Gilt Groupe promotes Land Rover deal

The Gilt Groupe puts people in glamorous gowns and swanky hotel rooms at steep discounts. Now, the e-commerce site is putting customers in the driver's seat of fancy cars.

With the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Package, on sale at gilt.com until Oct. 6, customers can put $5,000 down to reserve their 2012 Range Rover Evoque Prestige. Gilt will then connect customers with a Land Rover representative to complete the sale.

Once the sale is complete, the $5,000 deposit will be refunded and the buyer will receive a free $5,000 credit to the Gilt Groupe, plus a trip to the U.K. to stay at the luxurious St. James Hotel, visit Land Rover and have a full-day driving experience, coordinated by partner site Jetsetter.

Also appealing to car lovers is the Land Rover experience travel package, through Gilt's Jetsetter site. Guests on these excursions stay for two nights at high-end lodgings in Manchester, Vt., or Carmel, Calif., and get a two-hour driving lesson from a Land Rover instructor while behind the wheel of a Range Rover, a Range Rover Sport or a Land Rover LR4.

The Evoque will also make an appearance at Gilt Groupe pop-up shops in New York, Miami and Chicago. "It's a really good synergy between two brands that are all about luxury and style," said Marshall Porter, Gilt vice president of business development."

Such automotive deals have been rare for Gilt, with the only similar partnership being a July promotion for the Volkswagen Jetta, a Gilt representative said.

By Julie Alvin