Land Rover I Above and beyond

I can’t think of any car manufacturers whose promotional gifts I would remember. Giving promo mugs with cars worth thirty something million is already quite thin ice. However, in the case of cars that are not bought because of trends but serve a way of life (such as the legendary Defender), it is possible to create accessories instead of giftware.

With the arrival of the new Defender, the manufacturer took on a difficult job with renewing a car that became an icon from a commercial vehicle. The critics did not consider how much the automotive sector and everything that’s related to it (e.g. the buyers) changed since 1948, and so they trash-talked the latest Defender coming out in 2020. I see it differently. There are hardly any tasks more difficult when renewing a design icon – and I think Land Rover took this seriously – than to answer the question: what should a car that was designed in 1948 for agricultural or military tasks and then also became iconic as a hiking and weekend off-road vehicle be like in 2020? I think we can let go of the military and commercial capacities, it is enough if you take a look at the vehicle on the link and everyone will understand what I mean.

I don’t want to dive deeper into trends related to car manufacturing, so let’s just say that I think what Land Rover did was trying to figure out what kind of people are looking for the freedom-danger-driving experiences that originally gave the Defender’s cult status today and what do (or could) they need for that. Starting from here, the new car and the ABOVE & BEYOND collection debuting just now makes total sense.

• design