CARS

The Launch of the Kilvington Classic Range Rover, Re-imagined in The Cotswolds 

Cotswold Style were recently invited to The Good Times House in Cheltenham for the launch of the Kilvington Classic Range Rover. A numbered edition of just 200, these iconic vehicles are hand built by an expert, passionate team in The Cotswolds. We spoke to founder Paul Kilvington, who launched Range Rover in North America during the 90s, in an interview where he spoke about the inspiration behind the venture, and his connection with the Range Rover brand heritage.

BY ARCHIE CAWTHRA

30 June 2024

The Kilvington Classic Range Rover

In the 90s Paul Kilvington launched Range Rover in America. Whilst there was no real awareness of the vehicle, the target audience aspired to their perception of the English country lifestyle it represented. This understanding underpinned positioning, direction and styling. He commissioned the Queen’s cousin and society photographer, the late Lord Lichfield to take photographs showing the Range Rover in the natural habitat he epitomised. It was a great success.

Paul Kilvington said, ‘I sense that the time for a re-imagined Range Rover Classic is now. The iconic, handsome shape. The concept of a go anywhere, do anything vehicle, just as at home doing the chores on a country estate as transport to a night at the opera. The only car ever to be exhibited at the Louvre. Of course the current model is a beautiful and very capable vehicle, but does it have quite the same character and style? Is it as engaging? Is it a true reflection of you? Is it as cool?’.

The Kilvington venture combines the 25 years Paul spent developing and building brands with a love of classic cars. Recently he has been creating re-engineered Defenders, for US clients, each bespoke to individual requirements. The Kilvington Classic Range Rover will be equally exclusive, available on a first come, first served basis with limited numbers built each year. It has been created to represent the perfect iteration of the icon, informed by an innate understanding of what the vehicle represents.

Each is hand built with passion in the heart of the Cotswolds, using local businesses and products wherever possible. Form follows function. The DNA and character remain present, without the limitations of 30 year old technology. Attributes are enhanced and issues addressed.

Paul Kilvington at the Kilvington launch at The Good Times House, Cheltenham

Cotswold Style spoke with Paul Kilvington about his career in design, what founded his passion for cars, launching Range Rover in America and the future of Kilvington.

What do you love about Range Rover?

“I’ve always loved Land Rover, it goes way back for me. Back in the day as a designer I was responsible for developing their brand values in the late 80’s, I can still remember them to this day, they were ‘Freedom, supremacy and authenticity’. We’ve tried to remain true to those values with the Kilvington Classic Range Rover. Having been instrumental to develop Land Rover and communicate the values to the dealer network etc, I thought it was about time to put money where my mouth is and develop a product which I thought was absolutely truly reflective of those authentic values back in the day which are still relevant today.’

How has your career developed over the years?

“I had a design business back in the day which launched Range Rover in America, that was a major project! That was the last time I launched a Range Rover, some 30 odd years ago and since then I’ve been doing all sorts of different design work. I think if you're a designer, you're a designer, whether it’s interiors, gardens, cars or boats, all of which I’ve done. In more recent years, we’ve been heavily involved with independent schools, we’ve worked with all the independent schools in the area, in total about 350 over the years so that is a big part. We have also started doing some projects with boats, I have a marine business down in Menorca so I’ve redesigned a couple of boats. Throughout all this my main passion has always been cars, especially Land Rover! So for me, Kilvington is perfect, combining my design passion with my love of cars.

I would love to try private aviation, I’ve always fancied a Spitfire! When I was a kid I wanted three things, an Aston Martin, a Riva boat and the other one was a Spitfire!”

Do you think Range Rover goes best with English country lifestyle?

“When we launched the Range Rover in America we did focus groups on the East and West coast and they were couples with high net worths, they were buying the Range Rover probably as a third or fourth car. We soon began to understand that they didn’t truly understand what Range Rover represented, but what they thought it was all about was their perception of an English country lifestyle so rather than sell them a piece of metal, we actually sold them English country lifestyle. We commissioned the late Lord Lichfield who is a society photographer and the Queen’s cousin and he was the epitomy of the target audience, so he did the photography and it was a huge success, the images look quite cliche now because they were salmon fishing, hunting, shooting etc. The American’s absolutely loved it though.”

One of the photos taken by the Late Lord Lichfield for Range Rover in 1989

What do you love most about your prototype?

“For me the prototype is representative of everything that I think is the best of the classic Range Rover, what I’ve done is created what I feel is the perfect itineration of the Range Rover. It is the classic, two door, we’ve also done some much more contemporary detailing on the car, it is a full leather interior and it’s in six authentic heritage colours.”

The Kilvington Classic film

If you could describe your prototype in three words, what would they be?

“Authenticity, integrity and character.”

What founded your love for cars?

“My love for cars was a little model that my grandmother bought me which was the DB5 James Bond car when I was 3 or 4, when I was 22 I finally got a DB6, grey car with a red interior so it was the same as that little model!

What is special to you about Cheltenham?

“My daughter went to school here and we now live here in Cheltenham, so I was very keen to keep it in The Cotswolds and we’ve managed to do that. From the production to the branding to the venue to the photography, it’s all done by Cheltonians which is fantastic. Cheltenham is a very creative, artistic place and in terms of The Good Times House, it’s an absolutely perfect venue because we are all involved with the Good Times House. We love this place, because it’s true to the values of the Range Rover, a classic, beautiful building which has been enhanced with a contemporary twist.”

The Good Times House, Cheltenham

To find out more about Kilvington Classic, head to their website by clicking here.