Range Rover Evoque designed by Victoria Beckham? NO WAY, says Gerry McGovern

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Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s Design Director, has taken Victoria Beckham to task for claiming to have designed the Range Rover Evoque. Did she?

Five years ago, Land Rover decided the best way to promote the Range Rover Evoque, and deliver a much bigger price tag, was to enlist Victoria Beckham for a Special Edition model.

That price tag was around £80k, thanks to the Beckham association, for a range of cosmetic titivations created with input from the budding designer Mrs Beckham.

Those titivations included a matte paint job, gloss black details, gloss black wheels, aniline leather and some rose gold highlights. Perfect for an aspiring WAG.

Oddly, five years on, Gerry McGovern, Land Rovers Design Director, has suddenly taken umbrage at Mrs Beckham’s involvement in the project, throwing, it seems, a bit of a hissy fit about VB claiming to have ‘designed’ the Evoque special at its launch.

Now it is possible that some thought that meant she’d designed the Evoque when she said “When I designed this car…”, but anyone with half a brain would know she meant she’d designed the titivations. Or at least her name was attached to the titivations.

According to the Daily Mail, McGovern, speaking at an event this week, said:

When we went to China to present it, she stood up in front of the world’s press and said, “When I designed this car…” I said, “Victoria, that wasn’t on the script.”

She didn’t design the car… I’ve forgotten more than that woman will ever know about [car] designing – to be a car designer takes years.

Interestingly, when Victoria Beckham was made a Creative Design Executive at Land Rover in 2010, Gerry McGovern said:

Victoria Beckham is a talented British fashion designer and is extremely knowledgeable about great design and trends. Victoria understands luxury products – she is a Range Rover fan and has been a Range Rover owner for many years.

Her fashion business is now in its third year and her designs are loved by critics and bought by many of the most stylish women in the world. I believe this appointment adds a new dimension to my design team as we continue to design products to appeal to a wider audience.

Clearly this has rankled with Gerry McGovern for years, and we can only assume Land Rover won’t be dealing with the Beckhams in the future, or we can’t imagine his comments would have been made.

Still, it’s good to get things off your chest.