ROME – A handshake and then the symbolic delivery of the keys to one of the 50 Defenders that will be supplied to the Guardia di Finanza. Thus took place the ceremony that formalized the purchase of the new fleet of Land Rovers with which the Yellow Flames will carry out their duties on the national territory. On the one hand the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover Italy, Marco Santucci, on the other the Chief of Staff of the Guardia di Finanza, Division General Francesco Greco. In the center, in the huge courtyard of the Piave Barracks where the General Command of the Corps resides, a dozen cars on display set up for the occasion.
The collaboration between Land Rover and the Guardia di Finanza – among the first Public Administrations to purchase vehicles through a European tender – has lasted for at least 20 years. The first official supply of Defender, Discovery and Freelander was in 1994, although two years earlier the British cars were used with reconnaissance and anti-ramming functions, when the phenomenon of armored cars that in the south the smugglers used as battering rams became worrying. force roadblocks. A Land Rover Defender soft top of the Corps was also used by Pope Benedict XVI to bless the people affected by the earthquake in Abruzzo.
“Contributing to the well-being and support of the community is one of the values that intrinsically belong to Land Rover’s DNA and which, in terms of vision, we share with the Guardia di Finanza”, said Marco Santucci, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover Italy. “We are very happy and proud to be able to continue this over ten-year collaboration and to be at the side of those who have always been at the forefront on many fronts every day and who, also thanks to our means, are always able to be at the side of Italians. “. (fp)