Land Rover will grow faster and further under new owners Ford, according to managing director Mike Wright.

“We've had a hugely successful six years under BMW with production going from 60,000 units to 180,000 in 1999,” he said.

But privately Land Rover insiders admit that the company has been starved of the investment it needed with most BMW money earmarked for the Rover Group used to prop up the car division.

Mr Wright, who took over last October, said: “We have a strong partnership with our dealer network which has invested more than £130m in new facilities. We now have more than 100 dealers, most with their own off-road courses.”