Member Since: 18 Mar 2007
Location: Dorset
Posts: 5011
Confirmation as to who the new Disco is aimed at?
More indication in todays Telegraph as to exactly where LR are going with their new models... sort of reflects the response the new disco has been getting on here:
Telegraph wrote:
So you’ve got your work cut out if you’re Amy Frascella, Land Rover’s Chief Designer, Colour and Materials. Amy is an American who, having graduated in textile engineering in the States, has worked with various Japanese car brands and Hyundai before landing at Land Rover in 2012. And she's joined a brand in flux, one that is moving from boxy, utilitarian Defenders and Discoverys to ultra-stylish Range Rovers and curvaceous Evoques.
More women, and more urban customers, are flocking to the brand, but still Land Rover must preserve its exemplary rugged, off-road appeal for the countryside dwellers.
How do you convey all this in blue paint and interior plastics, I ask Amy.
“Land Rover has to create differentiation between our products, but not in isolation,” she says. Hence there are signature colours for each model, both inside the car and for the bodywork paint, that reflect their positioning: “sensual, rich, deep” colours for the Range Rover, and “colours that feel more natural” for the Discovery, for example.
“We’re working in conjunction with the 3D teams [the people that design the car shapes]. We need to work harmoniously with them. So we consider how things are moving with other products – furniture, architecture, fashion, performance sportswear, aerospace - but we need things that have staying power – that communicate the character of the brand.”
How, though, do colours reflect the movement upstream by Land Rover into a determinedly more luxury marketplace?
“Rather than creating lots of colours, the colours are becoming more nuanced, tinted,” says Frascella.
“Tinted neutrals, tinted metals, liquid metals,” are apparently the way to reflect luxury right now, especially for a brand that has to paint very big cars and needs a colour that won’t look too garish on big slabs of metal. Land Rover is also doing clever things to create depth in its paint, something that appeals to those looking to spend a serious amount of money on a car.
“We have new paint technology called glass flake pigment. The pigment floats in a resin; it’s thicker, made of glass and looks like some flakes are coming towards you while others are going further away,” says Frascella.
Luxury is also, of course, denoted by materials, and as well as the usual woods and leathers, Land Rover is exploring “luxury sustainability” (as are all premium brands – witness Bentley’s work with stone, protein leathers, glass and wood). While Frascella won’t discuss some new materials that sound like they’ll be unveiled in March at the Geneva show, she does tell me they’re also looking at materials and colours that reflect, or promote, wellbeing in their cars.
It’s all part of the whole: car companies are looking less at building cars and more at creating an experience on the move that satisfies time-starved, stressed individuals. Still, some things are sacrosanct, there to preserve the heart of Land Rover as we know and love the brand. And so, while some colours are created with just a 24-month time frame in mind, in order to help launch a car, others are untouchable, especially the “core neutrals”:
“We may not replace a silver for 15 years,” says Frascella. Another clever use of colour is in hiding the mud from wellies, dogs and kids: “On the new Discovery, we have colour banding,” she says. “Where you enter, we have darker colours in plastic mouldings, which grade to lighter colours as you move up inside the vehicle. Our job is a blending of art and science.”
Not so girly after all, then.
2005 D3 HSE 2011 D4 Landmark 2016 D4 HSE Lux
2017 Ford Tourneo VR46
Club Waitomo
20th Dec 2016 10:22 am
Bill Wright
Member Since: 03 Nov 2007
Location: Glorious Devon
Posts: 3254
“We may not replace a silver for 15 years,” says Frascella. Another clever use of colour is in hiding the mud from wellies, dogs and kids: “On the new Discovery, we have colour banding,” she says. “Where you enter, we have darker colours in plastic mouldings, which grade to lighter colours as you move up inside the vehicle. Our job is a blending of art and science.”
Clever use of colour seesm to involve upping the basic price of paint from £600 to £800 and charging £1600 for the paint with bits in it. As for the plastic mouldings & etc, I reckon that many have of us have worked that out years ago by having dark trim and black leather seats. That article resonates with me as being connected to the "Kings New Clothes". Never take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
D4 SDV6 SE Tech Kaikoura Stone MY15.
20th Dec 2016 10:31 am
fisherman
Member Since: 16 Jan 2007
Location: Hornchurch Essex
Posts: 1789
They take what is essentially a pretty easy job of choosing colours and make it sound really complex and only someone with a degree should attempt it.
off!
Idiot.
I'm getting another D4 and won't be choosing the chintz that is the 5FFRR 2017 4.4SDV8 Autobiography. Cost so much I must be mad!
D4 HSE 2012 Like a second wife, more expensive but goes better! I almost cried this time!
D3 HSE 2006 (Almost 8 years together, true love)
Land Cruiser VX 1994 11 years together, wife cried when I p/ex'd for my D3
20th Dec 2016 10:41 am
crews control
Member Since: 18 Mar 2007
Location: Dorset
Posts: 5011
Quote:
It’s all part of the whole: car companies are looking less at building cars and more at creating an experience on the move that satisfies time-starved, stressed individuals
Thats the D5... we're not building cars any more!
She probably works well with the idiot that doesn't want anyone to use a roof rack?2005 D3 HSE 2011 D4 Landmark 2016 D4 HSE Lux
2017 Ford Tourneo VR46
Club Waitomo
20th Dec 2016 10:47 am
jimbg
Member Since: 19 Apr 2013
Location: UK
Posts: 478
I wonder if they appreciate how ridiculous they sound?
They should keep the arty design types away from the press, I have never met one in any industry who does not appear to come from a different planet!!
20th Dec 2016 10:54 am
fisherman
Member Since: 16 Jan 2007
Location: Hornchurch Essex
Posts: 1789
It's about making sound clever. Some of us see through it. I remember a manager in my old job who tricked his way up to board level just quoting from positive thinking books he got from the U S and A. He was a total prack but could spell better than me!
Just shows why they went under to me.
Ooooh I seem to be having an angry day.
FFRR 2017 4.4SDV8 Autobiography. Cost so much I must be mad!
D4 HSE 2012 Like a second wife, more expensive but goes better! I almost cried this time!
D3 HSE 2006 (Almost 8 years together, true love)
Land Cruiser VX 1994 11 years together, wife cried when I p/ex'd for my D3
20th Dec 2016 10:59 am
artschool
Member Since: 21 Aug 2016
Location: chester
Posts: 230
i think you guys are being too harsh. when i am time-starved & stressed i always love looking at my d4.
if i stare long enough at the corris grey i swear i can see flakes of mud that are coming towards me while others are going further away
20th Dec 2016 11:01 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73131
If they are time starved and stressed how will they be when the crankshaft goes bang? I wonder if the peeps that are going to be new to LR know what they are letting themselves in for.
20th Dec 2016 11:05 am
Madrilleno
Member Since: 13 Oct 2014
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 1788
I have to work with people like her most days. There are two rules for success,
1. Never tell everything you know.
D4 gone!
D5
20th Dec 2016 11:12 am
adam
Member Since: 20 Sep 2005
Location: Home and Happy
Posts: 6917
You lot need to get with the hipster program, you are all so yesterday
The fluency of the design related to the quality of the design materials creates an environment that fulfils the inner desire for harmony - don't you get that?
Some one needs to tell the silly cow we have had it for years on D3's and 4's - its called permagrin
20th Dec 2016 11:17 am
James W
Member Since: 27 Mar 2008
Location: Riyadh, KSA
Posts: 3079
D4 XS, gone, much loved, never forgotten
2018 FFRR SDV8 Autobiography - Gone to someone with less sense and more time to enjoy it
2016 Toyota Hilux Invincible - Liberating experience
20th Dec 2016 11:34 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73131
adam wrote:
its called permagrin
Don't tell her that, she'll want to charge you for that!
Last edited by DSL on 20th Dec 2016 12:04 pm. Edited 1 time in total
20th Dec 2016 11:35 am
petersw
Member Since: 17 Nov 2012
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 1135
I still prefer the paint finish on a Series Land Rover where the paint has moved away and the aluminium is coming towards one.A vaccine does not stop you catching a virus, or passing it on, or getting ill from it, really ill. It does reduce the likelyhood of you dying when really, really ill. Stay Alive - KEEP AWAY FROM PEOPLE.
20th Dec 2016 11:56 am
petersw
Member Since: 17 Nov 2012
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 1135
I apologise for recent comments
Just cannot stop myself biting.
Is it possible the moderators make it so I can read this (D5 part of D4 forum) but stop me commentating please ?Peter
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