Gerry McGovern, Land Rover's chief design officer, appeared at the 2011 seaside launch of his DC100 concept sporting pointy dress shoes and a suit with sleeves shortened for the better appreciation of his cufflinks. He tiptoed over Malibu beach sand, disdaining the unkempt ridges of this granular scenery, and gave the impression that the closest he got to nature was the garnish in a cocktail glass.
One might wonder why the urbane McGovern took the job designing cars whose natural habitat is the very dirtest parts of the outdoors, but for his brilliant transformation of Julian Thomson's 2008 LRX concept into the Range Rover Evoque. That car has made more money for this Indian-owned, Solihull-based 4x4 maker than its wildest dreams of avarice. So if McGovern's lounge car-design oeuvre has been carried over into other models in the Land-Rover canon, then we should pay attention; he has a considerable track record.
And so the smooth lines of the Range Rover are now transmuted into next February's new Discovery model. Like it? Not everyone does. The Discovery's weird ute-on-the-moon vibe has always polarised opinion, and Land Rover thinks that such a 'Marmite' reaction has held it back from realising its true sales potential – despite shifting 1.2 million of the things over the past 27 years. Perhaps they've been forgetting that not everyone hankers after a thirsty and expensive, 2.3-tonne, seven-seat family car with a less-than stellar reliability record, even if it can scale the side of your house.
Read more plus video report:
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