Millions of pounds to hunt car thieves

UK (commonwealth) _JLR, previously Jaguar Land Rover, is spending millions more of pounds fighting auto theft, particularly that of organized crime groups that have been shipping stolen models of its SUVs out of the nation through British ports.

The British automaker, which is a part of the massive Indian Tata company, has said that it will contribute “more than £1 million” to the prevention of vehicle theft through proactive police. As part of an extraordinary £16 million campaign, JLR has updated the security software in some of its older cars in an effort to deter well-funded organizations of professional car thieves.

According to JLR, the most recent funding campaign will provide more specialized resources to a number of police agencies so they can respond to car thefts in high-crime areas across the entire country. Additionally, money for an intelligence-gathering new national policing force will be provided.

This will lead to greater activity at the ports that criminal gangs use as a cover to export automobiles, particularly stolen Range Rover models, which are still the most sought-after vehicles by thieves. Expert law enforcement officials will now possess more ability to look into these offenses, the automaker stated in a statement on Wednesday.

“Stolen vehicle recoveries and arrests have already occurred as a result of pilot operations with two police forces.” Vehicle theft in England and Wales is up 86% from 2014, according to ONS statistics.

Premium models make up a larger than typical portion of the stolen automobiles, and well-funded criminal organizations using high-end equipment are able to steal cars to order in response to black market demand. And because of the increasing demand for its SUVs throughout the world, JLR has been singled out in this growing luxury car theft issue.

Thousands of owners of pricey Land Rover and Range Rover vehicles have unluckily fallen victim to these well-funded organized gangs that target high-end vehicles for theft. They frequently put the stolen vehicles into containers fast to hide them from view before exporting them abroad without a trace.

Although the DVLA reports that fewer Land Rover models are being stolen, records indicate that 5,400 of the company’s well-known Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, Range Rover Evoque, and Land Rover Discovery Sport were taken last year.

Managing director of JLR UK Patrick McGillycuddy said that the company is always improving its security features and systems. Working closely with law enforcement, they are able to keep ahead of new techniques and promptly implement anti-theft measures.

“This additional investment, in conjunction with our other ongoing and proactive measures, demonstrates our dedication to assisting the relevant authorities in effectively addressing this issue in the United Kingdom.” In order to “assist prosecution and vehicle recovery efforts,” JLR stated it will also provide telemetry and vehicle location data to the police.

In order to help with the search for recovered stolen cars and the confiscation of the equipment used, JLR has educated approximately 650 cops. With this new commitment, JLR is on track to spend more than £16 million attempting to curb the nation’s rising auto crime problem.

In an effort to better safeguard owners, the majority of this money has been utilized to equip its newest models with the most recent Body Control Module (BCM) security technology, which was previously only available on earlier models of the company’s vehicles.

Only 0.3% of new Defenders have been impacted since debut in 2020, while only 0.2% of new Range Rovers and new Range Rover Sports equipped with the most recent BCM system have been stolen since January 2022, according to the database.

JLR is speeding up the installation of this technology update on all of its Range Rover, Defender, Discovery, and Jaguar models that were built prior to 2018. Additionally, it has hinted that owners of devices manufactured before 2016 may soon be invited to receive the security tech upgrade for free. Over 160,000 cars have gotten the software update thus far.

JLR also launched Land Rover and Jaguar insurance in October 2023 to assist both new and current owners in obtaining competitive coverage following a spike in prices due to an increase in thefts.