Land Rover will sponsor U.S. Olympic teams

The green Land Rover logo will soon be sliding downhill fast — not on vehicles, but on skis, snowboards and uniforms.

As part of a marketing push to raise U.S. awareness and sales, Land Rover has signed a three-year sponsorship with the U.S. governing body for Olympic ski and snowboard sports.

Combined with its sponsorship of U.S. Equestrian Federation events held in the spring and summer, Land Rover's ski and snowboard deal will make the brand more visible at sporting events year-round, said Kim McCullough, marketing vice president at Jaguar Land Rover North America.

The new arrangement also offers Land Rover a chance to connect with potential customers, an opportunity it discovered during the company's 2017 sponsorship of an America's Cup yacht team.

"One of the benefits of this organization is that they have a great database that we will be able to market directly to," McCullough told Automotive News, referring to the U.S. Olympics program.

"That universe is a large group who buys luxury products every year. Doing more of that direct marketing to the organization is an area that will really produce good benefits for us."

The redesigned 2020 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque arrived in dealership showrooms this summer.

The Range Rover Sport was freshened last year with a new 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine, and the redesigned Defender launches next spring.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard says its athletes will have competed in about 200 global competitions in 2019, with 35 of those in the U.S. The first competition at which Land Rover's logo and vehicles will be seen is scheduled for late November in Vermont.

Part of the sponsorship calls for Land Rover to provide vehicles for 10 of the organization's "athlete ambassadors," which include Olympic gold medalists and world champions.

The company declined to say how much it is spending on the sponsorship.

McCullough said Land Rover is planning a separate marketing campaign for the Defender.