Land Rover’s outspoken design boss says that many people – including some inside his own firm – doubted him when he designed the Range Rover Evoque, but added that it ended up “saving” the British brand.
Gerry McGovern told CarAdvice that traditionalists within the brand didn’t believe the Evoque had the potential to sell in large volumes.
“When we first developed that car, they said I was around the twist. ‘You might sell 20 000 a year’, said the marketing guy – haven’t seen that marketing guy around for a while – and yet we’ve been selling 130 000 a year for six years. That car saved us,” McGovern told the Australian publication.
He went on to add that the Velar could perform a similar role for the marque.
“Velar is definitely the most car-like Range Rover ever built, which is why I had to convince the PR guys that we needed to put these vehicles on 22-inch wheels. For me the car is optimum in terms of its proportion and design when it’s got 22-inch wheels on it,” he added.
Interestingly, McGovern revealed an intention to create additional products that would play outside of “traditional segments”.
“I’d like to do a two-door Range Rover, why not? I think there are opportunities to create more unique products as opposed to traditional segments. We’ve got a fierce cadence of vehicles over the coming years, because in this age, we’ve got to be quick to market, we’ve got to be flexible and we’ve got to think outside the box.”
However, he did rule out a seven-seat Range Rover.
“Range Rover is the crown jewels in our model range, so it’s things like formality, elegance, sophistication and the levels of those you dial up from one vehicle to another, which creates that hierarchy and positioning.
“This is why we won’t do a seven-seat Range Rover, because with this vehicle, it’s about exclusivity. The optimum seven-seat vehicle for us is the Discovery, and it’s probably equal or not far off the Range Rover in terms of ‘premium-ness’. But overall the Discovery is about versatility, whereas with Range Rover it’s about refinement.”
