If you are interested in how the new Defender came to be read this.
Retro really isn’t his thing.
gearpatrol.com
So I don’t get people coming up to me saying, “Oh, could you make it more retrospective?” I don’t get marketing coming up to me saying,
could you do this, could you do that. Because, quite frankly, I don’t take any notice of them. I’m employed as a professional. Design is a separate issue for the brand; I’m the spiritual leader for the brand. I define what that vision is, and my team executes it. It might sound very arrogant…which it is.
[
WSC laughs]
That’s not to say I’m not listening to other people, hearing their views and talking about how we get the right balance — from the manufacturing perspective, the engineering perspective and the marketing perspective. But when it comes to the design, when it comes to any of the disciplines where I’m an advocate…you have to respect each others’ disciplines. Don’t tell the designers how to design cars. I don’t tell the finance man how to do all those numbers, et cetera.
In some ways he's right, and in some ways he's VERY wrong.
He's had some odd quotes out there in regard to design, styling, and brand equity; and they don't always jive. He's responsible for one of my favorite concept cars, the Mercury Messanger; which had a very modern, almost architectural design language that seemed to lean on an area of streamlining and waterfalls to produce it's relatively cold shape. They sold that thing a while back, and I missed it.
You look at something like that, something Flash Gordon would drive, and wonder what the hell happened before he hit Land Rover.
Nothing. Nothing happened. You can't just make
everything that clean and perfect; certainly not production cars that exist in the real world, covered in dirt and salt; and that's his fucking problem. Land Rover dealerships don't look real, at this point. He's got an entire stable of concept cars under their wing, so far as styling goes; and not a single one of them looks good dirty.
They don't look
wrong dirty, but they just don't look good that way. The shapes and colors aren't right for it. He should have thought about tire spray, water lines, how snow would melt and where it would leave the road grime drips, whether a dent is hideous or something that adds character... You know, stuff
designers think about.
The man's not a "designer". He's a stylist. His comments on style are subjective, but when he releases something like that Defender (almost textbook styling perfection, which is part of the problem), he can't honestly or intelligently call himself a designer. Any decent
designer would have fixed that rear door, lowered the shoulders, and left the window squares on the drawing room floor.
He made a pretty sculpture that probably won a few awards. He isn't responsible for a brand-building holistic vehicle design, here.
They haven't managed to make that work yet, and because it's so damned perfect line for line, it's forgettable. I don't even remember the thing exists until I see these two threads pop back up.
I'd say the most "Land Rover" vehicle in their stable; the vehicle that's the most well-designed with the brand in it's eye is the Range Rover Sport.
Cheers,
Kennith
ineosgrenadier.com
