Land Rover has reportedly previewed a new logo for the Range Rover during a recent investors meeting, with an aim to mimic the designer-fashion aesthetic. While the company has since confirmed the upcoming change, it was likewise careful to message that it’s not going to replace the official logo.
“The Range Rover Motif has been developed as a smaller symbol for where our familiar Range Rover device mark does not fit, such as on a label or as part of a repeating pattern, and within event spaces where an emblem is more appropriate,” Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) told Autocar, which broke the story.
Having seen the designs in question, the automaker was clearly “inspired” by established fashion brands (e.g. Gucci or Coach) that liberally slather their repeating logos across merchandise. Land Rover seems to be preparing to do the same, as it’s easy to imagine the revised Range Rover print being used on vehicle upholstery.
While rebranding is fairly common for vehicle manufacturers, Land Rover has been extremely consistent in its iconography over the years. What’s odd about this is the fact that the brand is still technically Land Rover, with Range Rover serving as the more luxury focused subcategory for select models. All Range Rovers are technically Land Rovers. But it doesn’t always work the other way around while the Discovery and Defender are still in play.
This distinction has created some amount of confusion in the past, especially since the original Range Rover wasn’t technically designed to be a luxury vehicle. It was just more upscale than something like a Jeep Wrangle and has leaned further into the luxury space with every redesign. Sadly, it sounds like things may become even more muddled between Land Rover and Range Rover with the revised branding.
From Autocar:
As part of this strategy, the Land Rover name will take on a new role as a ‘trust mark’, the company has said, meaning it will continue to be used in reference to the drivetrains and technology in the company’s SUVs but will no longer be pitched so overtly as the parent marque.
Nonetheless, CEO Adrian Mardell has previously emphasised that Land Rover will remain an integral part of [Jaguar Land Rover’s] operations and its name will continue to feature on the cars. “I really want to reiterate and put this on record that the Land Rover mark will remain,” he said, following the unveiling of the House of Brands strategy.
“Among its many attributes, Land Rover is rightly synonymous with off-road credentials, with technology capabilities, with significant and huge safety features. It is still integral to our business. It will remain visible on our vehicles. It will remain on our websites, in social media and at our retail sites.”
That makes it sound as though the roundel that denotes Land Rover products (which hasn’t seen any major changes over the last seventy years) will persist on all models. But it won’t be as prominent on Range Rover products, enabling the brand to lean into the designer aesthetic it’s trying to cultivate.
As for the likelihood of the revised marketing paying off, it certainly seems like it could. The kind of people that buy Range Rovers are often the same types that will spend $600 on a t-shirt or $3,000 on a bag because they prominently feature a specific logo. It’s totally plausible that the same logic would apply to the emblems on the front of their SUV. But it’s admittedly difficult for those of us who aren’t part of that demographic to appreciate the proposed changes.
We’ll see how it’s all going to be implemented soon enough. Fingers are crossed that they don’t copy Jaguar in terms of following what’s trendy or fashionable to a fault.
[Images: Jaguar Land Rover]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
