient to theft: since January 2022, solely 0.07% of recent Vary Rover and new Vary Rover Sports activities on the highway have been stolen, whereas solely 0.3% of recent Defenders have been affected since 2020.

The carmaker is working laborious to resolve points which can be hampering its ambition to ship an actual ultra-luxury expertise to Vary Rover prospects, which it revealed earlier in 2023 with its ‘Home of Manufacturers’ technique. The vulnerabilty to theft by organised felony gangs has been a thorn in its aspect, as have latest situations the place prospects’ automobiles have been left awaiting restore due to a critical components distribution disaster.

The newest safety and expertise can be deployed to earlier technology autos, together with these out of guarantee, making certain they’re up to date with the identical ranges of safety as present fashions.

Since 2022, greater than 65,000 eligible autos from 2018 fashions onwards have to date obtained safety updates by way of the Jaguar Land Rover supplier community. JLR has been contacting prospects instantly and it’s now urging any remaining house owners of Defender, Discovery, Vary Rover and Jaguar automobiles constructed since 2018 to take up these updates, that are freed from cost.

Police forces are nonetheless advising house owners of Land Rovers and Vary Rovers to suit mechanical safety gadgets, equivalent to pedal locks, wheel clamps and steering wheel locks, to extend the deterrent.

At Staffordshire Police, PC Peter Fraser mentioned: “Car thieves are focusing on quite a few automobiles, largely high-value ones utilizing digital keys.

“We’re, due to this fact, urging house owners of all autos, however particularly Land Rovers and Vary Rovers, to stay vigilant and take the mandatory steps to minimise the possibilities of falling sufferer to thieves.”

JLR mentioned it recommends house owners use each obtainable measure to guard their car, together with the Jaguar and Land Rover ‘Distant’ apps, a linked service which JLR has made obtainable so shoppers can entry a set of security measures, equivalent to car lock reminders and ‘Guardian Mode’, which displays the car and gives an alert if there’s any unauthorised interplay.

Patrick McGillycuddy (pictured), managing director of JLR UK, mentioned: “Whereas car theft within the UK is affecting the entire automotive business, at JLR we perceive the detrimental influence this may have on the possession expertise for our shoppers. Our funding of greater than £10 million demonstrates our ongoing dedication to tackling this concern.

“Via our long-standing collaboration with regulation enforcement and key companions, our skilled group will proceed to develop and deploy efficient anti-theft measures to make sure shoppers are protected. It’s my private precedence.”

JLR strongly advises the next safety steps for shoppers:

• All the time lock your automotive when leaving it unattended.
• Activate the alarm by urgent the lock button on the door or good key twice inside a three-second interval.
• Use the Jaguar and Land Rover Distant app and change on car lock reminders and Guardian Mode for added safety. All new autos include a free subscription bundle for 3 years. The app is out there in app shops. 
• Guarantee Safe Tracker/Safe Tracker Professional is activated.  All new autos include a free Safe Tracker/Safe Tracker Professional subscription bundle for 12 months.
• Don’t depart keys the place they are often simply taken, for instance close to a letterbox – however don’t disguise them. If thieves break into your house, it is much better in your security that they don’t confront you in your keys.