Page 70 - The Book For Men Fall/Winter 2023

IN THE WORLD OF LUXURY GOODS — FROM WATCHES AND CARS TO There’s also the option for special embroidery and engraving on most hard
fashion and architecture — customization is the great differentiator. The more exclusive a product and the more personal, the more likely a buyer is to develop that elusive emotional connection that secures brand loyal- ty. Range Rover has been acutely aware of this for some time and earlier this year the British firm presented its latest offering in the automotive personalization space: the SV Bespoke commissioning service.
Customization services are not entirely new to the brand. Range Rover has a long history of offering individual personalization to its clients, with forerunners to the current service dating as far back as the early 1990s. Both the Commissioning Suite in the SVO Technical Centre in Britain and the creation of SV Bespoke were fundamental to the creation of Range
Rover Special Vehicle Operations in 2014.
In this latest form, SV Bespoke offers a richer and more comprehensive
commissioning service than the brand has ever previously provided. Of the variety of key figures associated with the program, a total of 391 interior material colourways and 230 paint colours in the SV Bespoke palette are a part of the primary offering. Of course, it wouldn’t be a truly bespoke service without a “match to sample” option. With colour matching, the world is your many-hued oyster; presenting customers with the possibility of replicating any colour – whether a favourite nail varnish, guitar, home appliance, helicopter, or anything else one could want to coordinate with — on their car, with special effect paints even available. This service also allows for individual component finishes, including precious metal script badging, colour-matched wheel in- serts, and combinations of grille and bodyside graphic finishes that wouldn’t normally be possible, providing an almost limitless scope for individuality.
When it comes to the interior configuration, clients can specify any existing Range Rover leather or UltrafabricsTM upholstery, which pairs with stitching, and finisher materials to create utterly unique combinations. Do you want your glove box to be a different colour than your upper and lower dash panels? How about a specific bi-colour steering wheel in leather? Ask and ye shall receive.
materials to add personalisation details to seats, treadplates, and finishers. In essence, SV Bespoke means customers are now able to customize any of their car’s aesthetic elements beyond body panels or components. Range Rover has promised that all requests will be duly considered and clients will be advised if something simply isn’t possible, but it’s a fair and accepted practice across the industry to leave fender flares and hood scoops to the aftermarket
tuning scene.
So how does one go about placing an order? Well, with SV Bespoke now up
and running, the process of commissioning a customized Range Rover can be kicked off in several different ways. The easiest, perhaps, is by walking through the doors of your nearest showroom, but the program wasn’t envisioned as a simple dealership add-on. Instead, once the decision has been made to create an SV Bespoke build — which is currently only available for SV and Autobiog- raphy models — clients will be provided with a range of production paths. Their commission can be completed locally at select global Range Rover dealers or, if convenience is the utmost priority, they can be guided through the process online, via an exclusive virtual service.
In Britain, the SV Bespoke Commissioning Suite has been specially de- signed to facilitate this virtual service — with a group of commissioning experts able to relay the seven-step process and visualizations in real time, via video conference calls. Of course, a fully virtual experience isn’t for everyone and, given the investment such a service requires, we’d be inclined to complete our own SV Bespoke vehicle in the brand’s third offered way. Be warned, though, this final option isn’t especially practical — and certainly isn’t inexpensive. You see, Range Rover also invites its SV Bespoke clients to travel to the SV Bespoke Commissioning Suite in Warwickshire, where they can meet with a commissioning expert in-person and get hands-on with the myriad swatches and samples first-hand. This one-on-one guided experience truly epitomises bespoke luxury and, if you’re about to lay down a healthy stack of cash for your new one-off ride, what better way to immerse yourself in the process?
70 BFM / FW23 AUTO / GETTING PERSONAL