Unveiling of the New Range Rover Velar | Step inside some of the planet’s most exclusive homes | Man’s relationship with dogs | An epic drive through the Isle of Skye | The legendary Beechcraft Bonanza takes to the Skies
INTRODUCING THE RANGE
INTRODUCING THE RANGE ROVER VELAR gear lever, controlling the ventilation and driving systems. Instead, just two rotary controllers float on the piano-black finish of the lower screen. They can control anything – volume, temperature or driving settings – with the screen around them and at their centre changing accordingly. “Land Rover has been using touch screens for a long time,” says Damian Krupiński, JLR’s Infotainment Project Manager, “so it was natural to expand touch control to the climate, seats and Terrain Response. Yes, it’s an innovation, but we’re not really competing with other brands here. We’re going to be compared with smartphones and tablets. They’re all getting smarter and more intuitive. We need to move that way with our vehicles too. We have learnt how to interact with our devices, and we don’t expect our customers to learn again just because they’re in one of our vehicles.” The reasoning behind this echoes a fundamentally smarter approach to vehicle design, present in all the Velar’s details and features. As a car designed for a new market, it needs to look and feel in line with other technologies we have already come to love. “The big difference is that you look at your smartphone while you’re using it, so you don’t need physical feedback. However, when you’re driving, you will need to know that you’ve changed a setting without looking down. But we still wanted to keep the physical controls to a minimum. This is why we came up with these rotary controls which give feedback and can be utilised without looking – but which we can still configure any way we may want,” Krupiński says. “Elegant simplicity, sophistication, “FOR ME, THE BIG THEME refinement, and an unwavering belief in reductionism has been fully employed, with switches being kept to WITH THE RANGE ROVER an absolute minimum to help create a calm VELAR IS HOW TECHNOLOGY sanctuary. This puts more emphasis on getting the proportions of the interior architecture right.” ENABLES DESIGN” Novel details abound in this calm but striking GERRY MCGOVERN cabin; exclusively developed for Velar, wool trim from Danish design-textile maker Kvadrat will sit alongside the highest-grade leather on the options list. Noiseless and surprisingly cool to sit on, wool was once seen as the most luxurious material in which to trim car seats. It is still used on the rear seats of the state limousines of the British Royal family and the Japanese Imperial household. In a world-first, the Velar is bringing it back to slightly more accessible luxury cars. “Velar brings a lot of ideas which challenge traditional pre-conceptions of luxury, and this is one of them,” says Amy Frascella, Land Rover’s Chief Designer for Colour and Materials. “It was an exciting project. Yes, it needs to be a Range Rover. But as Gerry said, we could be freer in our thinking because we were going into a new segment of the market. We want to lead in car material design; we also want to offer a wider choice than just leather. Wool has properties that leather doesn’t. Some people find it more comfortable. They might choose it for a cultural or personal reason, or for the climate in which they live. And of course, some of our design-conscious buyers will already have Kvadrat in their home or office.” Aesthetics, however, includes a number of elements coming together in symphony, and looks in this regard is just one of these notes that need to be hit just right. “Of course design is about creating something beautiful, but to Less is more: from the outside, the Velar’s exquisite proportions and finely drawn lines achieve a unique balance of formality and sleek muscularity 26
Land Rover Magazine showcases stories from around the world that celebrate inner strength and the drive to go Above and Beyond.
In this issue, New Defender is put through its paces by two inspirational young adventurers as they prepare for an expedition to the South Pole. We also celebrate 50 years of Range Rover by taking a journey of discovery to Dubai. As well as looking back, we look to future as a group of visionaries explain the technologies that could change the future for all of us.
In this issue, new Defender is put through its paces by two inspirational young adventurers as they prepare for an expedition to the South Pole. We also celebrate 50 years of Range Rover by taking a journey of discovery to Dubai. As well as looking back, we look to future as a group of visionaries explain the technologies that could change the future for all of us.
Icelandic surfing, enabled by the new Land Rover Defender
| Artisanal globe-making in London with Bellerby & Co
| Gallery of stunning drone photography
| Author Helen Russell explores the meaning of happiness
| Exclusive short story by Jean Macneil
Shenzhen by Range Rover Sport PHEV
| A first drive in the new Range Rover Evoque
| Mid-century modernist architecture in Germany
| George Bamford on what makes true luxury
| Meet moon-walker Charlie Duke
| Carnival subculture in Brazil
Share the passion of a Land Rover-loving community in a remote corner of India
| Experience the thrills of driving on ice in the Range Rover Velar
| Explore stunning Donegal with seafarer Monty Halls and his family
| Relive the child-like sense of wonder captured at the Above & Beyond Tour
| See why the Range Rover PHEV impressed mountaineer Jimmy Chin
| Encounter the most powerful Defender: the Classic Works V8 special
Look back at the birth of the original Land Rover | How Land Rover has driven adventure and scientific exploration | GQ Editor Dylan Jones discusses inspiration with Chief Design Officer Gerry McGovern | Exploring the potential impact of electrification and connected vehicles | Tackling the 999 steep steps up to Heaven’s Gate in China
New Range Rover and Range Rover Sport Plug-in Hybrids | Why Oslo shines as a beacon of electric mobility | Uncovering Mia Suki’s unbridled passion | How Project Hero is optimising crisis response for the Austrian Red Cross | A stunning Norwegian drive in the Range Rover Velar
Unveiling of the New Range Rover Velar | Step inside some of the planet’s most exclusive homes | Man’s relationship with dogs | An epic drive through the Isle of Skye | The legendary Beechcraft Bonanza takes to the Skies
Unboxing of the All-New Discovery | A portrait of the sailing legend, Sir Ben Ainslie | Look into the future of mobility and transportation | Copenhagen – probably the coolest city in the world?
Meet Ratan Tata | Travel through the Outback in a Discovery Sport | Head to California in search of the Lost Coast | Sir Paul Smith and his bespoke Defender | Grass roots Rugby