You have probably seen the latest advertisement of Land Rover’s unfortunate New Discovery. Why unfortunate? The main reason is the alteration of design approach in Land Rover by Gerry McGovern. After the departure of the previous design team, Gerry McGovern changed the Land Rover’s design language from a utilitarian vehicle to Mayfair nightclub vehicle.
The departure from the utilitarian design landed in bling design. Unfortunately, all Land Rover products are a product of bling design. Yes, this generates income for the business and people buy the vehicles; however, this is not the Land Rover. For more than a half century, Land Rover was loved for its utilitarian design and behaviour. Removing this notion from the Land Rover equation altered everything.
To explain this in a different way: if Christian Louboutin stopped making high end shoes and focused on slippers, what would happen? It is the opposite situation; however, it summarises the current situation of the Land Rover.
As a result of this alteration, Land Rover customers have no idea what their vehicles are capable of doing in off-road situations and they will probably never use them in this capacity. I assume there will be less than ten per cent of customers who will push the boundaries of a Land Rover vehicle; the rest will use that off-road ability to park on a pavement. Therefore, Land Rover doesn’t need to place that warning in their latest advertisement. The people who would push the boundaries of a Land Rover are already gone.
Photo Credit | Land Rover