A COMPANY in Huddersfield is driving up exports.
Lockwood-based Land Rover Centre is sending the famous all-terrain vehicles to customers around the globe.
Among its catches, the dealership snared a contract worth £100,000 to supply four specially-adapted Game Safari Land Rovers to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Company. The Land Rovers will be used to ferry holidaymakers around Royal Caribbean's exclusive resort at Labadee in Haiti.
The vehicles were refurbished at Land Rover Centre's Bridge Street premises.
The company, headed by owner Peter Garside, has also built three similar vehicles over the past 12 months for a client in Zambia.
Sales and export manager Mark Griffiths said: "Many people will pass our premises every day - totally unaware of the interesting projects and exports we are involved in.
"As well as buying, selling and servicing vehicles locally, we are one of the UK's largest independent Land Rover specialists and export to more than 25 countries worldwide."
Said Mr Griffiths: "At the moment, we are preparing two brand new Defenders for another client in Zambia.
"We recently sent three Land Rover Defenders to the Cayman Islands, one to St Kitts and have a Range Rover ready to ship to Japan. We also export about 12 Land Rovers a year to private buyers in the USA."
Mr Griffiths said Land Rover Centre had been exporting for more than 25 years.
"In the early years, we had the odd export order," he said. "But we started exporting to America in 1991 and it has grown from there.
"The big step came with the development of our internet site. We have built up a website that now averages 1,500 individual unique visitors a day.
"This has been a major advancement to our business and helps us to contact new customers worldwide. Exporting now accounts for about 20% of total business."
The 12-strong team at Land Rover Centre supplies specially-adapted vehicles for a wide range of customers, including tree surgeons, mining companies and game reserves.
