Summer Interlude - Drawing on the Past....Once Again.

Continuation of the previous message regards the importance of old fashioned Drawing and Sketching in our modern world.

With provision of very basic sketch and contextual explanation.

Today, everyday experiences are overtly digital, with 'augmented reality' and 'virtual reality' not so far away given immensely available computing power. But it is the tactility and inter-connectedness between self and the creative medium that allows the human spirit to thrive.

And whilst CAD software such as CATIA has developed to such a degree that highly complex products - from cars to aeroplanes - can be created with an astounding degree of sophistication (delineating different systems, packaging efficiency etc) is essential to industry, the software that that is Microsoft 'Paint' to the drawing tools of an iPad, whilst fun, are in comparison to traditional methods, still artificial in feel, more cumbersome and so less rewarding results.

More than ever people need to draw, to feel more connected the world, and not just subsumed into cyberspace. So as to observe and think in a far more considered way.  Thereby raising consciousness and molding more thoughtful behaviour that could be utilised elsewhere in their lives; from basic social interaction to creation of something that is their very own in 2D or eventually 3D.

The importance of drawing in automotive history very well exemplified by the very setting and exhibits at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The vast majority of those vehicles were first imagined upon paper as formative sketches, then high quality (client or boardroom) renderings, and then at the beginning of engineering development as General Arrangement layouts in 1st or 3rd Projection, as sectional cut-aways and areas of specific detail.

Goodwood provided a cornucopia of automotive wonderment across virtually every vehicle segment, from a current Kamaz Dakar Race truck persistently 'drifting', to a stationary Voisin C30 Scooter-mobile sat as a yesteryear oddity amongst the 'Style et Lux' showcase.

In that rarefied realm of tactile design and use, though the Abarth 205 coupe won the event amongst the parade of Bugattis, Bentleys, Abarths etc, for its sheer aesthetic beauty, it was the breadth and uniqueness of Gabriele Voisin's efforts continue to inspire to this day.

Idiosyncratic vision that sought to infuse his vehicles with alternative zeitgeist influences from other arenas, specifically from Modernist architecture and the Art Deco interiors and details of his era. A juxtapostion of the stark and raw against the sumptuous and vibrant. From piano hinges to simply constructed radiator ornament, so as to deliberately contrast against the conventional sculpt and cast method. His work was Futurism made manifest for people to admire, and the avante-garde set to purchase.

But what of the future?...

As regards the disguised Land Rover Defender shown at Goodwood, it vaguely appears that Head of Design Gerry McGovern has chosen to infuse the new vehicle with much of his mid 1990s efforts for Freelander 1.

Using that vehicle as the apparent new baseline/benchmark for the new aesthetic of what is intended as a new icon.

Round headlights sunken into black or transparent rectangular bezels were the mid 1990s 'go to' cue for L-R Design, seeking to morph old style sealed-beam units with modern halogen and now LED clusters. Similarly, the softening of previously heavily rectilinear body forms, providing more rounded shoulders and edges that could create a visual unity through similar and proportionate radii, And at the rear, the same treatment as front: with previously separate round tail lamps still present but absorbed into unified surround..

McGovern's Freelander did much to align L-R with mainstream vehicle aesthetics, so as to open the brand to the then burgeoning middle-classes, their 'lifestyle' being far closer to Safari Parks and Salsa Classes, rather than rural utility or leisure off-roading. But it together with consumer credit is what allowed L-R to substantially grow its volumes and profitability.

And Freelander 1 is now over two decades old, and may now itself be internally viewed - and by younger focus groups - as representing an 'original' L-R look in the modern era.

All will be seen when finally revealed, but seemingly a major departure from old Defender so as to catch-up with the plethora of modern leisure-utility vehicles, from Hi-Lux's to L200s to  Rangers to Navarras to Amaroks and now the X-class.

[NB there's always been heavy VM reliance on JVs in this sector, as seen with GM-Isuzu in the 1970s, Mazda-Ford in the 1980s, Toyota-VW in the 2010s and now Nissan-Mercedes on verge of 2020s.].

If, as seems likely, Defender becomes uni-body construction; the historic body-on-frame methods will be left to the likes of TATA Motors (JLR's parent), Mahindra, Bajaj and the crop of other EM manufacturers across Asia, South America etc who've adopted and adappted or created their own utiliarian workhorses.

And of course - top of the league - Toyota's 70 (ie 79) series and '200' LandCruiser, the globally dominant heavy-duty utility 4x4 for nearly 4 decades

Replacing Defender was always going to be problematic given its expansive personality stretching from a basic Hi-Lux  to accessory laden G-Wagen, with recognition that Defender did not have the low cost-base of Hi-Lux (or Thailand built Ranger) nor engineering integrity of 'Troopie' LandCruiser or G-Wagen.

So what could Land-Rover do? Either:
A. Follow the popular crowd with a brand-enhanced 'me-too' offering to capture a slice of the large global volume from the Japanese and others?
B. Perhaps re-position between mid (ie Ranger) and full-size (ie F-150) to stand-alone, stay unique?
C. Provide 'me-too' softened styling? (a la Freelander)
D. Or again, stand-alone as the individualistic icon and retain it hard edged visual character?

E. Or perhaps even consideration of an IP exercise for the nameplate, by which Land Rover designs and develops Defender 2, who's production rights are then sold to a multitude of mid-level EM countries seeking their own economic development path forward. With the advantage of technical inter-changability across borders so as to foster trade relations, and simultaneously build bridges with Britain.

Without the raft of research required, natural instinct would suggest B-D-E, to restrengthen its lost attributes and taking an intelligent differentiated approach (not Mass per Toyota, not Niche per G-Wagen) that could be latterly built upon, with the diverse customer base.

Let us hope that Land Rover's Business and Product Strategists put as much critical thinking into Defender 2 as was feasibly possible.

[NB in my time there, my boss's 16 year old daughter came for work-experience. On the walls of her cubicle she pinned the written lyrics of various songs of the time: "Design for Life" by The Manic Street Preachers was very apt for the overall design ideology for Defender 2, and since it was classless -  from the Queen to the NGO worker, and could operate as a unifying emblem to overcome the divisive social stirrings of the period].


Beyond Goodwood, we see how vintage meets digital....

The recent showcasing of Bentley's EXP 100GT concept for 2035. Depicted within its own light-show staged behind a slate grey exterior facade, to provide a deliberately hyper-real impression of the marque in the today.

That's what concept cars are all about...building brand imagery.

The AI based vehicle (itself depicting  Autonomous or Driven modes) invariably succeeds in conveying the essence of Bentley in Grande Tourer guise. Expanded with digital overlay that rhetorically can create an alternative universe for the occupants using polarized glass to screen-off the outside world when required and create a seperate existence internally.

Hence, as with other manufacturers, the technological macro-trends have been infused into physically expanded Bentley design cues representing a Retro-Futurism where bespoke 1930s coach-built proportions and belt-lines meets a 2030s interpretation of the Digital.


An Echo of Another Time....

The event's slate grey exterior prompted a memory about an old sketch with similar philosophical overtones back in 1996 for what was expected to be a re-emerging  Rover Cars, striking its own new future-forward path.

And that sketch still exists because it was not digital, could not be accidentally over-written or deliberately erased by a nefarious other.

That hard-copy proves its existence, unlike our present age in which true fact can be lost when over-written with new 'manufactured facts' created simply by digital reproduction.

The 'cyberisation' of mankind through mass digital reproduction, aligned group think and sensationalist trending news stories that create social feed-back loops, has made individuals ostensibly passive yet emotionally reactive, psychologically attuned and thus far more passive-aggressive; with obvious subtexts to what used to be normal everyday conversations.

Drawing / sketching is the very opposite...it is the personal and 'secular' that rewards ones soul and possibly that of others. It is proactive and merges the logical with the emotional, as becomes seen by the very content of the drawn piece, and the manner in which the lines have been applied to the surface.

David Hockney did wonders to have some older folk become new artists through simplistic use of their iPads and its drawing software - outlines, fill-ins etc - but nothing compares to the tactile use of real materials.

And whilst adult 'colouring-in' books became a fad, and a sad one at that having adults mimic children, that did at least engage people, some of whom will have taken a step further towards becoming true artists.

The following describes that 1996 automotive sketch example set in context...the industrial context.

This from an originally small 5-minute 'thumbnail sketch' , regards what then appeared a much brighter future for Rover Cars under BMW stewardship.    

Itself prompted by various confluences of the time.

That small doodle, enlarged on a photocopier, and initially considered as a background template for overlay efforts when considering possible detail changes; if it ever became necessary - which ultimately it did not.

The influences behind that scribble being:

1. The Design Studio work done by Richard Woolley (and others) on the then new R75

2. The need for a new automotive recipe given zeitgeist counter-trend against the then socially distained set of 'flash and crass' BMW drivers. That brilliantly depicted by Audi UK in its 1995 television advert

3. The similar social commentary by Blur in their record 'Charmless Man'

Hence, the possibility of satiating that emergent 'anti-trend' - that was feeding Audi sales - with larger R95 or R105 models for the 21st century, to provide an alternative flip-side British-values character that may be needed by BMW Group, to off-set potentially lost sales if the counter-trend took hold.


The Design Studio -

Geoff Upex had taken over the Studio with David Arbuckle as his left hand man, George Thompson heading Land-Rover, and Richard Woolley heading Rover Cars working on updates of the small Rover cars and the portions of the new 75 (then codenamed R40), and the initial work on new 'R55' model to replace the Rover 45.

By late 1996 a beautiful two-tone dynoc'd 'clay' of the Rover 75 sat in the Studio, light metallic green upper set over Old English White lower, that nod to yesteryear cosmetics emphasised by the full length chrome strip.

That model set amongst a tailor's dummy wearing Harris Tweed jacket and other similar  'mood board' material. It promised  new era beginnings for a brand that had lost its way to foreign competition, shifted social expectations and consumer values]

Richard's efforts were nigh on perfect, as seen by numerous awards.

The body eminating a curvaceous gracefulness (set against Chris Bangle's angular flame surfacing at BMW) that had presence and subtle grandeur. Whilst the front had a slightly menacing look, the top of the quad lights cut to produce a slight frown and the lower indicator / auxillary lamps, parallel to the lower air intake, with downward curvature that replicated the edges of a predatory 'mouth'.

Whilst being indisputably Rover, the overall 'grace' and the perceived 'pace' (if not the 'space' in saloon guise) also had Jaguar-esque overtones, which actually outshone the contemporary Jaguars designed in period.

[NB Both S and X Types terribly formulaic re-interpretations. Partly because of the hard-point limitations of shared Ford and Lincoln platforms, but mostly because of parent Ford's Senior Managements - through J Mays and New Beetle (now ending production) - had overtly focus on legendary brands becoming 'Retro-ised'. Commercially right for BMW's Mini, but poor aesthetic direction for the crop of potential new owners Jaguar sought given relevant competition and their own psychographics.

Things later put right under Ian Callum, himself now 'ending production' at JLR, and starting afresh for himself].

Had BMW's talks about financial incentives with the British government been successful, likely a different ultimate outcome for Rover Cars with support and so future potential.Something Jon Moulton at Alchemy Partners could also well see, when he made his bid, no doubt to sell Rover Cars on to another (likely foreign) Volume Manufacturer

That BMW-UK Gov discussion was about assistance so as to combat the high strength of the Pound that was affecting EU sales for Rover Group. The sought for help was to help bolster export production into Europe and have the flexibility to set the right pricing levels for what was effectively a perceived upscale niche brand there.

But with the opportunity for hindsight, whilst a struggling underfunded commercial entity in itself, because the company then consisted of Land Rover, Mini, Rover and MG, it was a very rare and stimulating place to be.

After the effects of 1970s British Leyland conglomeration, the Honda JV and BAe ownership, that remaining stable of 4 very different marques allowed designers and engineers to effectively play in their very own sand-box.

The Board - itself arguably initially short-sighted, and later hamstrung by the BMW Board - having the onerous task of allocating limited funding for far too many potential opportunities.


Elsewhere in the Studio....

......Gerry McGovern had completed a very good effort on new Freelander, with a curvaceousness that would go down well with all new brand buyers and specifically the subtle cue of the belt-line echoed in the alloy wheels. An element obvious to a designer's eye, but subliminal to a lay-person who would instead subconsciously view it a unified vehicle aesthetic.

......Dave Woodhouse played up his (playful) 'enfant terrible' characater, with radical renditions of various high and low concept stuff, from a radical Defender to the idea of an MGF Speedster. That part of a trophy-cup race series and limited homologation run of high margin MGF's, all with with aero-screens, aero- bodywork, hard-tonneau cover, stripped-out interior and old-style 1960s sidelights....as depicted in the Pop Art comic book style of Roy Lichtenstein.

.....Oliver Le Grice had created the utterly lovely Spirtual and Spirtual Too concepts as 'design-values' driven re-interpretation of a modern Mini, which used a monobox egg-style body and flat-mounted 3-pot engine under the rear seats. In effect a more expansive and prosaic amalgamation of the then marketed Renault Twingo and soon available Daimler Smart; with an iconography of its own.

.....and much else besides with - if properly remembered - the likes of Marek and Tony variously on various concept and current projects.

The female designers, with specific backgrounds, dealt with Interior Design and Social Trend Plotting - disciplines of their own preference and choosing - so hardly a man's world even 25 years ago.

[NB It was their work on the interiors of R100 and R25 that helped Rover enormously in its new European competitive edge...as later described]


The 1995 Audi UK Advert -

Since the mid 1960s the ex ivy League "East-Coasters" - in their own bid to be socially seperate to the rest of the USA and eulogise their European roots - had been driving various Euro marques, from Alfa Romeo to BMW. But it had been German engineering that won out over Italian, and so increasingly 1600s, 2002s had given way to 3 and 5 series. Those cars seen by others in New York and on Wall Street who aspired to be like their social superiors, likewise bought BMW as the badge of their success.

After the City's 'Big Bang' here in London in 1986, the same trends came across the Atlantic, in an effort to replicate the Wall Street vibe, and so BMW and Porsche became the icons of aspiration....which would soon be followed by the rest of the UK with an increasingly bouyant national 1990s economy.

However, those who lead trends and are socially sensitive to whats happening in society at large, and to their once beloved brand (herein BMW) did not want to be seen as part of the new mainstream. And so they sought Audi as the close substitute, as good technically and in the real world even better in Quattro-drivetrain guise, even if a front-forward transverse five-pot was not as agile as a longitudinal low set straight-six or four.

They had had their Porsche and BMW affairs and were growing-up with a family, a dog and the mandatory house in the country, or driving-in from the Stock-broker belt..so a 4WD estate was the perfect solution that was also more understated and so less gauche.

The initial trend-setters had moved on elsewhere, leaving the wannabee red-braces brigade who believed themselves to be Gordon Gheko, to BMWs and Porches.

Although recognised here in London by 1990 or so, by 1995 that rejection of the obvious and increasingly berated codified vehicles had become slowly recognised by others around the UK.

And so Audi UK sought to make the most of this.

But instead of creating an obvious advert, that subtly stated such things, its Advertising Agency brilliantly used reverse psychology and last second re-affirmation for  the current and  potential Audi buyer.

It opens with a breed of 'City Boy' (then colloqually known as a 'Barrow-Boy' to the old guard) extolling his overtly aspirant personality and lifestyle...yet oddly driving an Audi A4 20-valve (four valves per cylinder).

That's the first cognitive trick played by the Ad Agency, now known as cognitive dissonance.

Audi's target audience, that of the socially informed viewer, knows that the man and the car are not 'sympatico', and so the knowing viewer becomes shocked that Audi has become drawn into such a world, and now seems the new symbol of the wannabee.

After intersected images of the City-Boy in the car and amongst his lifestyle friends, the cognitive dissonance grows yet further.

Toward the end, we see he is on a test-drive and returns to the showroom. Greeted by the Audi salesman - taller, classically better looking, far more demure, the salesman asks how the drive went?
"Nah...not my style...you know what I mean!"

The knowing viewer and audience breath a deep sigh of relief, Audi has not (yet)  been tainted with the money of the crass aspirant; Audi's brand persona left in tact. And so able to draw in those who considered themselves simply well to do, decent, nice and old middle-class... the very opposite o so called 'flash trash'.

It was the best advert of the 1990s; and it succeeded in drawing more and more people away from BMWs and into Audis.

[NB Thankyou to Inchcape Audi for uploading the video on youtube....a slice of socio-economic history].


Blur's 'Charmless Man' -

In April 1996 the song 'Charmless Man' was released by Blur as part of a pperiod that was simultaneously known (and so culturally manufactured) 'Brit-Pop' (revival).

(Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede, The Verve etc the musical creators of Brit-Pop, whilst in the Art World, the "YBA's" (Young British Artists consisted of people such as: Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Banksy, Bridget Riley et al. Both artforms deployed a mix of  intellectualised social observation with prime ingredients of either urban 'grunge' or juxtapositions, with an amuse-bouche of both grafitti art and psychedelic graphics that inevitably became de rigeur for the corporate lobby).  

"The story of a Charmless Man" expanded the same social observations made by Audi's Ad Agency; as had become apparent to anyone in London and beyond with any sense of social observation.

[NB Here itself recognised that good literal 'commercial art' was philosophically on par if not infact ahead of  the Art World itself; the City-Boy himself depicted attending new artist Gallery evenings].

The song and video centre on an unpleasant, wealthy and socially ambitious character who epitomised a certain type of go-getting yet wholly toxic 20/30-something City-Boy.

One of a large crowd who see life simply as an extension of the private education matra of 'play the game...play the game'. Himself essentially an English version of the 1980s Patrick Bateman character (violent but presumably without the homocidal tendencies). And his vehicle of choice? The then 'must have' "Whale-Tail" Porsche 911 Targa....of course.

Ultimately his character flaw is that of immense ego predicated upon the need for others' attention. As the lyrics state...."You put it altogether its the model of a charmless man"

The end of the video has reflections of the end of the film 400 Blows by Truffaut as he himself 'breaks-down', runs away from his Porsche (given its manifestation of his Ego which masks his true inner-angst), and opens a door to the band itself and Damien staring straight at him as if staring into his soul.

[NB And also at you the viewer, as if to say 'check yourself' in modern parlance].

The reference to the 400 Blows done to deliberately cross-referance a contemporary band called 'The 400 Blows'; just as Blur's songs cross-referanced other elements of Brit-Pop culture like nemesis Oasis.

Hence, with Blur effectively castigating the worst aspects of ultimately hollow money-worship and social climbing,  this song and video - as with 'Country House' - effectively helped to soften Britain, and create a middle-ground between the still very prevelent Yuppie mentality, by then countrywide (as often typically portrayed by the infamous Estate Agent), and the remnants of the Hippy culture which had previously morphed into Acid House and the early days of the Ibiza scene and aspects of a Drop-Out culture.

'Charmless Man' was much needed commentary that could help an increasingly aspirant nd selfish Britain rediscover its yesteryear values. So as to help tame the zeitgeist, seen with  the awfully predictable dinner party chatter of 20/30-somethings, who were inevitably looking to either test-drive the latest BMW 3-series or seeking one as part of their company renumeration package.

Britain's new middle-class had become the very antithesis of the old middle-class, with  its the liberal-conservative social values, led by typically older upper middle class  people who did not shout about what they did, they just took on the mantle of responsibilities and did it.

And since the demise of Rover (their parents' car of choice) effectively by the late 1970s, they had shifted typically into Volvos, Saabs and Audis.

Hence, after R75, the potential for R95 / R105 was to satiate and grow the still evident and hopefully growing 'Humanist' counter-trend

It had obviously long been recognised that consumer's desire for Premium had become effectively mainstream, as seen with the success of the quality German marques and their then new moves into the lower segments, Audi A2, Merc A-Class, planned BMW 1-series  But it was also recognised that they sold on status badges imbued with not only good quality but much 'technical marketing'....BMW's "Drivers Car", Audi's "Vorsprung durch Technik" etc.

But with the tainting of BMW and argueably likewise Mercedes, there would always be an aspirant  customer base that did not the Germanic, and wanted to escape the mainstream Fords, Vauxhall-Opels, Peugeots.

[NB Renault had actually self-created its own major UK popularity based on the marketing french flair so appealing to the growing female market, but even with great concept cars such as Vel Satis and production cars such as Avantime could not create French Luxury outside of France, since trapped by being too oddball].

And that ultimately meant there was space somewhere between Volkswagen in high-end mainstream and the German premium brands; both in Britain and especially so in Europe as effectively a new alternative entrant, building on success of Rover's small city cars in France, Germany and Italy, themselves seen as upscale given good (female designed) interiors.

Saab and Volvo were enduring a tough time, Saab resorting to a re-engineered but believed simply badge-engineered 9000 from JV platform sharing with FIAT-Lancia, and Volvo extending its aged large car platform with periodic reskins before being absorbed into Ford's PAG division.

So they were increasingly looking tenuous as 'Near Premium' players, which left potential untapped demand and so capacity for any new convincing entrant.

But critically, BMW had been widely successful, growing enormously since the early 1970s, and besides the purchase of Rover Group for its diverse brand portfolio - especially Mini - and access to mainstream B and C segments without diluting its own brand, it was belived that Munich sought to create a strategic fall-back, using an upwardly expanded Rover Cars in case 3,5,7 and new X5 sales flattened-off or even declined in specific markets.

Rover Cars seniors believed that it could access the Audi territory with an increasing portion of the British middle classes seeking an alternative to teutonic German cars with something far 'warmer', distinctly British yet still capable. For people who rejected the stereotypical crassness that BMWs had in the people started to embody.

The creation of a more tasteful 'affordable luxury' option of seperate character eventually in larger car sizes and slowly remove the name Rover from A and B segments, unless they too could be suitably re-invented.

Hence whilst Richard Woolley et al were putting the finishing touches to R75, the (literally) very sketchy R95 and R105 product strategy considerations for a decade plus down the road were being very generally considered in a skunk-works manner.

This outside of the Rover Cars marketing team, who themselves would become eventually involved only years later, after any success  that R75 might enjoy.


The (Very Sketchy) Sketch -

This was one of a few very basically considered body forms created to add far greater gravitas into the brand; drawing on the once illustrious Rover badge ornament.

'Longboat' Body - per Rover's Viking Ship emblem (as then still current)
'Helmet Face' - per previous 'Eric the Viking' bonnet ornament (ceased by the 1940s)

Prow, cabin and stern visually encased within an outer shell; so as to purvey the romantic 1930s long tapered bonnet (with longitudinal BMW IL6 or Rover V8). The 'V' aesthetic to enhance visual dynamic and provide boat-like overtones (akin to classic Launches such as Riva et al).

This reduced frontal area and provided for improved management of overall airflow, to reduce fuel consumption and critically assist NVH (both per wind-noise and tyre noise - itself contained in the wheel envelopes. Ducted and channeled aero to provide that vital element of quietened luxury.

Automated side vents (as vanes and literal coolant veins) enable hot air exit from engine-bay as necessary and provide interesting visual dynamic, bring the car to life and act as just one of the technical story talking-points.

The encompassing 'Shell' with corner Castleations/Turrets - as adopted from orginal Range- Rover for corner visibility (when off-road) but herein when parking and fast apex cornering. So as to create notion of modern-day (1950s) 'Road-Rover', and to convey the cues and perceived strength of the British castle.; accompanied by - if possible - with cabin 'Buttresses' echoing Gothic Cathedrals and Bridges.


The Engineering Strategy -

The basic platform to be theoretically used was an adapted frame and standard component sets from the then P38A Range-Rover. To reduced costs in engineering design, development complexity and make god use of previously cost-ammortised supplier tooling. The reduced weight of the vehicle thus allowing for greater durability of those component sets, obviously especially regards 'chassis' items (steering, suspension, braking etc)

Given the large footprint of the '105' badged model, an extension of the frame in X and Y coordinates for wheelbase and track, and with lower overall loading, the possibility of reduced guage (thickness) of the steel of the ladder chassis onto which the body would placed.

[NB the '105' does not relate to wheelbase length in inches, as the naming system on Land Rover did. Simply repeat of the old Rover model heirachy].

Compared to the P38A, obvious lowering of occupant H-Points (hip points), with extensive use of Rover disguised 5 or 7 series interior hardware, HVAC and electrical systems. Critically use of carry-over air-bag suspension for general ride comfort and the ability to raise and lower ride height for 'town' vs 'highway' driving. (Although 'on air' and not hydraulics, the intention was to mimic  the "magic-carpet" virtues of previous era Citroens (DS/CX/XM) without such complexity and cost.

[NB The softer ride also dampening shock effects on new construction methods and materials].

The repackaged powertrain required that a new single ratio transfer case be set forward compared to Range Rover to avoid cabin intrusion and enable low ground clearance.

As per aesthetic, besides an obvious encased Longboat appearance, the most radical possibility - though highly improbable - was the idea of a' buttress' A pillar which if feasible allowed for the front screen and side windows to become an uninterrupted 180 degree surround entity.

(NB The sketch showing that unlikely possibility to the off-side only, as would be seen on a centre-split 1:5 scale clay model).

The concept was that both narrow and widening 'Prow Front' would provide far better  front impact protection by deflecting the other vehicle away from the cabin, and the forward A-Pillar 'Butress' would operate likewise as deflector elements to also protect the cabin.

The vehicle produced using a mix of traditional and alternative methods. Besides the invisible carry-over elements from Range Rover, the body panels were potentially produced as set of mixed materials. Steel chassis with in-house built steel 'Superleggera/Bird-cage' body frame, upon which steel, aluminium and composite inner-panels and skin panels could be affixed.

The front wings and quarter panels (them-selves impact absorbing and sacrificial in a crash) created from low-cost vacuum-forming  and/or rotational molding methods used by suppliers to the refuse collection industry.

So the best practices taken from other industrial sectors, from the exacting precision of IT hardware outer-cases, to the voluminous, hollow character of rubbish bins and water butts). And with such processes the freedom to create subtle A-surface details, both raised and/or indented for textures, logotype etc.

[NB ironically although basically knowledgeable about refuse vessel production being cheap for the huge quantities made, it was the band Garbage that had prompted that thought earlier in that year].


The Production Strategy -

Given the avoidance of major capital spending on conventional plant tooling etc, and deliberately more labour-intensive practices on interior and exterior (under strict labour agreements) the approach was obviously the merged idiologies of the best of mass-scale manufacture (cost, quality, standardisation) and best of niche manufacture (technical idiosyncracy and hand-built).

A Two Centre Production scheme envisaged to maximise current plant capacity at Solihull and reduce new CapEx needs at Longbridge. The rolling chassis assembled at Solihull along the P38A line, then transported overnight in lower-cost long road-trains to Longbridge.

[NB Herein again the idea prompted by the name Shirley, both the name of a suburb close to Solihull and the motorway, and the name of the lead singer of Garbage].

There a new Rover Cars 'Prestige-Build' Centre (effectively an SVO) itself built by Longbridge employees (under Architect and Civil Engineering oversight) would help fill the excess capacity at Longbridge. So assisting what had been historically fractious Management and Staff industrial relations, and illustrating self-investment into the site.

The production staff (then called 'Associates' per the previous Honda JV influence) would be re-attired in likewise more self-respectful clothing: shirts, ties protected by brown and white technicians coats that were standard issue in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Just as white-collar Britain was 'dressing down' so the Rover
Prestige division would have blue-collar men and women 'dress-up' to reflect a mentality of utmost professionalism.

To avoid typically expensive production-line' costs (involving cradles to support whole cars including engine 'stuff-up'),the new Longbridge line to consist of cantelevered arms supporting under-slung units which held the side 'cant-rails' (or roof rails) of the vehicle frame. Itself built-up until near complete when married-up to the pre-built chassis.

Hence akin to the first mass production schema by Ford and utilised by Austin at Longbridge in the 1920s.


The General Philosophy -

Effectively the re-birth of a luxury saloon with very different avante garde "marine meets archetectural" aesthetics and 'soft-roader' character that was very different from the Teutonic, Germanic competitor set; whilst utilsing the principles of the previously prototyped 1950s Road-Rover, which itself sought product extension of original Land Rover. Itself part of the Marketing Story.

And critically the availability of 2 or AWD capabilities to make the car safe in all conditions (per "Rover Safety bicycle") match Audi's quattro system, and qualify the 'safety' aspect relative to Volvo, by improving front crash dynamics through deflection as much as managing the crumple zone.

And using the best of volume-scale and 'time and motion' streamlined coachbuilding systems. The Prestige Centre itself a showcase from which new customers would personally collect their new cars; so saving on dealer-transfer transportation costs.

Estimated at only 15,000 per year over 5 years (625 cars per day on a 5 day week for 48 weeks of the year); with what ordinarily would be low numbers indicating high unit costs, off-set through reduced with intelligent use of cost-conscious technology transfers from other sectors and creative design, product engineering and manufacturing engineering.

Ultimately the simple scribble was pure theorising and conjecture seeking to create the automotive antidote for the very atttuned buyers who sought to distinguish themselves as seperate to the increasing mainstream premium, which had started to reflect an increasingly egotistical and materialistic society, enraptured with brand-centricism instead of specifically descernable qualities.

And to create a business model that would breath new life into the brand with strong per unit profitability.

With the continuation of BMW engineering excellence as the technical underpinnings the R95/R105 it was to be 'a cut above'. With the then possible opportinity for such brand revision that Rover could move upscale into new 'white space', even moving into Jaguar's effectively defunct Daimler-Sovereign territory.


The Reality of Business -

However, although notionally before its time, and dependent on strong revenues and re-investment from R75, BMW for very good strategic business reasons ultimately went on to divest the Rover Group portfolio to Ford and via a quick but questionable Pheonix Consortium management buyout, so as to cut losses and concentrate on Mini.

Rover Cars and MG would have ideally gone to Alchemy Partners to ensure its mid-term contunuation.

But behind the scenes, the British government was obviously keen to ultimately evolve improved relationships with China, and so via Pheonix Consortium as effectively a stop-gap owner with the temporay creation of MG-Rover.

[NB Itself really only ever a Boys Club for MG Motorsports via X-Power and the commercially irrational decision to revamp the Italian Qvale as an MG X-Power halo car; only adding to cash-burn woes, and so demise].

And so the historic name of Rover - from Victorian Safety bicycle origins and from 1904 with Cars and its 1950s and 1960s domestic, colonial and technical heydays - eventually transmuted to become China's Roewe.

To recite the title of a song by The Verve, that would arrive in 1997, soon after that optomistic sketch in 1996....a 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' of what could have been.
As is so much of Auto industry history; especially when seeking to negotiate the hazards and pitfalls of what was effectively continuation of a brand revival, amongst a plethora of micro-level and macro-level issues and tensions.

Rover was sold to China, and that act, though seen as blasphemous at the time by those in The Midlands, helped UK-China relations at a critical point in global trade history.

It would have been better however to have seen a substantive and well funded Anglo-Sino company formed to rise properly from the ashes as a true Pheonix - so much more than politically useful name.

Alchemy Partners, together with another European VM as partner, could have succeeded in doing just that, with what could have been a British-European-Chinese that bolstered respective businesses across the globe.

Something that would have allowed the UK's Design, Engineering and now AI Services sector to become more heavily entrenched into the Chinese auto-sector, its diverse domestic market and latterday global export market opportunities.

That happened to a degree with Ricardo plc's '2000' plan assisting the set-up of the Rover-Roewe plant in China for SAIC and Nanjing, and qualifying the first batch of vehicles off the line.

But little happened for UK export enterprise between that 'lift and shift' operation and latterday exercises such as Ricardo's recent services to Geely etc.

Perhaps Brexit, if achieved, will provide for that, business leaders both there and here seeking greater integration now that China's own large VMs have made leaps in their own product quality; but still have further to go to become globally competitive on quality.

Ultimately it has been a Slow (Viking) Boat to China, but the possibilities of mixing each country's core engineering competances should allow Britain's Engineering Services sector to once again apply its creative and diverse engineering talents.

And to restate yet again....

.....Behind all of that is the critical ability to draw, so as to communicate to one-self when thinking, and to others when explaining, whether technically, diagramatically or as simple visual aid.

Learn to draw....it will, for many reasons, invariably improve the quality of your life.

Summer Interlude - Drawing on the Past

Summer is here in the UK, during the day people smile more easily, toddlers laugh more, gardens are glorious and the evenings are beautifully balmy.

Relaxation is on many minds, for many the chance to escape through a foreign holiday, for others of more limited means perhaps a day out further afield or just having the opportunity to go to the local park.

Mental relaxation also necessitates avoiding digital screens to reduce stimuli, distraction and reactiveness. It means doing things from the 'centredness' of one's own being - mentally and physically - so as to feel at one with yourself; whether that be taking a walk, gardening, a sport or any other meaningful leisure activity.

Unfortunately, in today's world it seems that old fashioned drawing has become a lost art. Something that was a substantive past-time for yesteryear's 'middle-class', and much appreciated by portions of the self-improving 'working class' (such as the quintessentially naive efforts of 1930s Miners), has for the greater part been forgotten by many.

So although the 1960s brought us Comprehensive education and the possibility of Further Education for the masses - including the 'Art School' for much from Fine Art to Advertising - even that today appears lost to many of the most recent generation.

In what was possibly the last true liberal era, the 1995 song 'Common People' by Pulp provides a wonderful insight via reference to St Martin's College: the iconic destination that represented the hopes and dreams of thousands of aesthetically orientated teenagers looking for entry into a intellectually absorbing life.

It conveys the then still very obvious wealth gap between new cohorts of foreign students compared to the rafts of highly intelligent yet necessarily state assisted British students in a prestigious place of learning. That story repeated in extremis again today but across many British Universities,

(With it seems deplorable mismanagement of student accommodation schemes that have created over-capacity and hollow promises of high yield returns...both students and investors finding themselves let down by the worst of private sector operators; from 'jerry built' accommodation blocks to over-estimated returns).

Critically, whilst the Humanities subjects became extended and overtly exaggerated with uber-Liberal agendas, we have also seen the decline of simple Drawing skills, which has likely been detrimental to the self development of hundreds of thousands.

Since the very act of drawing requires observation and/or imagination...the best melding the two...such as seen by the semi-psychedelic Automotive rendering and Advertising art forms of the 1960s that helped depict the zeitgeist.

Although The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy reflects the remnants of that increasingly lost mid 20th century social perspective - of which often only a few items demonstrate truly great technical, interpretative or imaginary skills - it alone cannot recast the mentality and imagination of the nation. And whilst the likes of David Hockney and Grayson Perry offer different sides of artistic popularism, neither capture the best formative use of art for the layperson in their own life.

At the very beginning drawing should be play - as children do - to simply 'get a feel' for whichever medium used; whether pencil, cheap ball-point 'biro', or expensive draughting pen.

The very act inter-connects the the mental, the spiritual and the physical.

And whereas at the beginning the process is about replicating on paper an object in 'still life' - long before combined objects, people, animals or landscapes.....later that initial concentration on objects plus imagination leads to self-creation and with learning of the material world and technical improvement, the ability to increasingly self-create...to effectively design, and the more done design effectively.

The day Maurice and Spencer Wilks considered recasting the American Willys Jeep in a British mold, it was mythologically done by drawing a layout in the sand on an Anglesey beach.

The initial prototype built had central-steering, which although highly functional, ultimately (in the real world) was thought too unorthodox, given its novelty. This and all the rest now well documented in Land-Rover and British history.

In 1997, 50 Years on from 'Anglesey' Land-Rover was again - as a lower priority project - considering re-making the (only ever periodically and slowly updated) Defender in the modern idiom; for improved quality, reduced cost, manufacturing ease, etc, but was still beholden to its Meccano-like simplicity for maintenance, repair, adaptability and re-configurability.

And so new exploration at Gaydon Technical Centre began, from repeated Centre-Steer and new 4 wheel steer ideas in the Concept Studio (inspired by the radical Judge Dredd City Cab film vehicle and extreme 4WD competition buggies), to Advanced Engineering's Composite-Bodied proof of concept Mule, to the quick 10-minute sketch shown here by myself.

Created one weekend when in Business and Technical (ie Product) Strategy, exploring core principles and possible innovations; to strengthen the brand and grow new business streams.

This sketch with accompanying others of the time focused on the necessity of 'Intelligent Modularity' with easy-swap and plug-and-play parts for the plethora of customer types Defender sold to. And was as concerned for the 4th owner's ability to re-configure with Land Rover approved items, as the 1st owner's. So as to re-strengthen the heart and soul of the brand; as it was becoming somewhat diluted by more lifestyle orientated Discovery and Freelander.

Thus obviously contemporary considerations such as improved fuel efficiency through reduced CdA drag, reduced mass via mixed materials (steel, aluminium, composites), increasing cabin / shoulder width at B post (so full width body and no wheel arch 'eyebrows'),  better all round visibility (per original Range Rover and Discovery 1), the future-proof packaging for potential 48V for Hybrid drive and 'ETO' - Electrical Take Off) etc. And

And critically, the potential creation of a new aesthetic that had much design purity pertaining to form-follows-function 'Modernism' that was so vital to the original .
Rather than simply applying the Retro look that was simultaneously (and for target buyers and so profits rightly) being created by BMW for MINI;  and as would be later seen with Toyota's fashion led reborn  FJ.

Land Rover had had a Design Template that had been evolved to cover the marque, but Defender was a special case in its own right, from the honesty of construction seen in its rivets to the line and proportion ratios that defined its presence).

It was to finally be the vehicle it should have naturally evolved into, had Land Rover's  profits not been diverted into propping-up British Leyland in the 1970s, Austin-Rover in the 1980s and Rover Cars in the 1990s.

Any new Defender had to be of itself, something utterly honest and utterly practical  for true task orientated Defender owners (farmers to utility companies to Defence forces to Overland campers, Boat owners and even surfers) who needed and appreciated rationalist purity.

From a NAS90 successor at the leisure end (is true SUV - sports utility vehicle, not just a trendy acronym as seen elsewhere) to a capable mobile platform at the bespoke fitment 130 end (from MoD 'Pulse ' Ambulance to Cherry Picker to drop side workshop). An Everyman vehicle as at home on a snowbound Scottish hillfarm as an inland lake on Fraser Island, Australia.

(NB Though of course for some status-conscious 'Town-Trendies' Defender has latterly become the very pastiche and so cliche of the wholly style driven 'urban warrior', and so ironically in it's last gasps of production the very opposite of its original essence and archetype)

This sketch was one of three roughly considered for the '90' (shown here), the '110' and '130', notionally given the names Huey, Louie and Dewey. The names obviously drawn from the first production run 'HUE 166' mated to the brilliantly assistive robotic work-mate drones of the 1971 film 'Silent Running'; itself about Eco concerns, which the new vehicle also obviously had to satisfy.

The intent was to make the new vehicle as sympathetic as possible to nature, as the original had been to agriculture as the farmer's friend.

But as with so much in the Automotive world, it effectively stayed upon the 3M Post-It note upon which it was initially conceived.

To do the project justice would have absorbed a level of cost that was unfeasible , since company self funding and BMW's parental funding was being stretched across so many other more important immediate replacement and new pipeline programmes that had greater synergies and promised greater cash generation.

[NB Though 20 years later the idea of that 'Intelligent Modularity' with the 'MMM' nomenclature did underpin the general philosophical concept described in a previous extended web-log: for much needed creative public-investment thinking regards long-life-span Emergency Service Vehicles. Utilising alternative architectures and power-trains for a 'deconstruct / reconstruct' approach. So as to reduce and even-out the long-term annual expenditures from the public purse over a 50+ year timespan].

Those singular and combined efforts at Land Rover in 1997 are - in corporate terms - long forgotten; almost as much as David Bache's efforts in the 1970s that saw radical simplification of the then Series 2A with plastic 'Mehari' type styled outer skin.

But, as they say, "the past is another country".

But so much consideration and exploration into New Defender has gone on in so many sporadic bursts over the decades, that even from inside the Auto-Industry, let alone outside by Defender and 4x4 enthusiasts, an enormous amount of anticipation awaits the final reveal of New Defender.

And whilst its origins are not quite that of those simplistically drawn lines in the sand in Anglesey; it must like the original vehicle take its cue from its spiritual predecessor.

[NB There is a humorous irony here, in that New Defender is set to arrive 22 years on since those quick Post-It Note sketch drawings in which I used a euphemistic sign-off name-tag deploying the number 22.

Hence, I sincerely hope it takes its cues from the 'Intelligent Modularity' approach and the Huey, Lewey and Dewey metaphors and robotic 'personifications'].

However, ultimately the central point to be made here is that it is the very process of sketching and drawing - when done in the right relaxed mindset - that provides a type of spiritual flow for a person.

One that in turn allows that person to ultimately incorporate so many other forms of knowledge; from materials science to facets of sociology.

Thus, in a very over-simplified manner, we should see ourselves as apprenticeship devotees of Leonardo da Vinci. So gradually but powerfully enhancing one's own cognitive ability.

Its a basic but wonderfully 'complete' activity of morphed mind and hand.

Hence over the Summer, Britain could well do with more people picking up sticks and drawing creative lines in the sand.

All good and well to spend time and money in Marks and Spencers, since the high street, the broad retail sector and country's economy needs it.

But also be like Maurice and Spencer Wilks, who even as adults played in the sand, and dreamt of bigger things.

So if you do and have inspired thoughts, later that same day get those thoughts down on paper, in whatever rough and ready form, from a Post-It note to a napkin.

In 1947 the Wilks Brothers did more than create a vehicle, they were a component part of manufacturing a major contribution to British culture, that has been with us ever since. Itself reinterpreted to be re-manufactured as a modern icon today.

Drawing from the past is useful, especially when not done slavishly, but from original philosophical intent....

...But the ability to draw and create so as to exercise the mind for logical. deductive critical thought....is far more useful as a skill.

Pick-up a pencil or pen and start without worry or concern of social embarrassment...since the very process will solidify thoughts and put you eventually directly into the ethereal flow of self-creation.

For 50 weeks of the year the hard heads of investment need to be concerned with Corporate Revenues, EBITDAs, DCF, Growth Rates, Balance Sheets, P/E ratios, Enterprise Values, ROI,  etc since it certainly does not pay to follow the path of the starving artist.

But for the remaining 2 weeks find the heart and soul of the artist, craftsperson, designer and ultimately 'imagineer'.

Yes we live in the digital era, but Britain needs a combination mindsets to substantiate its Industrial and Services Strategy; and the more people who can encompass and unify the left-brain, right-brain mix - as 'Renaissance People' - the more secure the future of Britain.

So when on holiday...scribble away....it will bring a joyousness that little else can provide, as your thoughts materialise in front of you.

Macro-Level Trends - UK Industrial Strategy - Manufacturing Culture.

The effective production of 'Culture' - in the broad sense - inevitably sits on a spectrum that ranges from Cultural Pastiche through to Cultural Appropriation.

It operates in seemingly all fields and Britain has been a past master; in its efforts to appear both timeless (via pastiche) and current (via re-appropriation).

So whilst the then jobbing Venetian 'star-chitect' Palladio may have re-invented the rustic Italian farmhouse in the Neo-Classical manner in the 16th century, the style itself drew greatest appreciation when applied to the 18th century grandiose Manor Houses built across Britain.

That Palladian facade adopted yet again by Rolls and Royce in the early 20th century upon the original 'Manchester Works' 10 - 30 hp models and most famously on the Derby Works 'Silver Ghost'.

As with any super-power of any period, Britain - as with the Dutch previously and Americans latterly - had recognised the enormity of Cultural 'Soft-Power' when seeking global influence.

Such efforts continued via mass media of radio, with of course the BBC World Service of 1932 reboosted in 2016 with various new Sub-Saharan African tribal languages to maintain a worldwide reach and influence.

But more than simply speaking the local language and dialect, all soft-power players have sought to be seen to lead the spread of that which can be regarded as 'High Culture'.

 The very recent Cardiff Singer of the World Competition seeks to do just that. Wherein St David's Hall itself acts as a centrifugal hub for increasingly diverse nationalities and ethnicities. A young Chinese opera singers able to echo the distant voices once heard Italian, German, Austrian and French Opera Houses to an ever increasing worldwide audience, and without being type-cast as Turandot or Liu (as Anna May Wong had been).

The world is today their oyster as more old and new opera houses seek increased diversity to create their own out-reach programmes into the BRICS, CIVETS and Pioneer regions.

Thus Internationalist High Culture is constantly re-manufactured by all to their own advantage. And whereas the opera buffo 'Il Turco in Italia' was once a tainted slight from Italy toward Turkey, it is now regarded as useful diplomatic linchpin.

Today, in a world increasingly cynical of the broadspread and homogenous, for Wales it is the very essence of being small that allows it to momentarily put its own language front of stage. Its own niche historic authenticity gives it an inverted gravitas (yet definitely not inverted snobbery).

So, whilst in our media-saturated, digitally pluggin-in zeitgeist, the fame of The Eisteddfod has shrunk across Britain to largely only well known in Wales (and ironically Argentine Patigonia - where yesteryear settlers migrated), Cardiff Singer of the World operates as an international beacon of High Art.

And as we subsume into the digitally driven Industry 4.0, in which the manufacture of culture plays such an important role, it is humourosly ironic that the name of one TV presenter Josie D'Arby (female and black), echoes the name Joseph Derby (male and white), the 19th century painter who with absolute virtuosity depicted the science and manufacturing might behind the first Industrial Revolution.

That serendipitous juxtaposition may raise a simple smile, but it harks to a future world increasingly devoid of the identity politics that has wrought so much harm, a world where female and black, and white and male, (vice-versa, or any other ethnic combination) need not be set against eachother as socio-political foes.

And as if to highlight the very notion of Manufacturing Culture,  it was enthusing to hear a singer and guest-speaker Rebecca Evans use the automotive metaphors of Ferraris and Lamborghinis when describing the raw power of the voice. Just as it is often said that certain  engines - not just Colombo's V12s - are operatic.

The small town of St Athen, near Cardiff, recently saw Aston Martin's first pre-production DBX model roll-off the line. And no doubt Wales's 4th generation Italians will be delighted when the new Lagonda EV appears; given the brand's obfiscated Latin-Italian derivation; (from La Gondola and romance of buoyed and easy travel over Venetian waterways).

Birmingham may have once had more miles of canals than Venice, but it is Wales that has 'la voce'....eh Sir David and Sir Tom?

Now this all may seem rather esoteric, but the fact is that culture is born from materialism, and materialism is born from culture.

This very well explained over the centuries, from Thorstein Veblen's 1899 work today re-titled as 'Conspicuous Consumption', to the observations of Roland Barthes when equating the wonderment of the Citroen DS to that of a Gothic Cathedral, to the efforts of Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard expanding insight into 'Semiotics' (the study of non-linguistic physical signifiers).

In essence tribal codification, that runs across all societies and increasingly blended; from the 'colours' or chosen branding of an youth street gang..... to the obviously visible age-worn cuffs, shirt collar or jacket by the notional intellectual who displays an inverted snobbery....to long since in the mainstream, the blending of both signifiers by the specific colour, fit and 'distress' of a new pair of jeans made to look old.

For decades if not centuries and eons, mankind has been Manufacturing Culture and Re-Manufacturing Culture; from the wooden spirit masks of byegone Pacific Islanders and African Tribes to the re-imaginings of those totems in the 20th century by the likes of Picasso; and later featured in TV adverts when he himself became a brand.

And well illustrated by the original experimental Expressionism of Vincent van Gogh, through to its deployment as a Cultural Signifier itself on a series Louis Vuitton handbags.

These sold as knowing pastiche for those who wish simultaneously display humouristic self-mockery whilst also enjoying the adoration of others in the know, or not in the know, but without the money to join the exclusive clique.
The psychology of modern materialism runs rings around itself and its avid consumers.

[NB the nuances of hyper-materialism, inverted snobbery and much between always well depicted by the FT's Weekend Magazine's 'Wry Society' column.
A great panacea of a world awash in trends and one-up(wo)manship].

Music, Language, Clothing and other levers of visual and audible social signification, invariably see the niche expanded to mainstream, because when previously niche the specific look or brand reflected specific  associations, whether from social set or technical superiority or invariably a construct of the two; as we saw in the 1980s with German car marques.

But what is interesting is the way that once 'top-down' social signification that is still present, as per the middle-class Boating shoes that never step foot on a boat, or the Aston Martin grille grafted onto mainstream Fords; has long been accompanied by the counter-point of 'bottom-up' trends.

Designer label clothes brands utilising 'urban' fashions to create new more affordable off-shoot sub-brands. Or the way originally subversive Street Art has been incorporated into their retail settings.

The worst elements of urban inner-city centres extracted and the best clinicised into the essence and made hyper-real. In Los Angeles, Compton is re-imagined on Rodeo Drive, whilst in London the once decrepit Kingsland Road is recast as the Kings Road.

And of course the trend of Hybridisation continues, not simply in the powertrains of vehicles, but long seen in much of the fashion world; from impractical crystal-laden Wedge-healed Designer Trainers, to Military Parker coats depicting delicate hand-embroidery.

To keep all levels of the fashion industries going, inspiration must be had from everywhere, forever playing with various complementary and opposing combinations.

But is this fashion-led trend for numerous multiplicities simply a social veneer, or in an on-demand, visually-led cyber-society, was it a precursor to a 'pick and mix' existance, whereby the once Grande Narratives have ended once and for all?

Or, as seems so, do the Grande Narratives continue to adapt (as per the BBC's output, 'British' Opera and the Royal Family) to lead our changing world?

And to what degree by evolutionary or more radical transformation.

These the obvious Cultural compasses that delineated Britishness.
But what of the less immediately obvious, but but more invisibly powerful that increasingly melds the physically manufactured world, as we've known it to date, with the cyber-space realms of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

To be part of that future - given the immense popularity of on-line Games Watching - certain Formula One race teams took the step of creating an on-line championship that have made a crop of young people effective celebrities in their right. As to whether they eventually move into the real machines remains highly debateable; but what has emerged has been The seed of a parallel universe, that complements the original.

The same of a new crop of female racing drivers in the 2019 W-Series, long after names like Michelle Mouton in ARC rallying. And the breakthrough of women's football presently seen in the WWC in France 2019. And inevitably likewise for those physically less able, who through new scientific prosthetics and Bio-Smart cyber-assistance will be able to do what previously could not or would not be done.

The arrival of Marshal McLuhan's "global village" was previously recognised by investment bankers, Corporate Boards and Politicians alike, as that watershed era evolved from enabling Capitalism was just as monumental for commerce as for the uplifted populations. The multiplicity of digital media and Big Data capture, meant that what was Niche  or barely visible had become a more easily identified as simply a Sub-Set of the overall expanded Mainstream.

Previously this web-log highlighted the how the Governmental White Paper on Industrial Strategy sought to simplistically relay the primary 'Challenges' and so opportunities that Britain and much of the rest of the Developed and Developing world faces.

Within an entrenched cyber-age, much of that seeks to utilise the generation and capture of Big Data so as to drive the Internet of Things to meet those main themes, from Ageing to Mobility to Clean Energy, to creation of a Circular Economy, and else besides.

The renewed importance of Eco-Engineering far beyond the 1970s version as described by Victor Papanak et el, to now become married to an expanding Electric and Digital Infrastructure so as to produce Smart Products. Products that could theorectically span all facets of people's physical and psychological lives.

From Autonomous Cars (giving the elderly and infirm new independence, aswell as becoming component parts of an efficient multi-modal transport network) to 'Robo-Pets' (far more sophisticated adult version of the old Tamagotchi) for those on their own who want an pseudo-emotional connection.  

Hence, given the digital advances seen over the last 3 decades, Industry 4.0 promises to offer much, from Energy Use Efficiences to slow Global Warming, to 'Robot Relatonships' (starting with 'Digital Assistants such as 'Alexa') for what appears singulary positive uni-directional Emotional Attachment to the familiar and that which serves our needs. (Thus without the negatives and 'psychological trauma' of real sub-standard human relationships).

Whether those cyber-enabled promises as perceived actually come to fruition awaits to be seen. But let us not be naive or ignorant of ultimate possible social isolation even in a MegaCity and electronic systems dependency.

[Graham Greene's novel 'The Machine Stops' depicts such a distopian world of e-connected single occupant pods, devoid of physical human relations and any interaction with nature...until the machine itself malfunctions and stops].

Massively costly and disruptive Grand Scheme Infrastructures, (the likes of which rarely appear in Britain unless built into a New Town Plan), have never been successful; so it is short-sighted to believe Tomorrow's World arrives in short transition. It was tried in the 1970s (eg Birmingham's Bull Ring Area) and that 'Future' was only made all the more ridiculous by an aftermath of local industry and so local economic stagnation and decline.

Thus, as shown previously, invariably better to base and create national, regional and global technical progress upon 'Rational Futurism' tied to a reality of well established practical and psychological needs.

As the country seeks its own New Future, better to get there through many achievable small steps that make fundamental differences to the quality of life, rather than the rhetoric of overtly theorectical 'high-impact/low-probability' socio-economic 'Moonshots'; that are more akin to yesteryear Sci-Fi comics.

Let the Chinese and Japanese develop the magnetically levatating Maglev train to overcome rail friction, and let the Californians develop the vacuum-based Vactrain to overcome drag;; both China and the USA are immense land masses. And once HS2 is completed at enormous cost, it will deliver little comparative gain over todays train travel times.

The same reasoning about the application of future innovation needs to be applied in all aspects of life, a Cost/Benefit Analaysis from State level down to that of the individual.

When is New Invention truly required to meaningfully re-invourgate, and when should evolutionary Improvement be retained as the expected norm?
For the most part the future path of Britain's Future Industrial Strategy is in the balanced hands of seasoned industrialists and Whitehall stewards, who well recognise the role that macro-economics of the State has upon the micro-economics of the Firm and Households.

As to how many truly experienced and insightful people play such roles is unknown, but there may need to be a stronger connection between intelligent national and regional planning and nation focused corporate strategy and budgeting.

Britain should never again experience the painful and disasterous negotiations seen at the time between BMW and Whitehall in the mid 1990s over Rover Group. Yet that is potentially being played-out again to a lesser degree regards German and Japanese Automotive FDI issues today. Then it was about the strength of Stirling, today it is about Brexit and possible trade tariffs, barriers and a devalued Stirling, which raised the cost of imported materials, components and sub-assemblies.

The depth of reasoned, joined-up thinking behind Rational Futurism needs to in principle span much that is technical. From leading Research Centres such as the Warwick Manufacturing Group, to Start-Ups such as Grenadier (4x4), to New-Sector Entrants such as Dyson (Premium EV) or Gordon Murray's T-series City cars, to Segment Expanders (such as Aston Martin's Lagonda (Premium EV), or the large foreign multi-nationals that steer their own paths and in doing so are such large FDI Providers when necessary, such as TATA Motors (Jaguar Land Rover) or PSA (Vauxhall) today during the recent TIV sales slowdown.

And of course beyond Autos, there are other industrial sectors based around mobility that can utilise the accuracy and efficiencies by data driven cyber-enabled efficiencies, together with Advanced Eco-Propulsion methods and reduced energy use advantages of strong and lightweight Advanced Materials. From Agriculture (field yield maximisation to anaerobic  composting for bio-fuels) to Defence (robot vehicles deployed beyond present mine-clearing, to permanent use at 'The Front-line', 'On Patrol' and in Logistics).

The White Paper's National Industrial Strategy suggests much - far beyond mobility - to regenerate socio-economic improvement.

It encompasses Health (Pharmaceuticals, Bio-Engineering etc), Eco-Construction (through various methods), Eco-Living (our own carbon foot-prints), Food Production and Security (per grains, dairy and meats), Re-cycling (Waste Reduction and Repair to Re-Purposing), Advanced Manufacturing for Mass-Customisation (3D printing deployed for much between surgical implants, to re-manufacture of yesteryear componnets for classic cars or machine parts and 3D scanning and cutting for perfect fit, 'robo-tailored' clothes).

This is then involves all that is Material, all that is tangible; but it is also obviously all that creates a Culture.

By its very nature, it is Manufacturing Culture.

To re-state,, what is now called the Culture Industry has been with us effectively from the beginning of human existance. It was critical to creation and maintaining social structure; most obviously seen by the Egyptian (and other) pyramids, and seen 4,000 years later with today's internet-spread Culture Wars between Left and Right, and idealised cultural multiplicity versus pragmatic cultural unification.

It spans every dimension of life; from the sound-bites that 'earworm' their ways into people's minds (fro yesteryear comedic catchphrases to today's ideological memes).....to the words invented/re-ivented to create sub-texts for specific groups (so creating their own new sub-cultures).....to the clothing, cars and buildings that are created in retro, mainstream or progressive manners, influenced by culture but also massively influencing national and international culture.

Mainstream culture is of course the dominant culture. And that typically and inevitably comprises of slowly absorbed aspects of the new to become influential (to varying degrees) the slowly evolving and adopted norm.

Again to re-state, for much of history mass adoption was that of top-down (ie mimicry of the elite) right up to the death of Queen Victoria. Thereafter, whilst lifetyle aspiration still played a large par for those wishing to be viewed as such at what ever true level (1910s Cordings to 1980s Laura Ashley), the rise of Youth inspired Popular Culture from the 1950s onward, forever altering as each clique and generation sought its own specific idenity.

The obvious late 20th century example being the influx of urbanite sportswear; and the obvious paradox and irony being the way in which expensive designer sportswear has become so prolific, in the bid to be perceived as having greater social value because of premium branding; and the rise of fake 'Pirate' immitions, whose own quality has had to become good to appear convincing to be bought. So raising the question, why a very good quality fake, should not be considered almost as good as the real item?

[NB the irony again being that the creation of quality fakes also creates a skills-base that can be bought by a Designer Label firm when seeking international production expansion].

And though seen as a late 20th century phenomina, that trend toward informality actually started at the beginning of the 20th century amongst the Nouvaeu-Riche, when the American 3-piece suit overtook formal 'Coats'  and when  sports orientated clothes from Tennis, Cricket and Rowing ('Whites'- Jumpers, Trousers) became increasingly de-rigeur to inform the world that a person (male and female) was of the 'leisure class'.

That Oxbridge and Ivy League connected informality was later regenerated as the open-collar shirt and chinos in the early 1990s in Tech-ville, California, which formed the adoption of 'dress down Friday' in so many wanna-be progressive organisations to appear 'Tech-hip'.

And with that continued globalisation, BRIC countries and beyond the younger generations were became 'Codification-Consumers' of their supposed success, from drinking a costly Starbucks drink, to unisex Dockers pants or a 'hand-finished' (not hand-made bespoke) suit to 'any size fits' assortment of BMWs / Audi's / Porsche's, from iPods and iPhones to AppleWatches. All the while job titles became ever more self-inflated and grandiose, until the terms V-P were applied to any middle-ranking manager to attract or keep him/her and the term CEO was self-applied to a one person Start-Up for any one of a million ephemeral 'solutions' or trends.
Global Capitalism became writ-large by efforts to replicate the US West-Coast Entrepreneurialism whose success enabled purchase of Euro-premium products. By the early 2000s, that idiom had become the global mainstream, from San Francisco bay with new Apps based start-ups, to Bombay with much expanded IT Service firms .
And whilst there was the obviously notional Counter-Culture between the 1950s - 1990s, the 1980s Green Entrepreneurs (Anita Roddick et al) meant that corporates had seen the value of 'Shifting Left' almost 3 decades ago, to diversify the workplace, create new consumers from ethnic groups and create the apparent values-driven friendly products and services they sell.

It all meant that what had been an under-current of a possible 'Radical Left' was effectively absorbed into the everyday and became a satiated, satisfied consumer.

As Slavoj Zizek has been saying for years, the 'values moulded' person readily mentally buys into the corporate do-gooding story (eg FairTrade coffee to Charity sponsorhip, the banning of plastic straws or a purchase tax put onto a once free plastic bag so as to 'Save the Planet' (whilst also reducing Overhead costs).

And whilst the zeitgeist is that of "multi-culturalism", it's notion per skin-tone, ethnic background, religion or gender-identity; the apparent diversity of multi-culturalism is channelled into what is in reality normative consumerism and social codification.
And that is the only possible way the social spehere can operate without constant friction since it needs behavioural synergies (norms) for people of different backgrounds and experiences to operate in any kind of harmonious way.

[NB that said, there is still immense friction between different ethnic groups amongst the poorest and wealthiest. For the poor it becomes quickly obvious. For the rich, masked in socialised hyprocrasy  but seen in nepotism and inevitable 'quid pro quo' social interaction].

What is interesting, though not in the edicts of the Industrial Strategy White Paper, yet very pertinent to Britain's place in the world - more than ever after the Brexit Party's EU Parliament seat Wins - is the way Britain now sits outwardly to that world as beyond  atypical White and Christian, so as to reflect the Emerging and Rising nations amongst the Rest of the World.

So, whilst questions regards Britain's Industrial Future are being asked and moulded via new inventions and innovations developed, the answers sought are inevitably connected to  the Culture Industry.

The example of the re-invigorated Rolls Royce and Bentley marques pandering to their newer Arab, Russian and Chinese customers over the last 20 years, aswell as re-connecting with their traditional British, American and European clients, illustrates the dynamic perfectly.

Increasingly Bespoke commissioned cars that meld both British and Foreign National visual identities and cultural stories; from allusion to Arabic Pearl Diving in dash-panel marquetry and exterior paintwork to Chinese Lacquers and Motifs. Whilst the latest R-R Phantom has an 'Art Gallery' situated in the dashboard; so that clients can commission artworks from an array of brand-sanctioned artists that seek to merge British cues and inspirations, with other foreign cultural connotations, or simply focus on the centrality of Britishness as a time-proven cultural export.

As regards that Global Outlook, Britain appears essentially focused upon China, India, Middle East and  Africa; aswell as Australia as a regional springboard.whilst the USA looks to Central-South America, Africa; aswell the strategically important Japan and Pacific Rim.

So, whilst the larger indigenous population of both USA and Britain have for years decried wave after wave of immigration from (respectively) Mexico, Asia and India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and latterly Eastern Europe, (and whilst much of the US is still realistically 'black' and 'white' living very different lives), the fact is that much of the West's future growth path relies upon the growth paths of EM nations; given the West's own aged, comparitively more poorly productive and heavily debt-induced (ie non-wealth creating) societies.

The true economic future has long been recognised as outside of the West, and long before Jim O'Neil mentioned the 'BRIC' economies when at GS.

It was plain to see by the British public when China's SAIC bought Rover and NAG bought MG (for the press tools, 'Blueprints'), when India's TATA Motors bought JLR (for eventual domestic duplication of engineering prowess aswell as premium brands), why Unilever and other FMCGs adopted the early phase sales ploys seen years ago in poorer  'DM' countries and applied them to decliningb'AM' countries, whilst with 'global convergence' growing product selections and sizes in 'EM' countries; and why Boeing created the more recent Alliance with Embraer (to grow USA-Brazilian reciprical FDI, have access to cheaper Engineering Development rates, and gain Latin American airline and military contracts).

Thus, in a 'Converging World' there is an obvious need for distinct in-house and Alliance merged Marketing Strategies and Technical Transfers.
But what of the very essence of Culture?

America, the UK and Europe have of course for decades been exporting various forms of local culture though radio, film, TV  and the internet.

Disney and the BBC long ago became 'worldwide- players promoting a vast plethora of characters, news channels and magazine programmes. Whilst BT sought to stretch its reach to Australia to be able to offer cable services in the late 1990s.
Virtually all Hollywood movies have been shown worldwide (exempting old Communist blocs) since the 1930s and 1940s, with Super Heroes and similar scripts regurgitated time and again, whilst that is British from Fleming's James Bond to Mr Bean to Harry Potter to Downton Abbey to  JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit.

Thus American output typically seen as populist, escapist and comedic whilst British output is seen as rooted in either high-class intrigue (even if inverted for comedy effect) or more high-brow literature-born moralistic tropes.

All well and good, and internationally amongst EM countries, since often starved of any or decent local populist output - much has been devoured both visually on screen and audibly through music, from Glenn Miller and his 'Big Band' to Glenn Close and her 'Fatal Attraction'.

Yet seen from today, such musical and cinema omnipotence seems a long time ago, and whilst undoubtedly Western Culture Industries have maintained global reach, the rise of  national and local productions elsewhere by the late 1980s, prompted a re-think about the Cultural Relationship between the West and the Rest.

What had been very fringe 'hippy music' (ie World Music) became increasingly heard to Anglo ears, whether Paul Simon's 1986 Graceland- so raising the international profile of Ladysmith Black Mambazo - or a decade later in 1996 the Cuban sounds of Buena Vista Social Club.

Although for exploratory and ultimately money-making reasons, the Music Industry was at its fringes connecting the West with either unknown, overlooked or forgotten music  from other nations and ethnicities, it was recognising the depth and breadth of other musical cultures.

The same had happened in the Fine Arts previously with Gaugin portraying Pacific Islanders or Picasso re-interpreting African forms. But unlike the small gallery viewings and high price tags, World Music was (if only very periodically) entering the mainstream of popular radio and the music dedicated MTV channel.  

Yet this was all happening through what was ostensibly American routes as part of its soft-power efforts.

(NB Highly likely as knowing precursors to a) the abandonment of Apartheid in South Africa and the eventual opening-up of Cuba after the fall of Soviet Communism and the death of Castro).

Yet Britain - compared to was arguably in the slow-lane of such all too few efforts. The closest it came to in the 1980s was John Peel's late night BBC1 radio programme that influenced music afficianados. Whilst very localised efforts had been made since the late 1960s for very specific minority audiences, on late night slots, It was not until the late 1990s that such special interest magazine programmes were developed for specific minorities (eg Asian Network, 1976-2002, local radio and regional radio, 2002 on national radio)        

That said, the change in broadcast geographic coverage only really reflected the socio-economic change of Asians, growing wealthier and moving outside Leicester etc into nicer neighbourhoods. And similarly was really only of interest to that ethnic group.

In London and other major cities, what had been unofficial 'pirate' radio stations of amateur broadcasters became formalised, as local sponsors became involved to buoy and grow profiles, with what became partly formalised radio-stations from the 1990s on, offering music and debate from the immigrant's homeland.

[NB the effects were obviously good and bad: maintaining cultural identity but also maintaining the social rifts of homeland problems regards opposing cultures. The problems of 1947 India and Pakistan and 1960s-1970s Cyprus replicated again by the Balkan nations in the 1990s until today.

Many immigrants, first and second generation never left their animosity behind, and retained in, and actually fermented it in, their national culture, even though in another country and generations later].

The coming of satellite TV allowed for more immediate contact with their homelands, accompanying and substituting what had been dedicated weekly and daily newspapers. News then from 'the horses mouth' regards typically the problems and issues there, which all too often (in Europe through the 1990s and 2000s) reflected the property price gains and consumeristic lifestyles of infrastructure and new enterprise spending from governments weaned on what was to become the EU 'sovereign crisis' credit bubble. Balanced with ever more liberal (ie sexualised) entertainment programmes, ironically offset by earnest debates and religious programmes.  

Thus for decades - beyond the Asian Network (given Britain's previous colonial attachment to India) -  no formal policy setting was created, allowing lassez-faire approach to the issue and growth of Ethnicity.

This likely because:
1. The UK based immigrant populations had little wealth / influence (with few esceptions)
2. The specific Mediteranean countries were too small to bother with
3. The Asian countries had yet to start to realise their potential and open-up to British FDI.

Hence, without impetus or prompt, for many decades from the 1950s onward, the topic of global markets had disintegrated with the end of Colonialism and the uncertainty of the Commonwealth. After country by country Independence (from Asia to Africa and into the Carribean, the Land Rovers, Morris's, Austins, Rovers and Jaguars that were at first bought as goodwill gestures by new governments or as Consular vehicles diminished. Often replaced by 'homegrown' CKD vehicles - as part of Import Substition policy - for which the British had to tender.

And as such economies grew and faltered from the 1950s onward - typically with commodity under-capacity, then over-investment and so over-capacity for wavering export markets and so currency crisis - so their own attempts at fast-paced or misconceived industrialisation faltered in turn.  

Thus, quite obviously without integrala and permanent trade relations, Britain (and likewise the USA and European countries) dipped in and out of such 2nd world entities. Such countries blamed the Advanced world for not regulating domestic demand well enough to stabilise international demand for commodities and part-finished goods and so diplomatic relations for decades were loose and on/off.

Without any real imperative, Western governments saw no or little reasons to support any kind of ethno-cultural flourishment within its own borders for typically a small ethnic population, of little material consequence either at home or (often as willing migrants) abroad.

That in part has changed in the last 20 years - especially so concerning the yet further Anglicised Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Afro-Carribean communities, and latterly the the relatively fewer Anglo-Asian communities.

Since the mid 1990s more and more ethnic voices and faces have appeared on radio, TV and film, with the very obvious intention of commercially re-connecting with those EM countries, regions and continents.

Whether that be to set-up new factories in China (eg Hornby and so many others), to attract FDI (as stated) or to produce media programming for export in both English and/or dubbed into the national or local language.

That's why so much from the BBC's Eastenders and Holby City have had an increasing ethnic mix in the cast members, why News slots have more diverse Newscasters, why daytime quiz shows see more and more Afro-Carribean and Indian or Pakistani participants; why ITV's and Channel 4's programming has been much more 'inclusive' and very specifically why each channels high ratings Talent Shows have so many black entrants (seeking their own way to fame).

And perhaps more obviously given greater direct international interaction, why many Premier League, Championship League, League One and League Two football teams have so much ethnic diversity.

Firstly to grow the international viewing audience for UK football by creating domestic player interests, and secondly to, with return of such players, improved footballing standards of those specific EM countries so as to create a growing meaningul football economy.

None of what has been enablers and promoters of 'Diversity', (ie proactive ethnic  placement) which supports local interest from immigrant communities at the home stadium and promotes British football viewing and so commercial demand abroad.
The soft-power capabilities of the UK, so as to become relavant to the EM World - have been operating well for the last 2 decades.

Yes the BBC operating as a .co.uk entity increasingly illustrates its worldwide commercial agenda, as does ITV, Channel 4 and the myriad of other channels designed to create an advertising platform in the UK and to be sold abroad as packaged programming unde rthe guise of a specific brand; whether old drama and comedy series or newer specialist idioms targeted at specific interests groups (eg old classic motorcycles and cars). Or the manner in which the likes of QVC expanded from the USA, soon into the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, China (with CNR), will inevitably expand into the feasibly remaining EM global space organically or via alliances.

But can more be done to export (even what might seem and formulaic) specifically British Culture, and 'Hybridised Culture' beyond what we've established already?
Or does Internationalism inevitably equal an increasingly non-descript mono-culture of global brands that occupy a specific market space? After all the near clone-like visual designs of much of todays premium products - from Apple products to varioulsy sized Range-Rover's - sell on what they represent, can do and assisted by much Technical Marketing to support the premium standing.

Or has the recent greater comparative success of Samsung in the smartphone market demonstrated that everything has an innate price elasticity and subsititional product?

And to that end, does Britain have as much of an International Identity as it previously did? And is it in itself a tradable commodity of quality and superior perfomance; as it once was for Land Rovers in the 1950s and Range Rovers in the 1970s?

es, Rolls Royce Motor Cars to Bentleys to Harris Tweed to the world class Engineering Services of Rolls Royce Aero (and much else) represent 'the Best of British'. But what stops the continual improvement by EM nations regards in nigh-on direct replication and betterment? The Japanese did it tol British elemotorcycles, motorcycles and mainstream cars; just as the Koreans have to the Japanese in the electronics and infotainment content in the automotive realm. And just as the Chinese and Russians have done in creating their own Rolls-Royce interpretations in 2009 and a decade later in 2019....not there yet, but with strategic aim to do so.

Britain can and does capitalise on its soft-power Culture Industries, from the repackaging of old TV shows into new formats for cheap export sales to high art time consuming film-making for those who appreciate quirkiness and character.

And Britain obviously capitalises on its Service Industries, from advanced micro-chip developments by the likes of ARM to the creation of iconic skyscrapers and eco-cities by the likes of Foster and Partners.

But even as the imagineers and creators, should it simply stand 'behind the scenes' of what is done for others in their own national image, or should Britain seek to formulate its own international standing in other countries.

The fleet of purple London Taxis ordered for Baku in 2012 effectively transposed the heart of London into Azerbaijan for the then Eurovision Song Contest. (Itself an EU soft-power exercise to stretch its own influence).

And whilst China's Thamestown sought to replicate all that is British (and other countries), it was overtly hyper-realistic, almost 'Toon-Town like'  in its execution.
Britain - the home of the Industrial Revolution (1.0), and originator in so much that build the modern world from early wrought and cast iron and then Bessimer-process early steel structures through to float-process expansive plate glass. From compact transverse FWD cars to commercialisation of cross-Channel hovercrafts. From a delta-wing, speed of sound passenger aircraft (with France as industrial partner) to advanced crystal-blade jet engines, from the deconstruction of DNA to construction of the internet.

Britain must consider long and hard about how it should self-seed and shape its innate national character, with at its heart a more comprehensive and insightful plan for innovation and invention within domestic and international alliance frameworks.

To better appreciate what should be a recognisable manifestation of Britishness across the world for the 21st century.

The Germanic Bauhaus was recast as 'Internationalist' when it was popularised from Chicago to Brazilia; but that was a manifesto of Modernism and radical shift, in design aswell as typically Republicanism.

Clearly Britain does not seek to cast an ideology, no formulaic industrial style to reflect a shift in the times. The Lessons from Colonialism that in India saw mid-Victorian cottages and houses of the British-Raj in Shimla and Pondicherry and the building of 'Lutyens Delhi' will never again be repeated.

Yet so much more has been culturally planted there and elsewhere, even with a previous tide ofAnti-Colonialism led by the likes of Gandhi and Tagore, from now preserved Morris Oxfords reborn as Hindustan Ambassadors as the heart of the yesteryear taxi fleet, to obviously Cricket and a recognition of how India (and other colonies) was systemised to assist economic output, efficiency and people's quality of life.

And with that improvement went the traditional Saville Row suit, in cut, quality and durability, and the notion of professionalism and officiousness. India's Nehru would contrast that with his own Communist infleunced Mao-like suit. But through cultural appropriation in a very short time, the pop group The Beatles would adopt the Nehru suit with a Mop Top by the mid 1960s.

And because music was and is such a culturally influential medium, the Beatles would relay a new youthful spirit for Britain by fusing the old and formal with the new and informal, as part of the Counter-Culture of the period. As seen on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album, formal antique military clothing  from shops like 'Lord Kitchener's Valet' would be juxtaposed with psychodelic graphics, so as to create what today are termed 'Mash-Ups'.

That spirit of amalgamaton and re-invention was as obviously seen with John Lennon's psychodelic-painted Rolls Royce Phantom V and his likewise re-painted Radford-Mini Cooper.

Those vehicles at the time were the archetypes of Engineering Excellence and Engineering Innovation. Yet also themselves depicting a veneer (near marquetry) of juxtaposed cultural infuences; from Japanese to Tibetan iconography.

Some years ago the old Top Gear team enacted a 'diplomatic mission' to India with a Mini, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar. It had its own manufactured faux-pas, to play down the past and so its own charm; having team's characters mimic more of Wallace and Grommit's lovable and cooperative values, than those of the Victorian names engraved on weather-worn statues and memorials.

And yesterday, the current Top Gear (Harris, McGuinnes and Flintoff) had the Director and Star of the new film 'Yesterday' (centred on Beatles discography) as guests for the 'Star in a Car' lap-time spot. That film itself is - whilst no doubt highly enjoyable - also an obvious soft-power mechanism by Britain to retain strong relations with the likes of India, in a world that long ago shifted Eastwards.

Yet arguably it was John Lennon - by virtue of his own naivete and authenticity for a better world - that had inadvertently (or as a power-play pawn) achieved more to open the eyes of British public to what was then a still highly exotic and (surface seen) humanely driven values-system that at the time of Korea and Viet Nam appeared more alive in the esoteric Far East .

When viewed from both physical and metaphysical angles, Lennon's cars offer might be the simplistic iconic totems  that today enthuses Britain to once  again meld excellence, innovation and 'glocal' cultural sensitivity on the global stage.

Now able to deploy the methods from all four Industrial Revolutions.

From economically feasible specialist low-batch aluminium-alloy smelting reflective of Industry 1.0. Scalable  manufacture of DFM high value goods in Industry 2.0. The ongoing deployment of IT and robotics for intelligent/reconfigurable manufacture. To now the big-data sets that span many activities from product marketing research for a singular product, to the enormous infrastruture efficiencies and so energy gains.

The world-wide-web essentially created the 'Global Village' that John Lennon and Yoko Ono craved (and helped sell Japanese transistor radios).

His big Roller and little Mini had mystical symbolism painted all over them.
Yet because they were such great evocations of 'Engineering and Spirit', they still today offer the mindset that should lead Britain's now globally focused Industrial Strategy.


 

Business Opportunities - Re-Invention of a Military Icon - The Premium Humvee ?

The passing of the 75th D-Day Memorial together with the RAF Flypast for Queen Elizabeth's Official Birthday (spanning Chinook to Eurofighters to 'Red Arrows' BAe Hawks), provided  for a sense of Britishness rarely seen for years, but becoming more apparent as Brexit provides the backdrop for nationalist re-emergence.

For a moment, from a distant vantage point, the sight of the Chinook and Puma (with its load doors open and little 'bubble-nose') had the momentary appearence of Chinook and accompanying Bell-Huey, a sight straight out of the Viet Nam war.

The Royal Household Cavalry were in attendance for Trooping of the Colour (rather than the 'Air Cav' and 'Ride of the Valkeries') and the weather was glorious for all; whether stood on The Mall or peering through the TV screen.

But beyond the Pageantry, 'Pomp and Circumstance', the existence of the military hardware demonstrated the manner in which Britain partners with its international allies when ordering and developing service aircraft - the Chinook from the US and Puma from France. The flypast illustrated as much about international entente-cordial as that of respect for the Monarchy.

(NB the fascinating thing about the Chinook is that it is expected - with development upgrades - to span a century of operational service, up until 2060. The very essence of 'retro-futurism').

Another example of 'retro-futurism' was this week's guest vehicle on Jay Leno's Garage website : The re-cycled, 'up-cycled' and 'premiumised' AM General Humvee, recast by the new start-up Mil-Spec Automotive.

Today's version of recycled military 4 wheel drives is very different to that of the past.

After WW2 farmers and construction men bought the Willys and Ford Jeeps as utility runabouts, able to power on-site machinery from their bolt-on or pre-existing Power Take-Off units. A decade later ex-military Land Rovers were deployed in the same way, cheap and cheerful and very useful tools to do a multitude of tasks. (Their spiritual successors today being Quad-ATVs and Side-by-Sides).

But the second-life of ex-military 'Hummers' (derived from the acronym HMMWV - High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) are very very different in prospect.

It follows the previously created path of the glamourised hard-core 4x4; as pioneered by the Mercedes Gelandewagen in high-end and AMG trim, and the subsequent various aftermarket converters of Land Rover Defenders and Jeep Wranglers, initially by British adapters such as Twisted, Khan, Chelsea Tractor and others.

The Humvee's very being and so packaging / architecture was designed in the 1980s, broad, long and heavy with adequate ground-clearance across large stretches of varied terrain; well ahead of time for major operational use and so recognition in Operation Desert Storm across Iraq-Kuwait during the early 1990s

 The very antithesis of the legendary Jeep, and its M151 sucessor, it was an enlargement and specialisation of the 'COTS' (commercially available off-the-shelf) Dodge's, Chevys and Fords; yet with seemingly lesser practicality.

Big, bulky and with limited carrying capacity of people and cargo, it was at first greeted with disbelief by the rest of the Military Engineering community.

[NB Whilst with Land Rover Business and Technical Strategy in the mid-late 1990s ('a lifetime ago') - interaction with then SVO Defence Contracts team (led by the gentlemanly George Adams) was necessary when scoping the possibilities of a new forward control vehicle as a Joint Venture prospect with another very well respected military manufacturer.

It was then - whilst absorbed in 'MoD Services-Spec' requirements from any new vehicle - that the Land Rover team's initial perspective on the Humvee was sought and readily given. It had - until 1990 and use in the desert - made no sense given the need for "mountain goat agility", carrying capacity and compactness for severe off road/forest and urban-conflict environments.

History would illustrate why the Humvee came into its own as a desert LDP (Long Distance Patrol) vehicle before becoming 'Up-Armoured' for urban-conflict patrol use].

After Desert Storm and later conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan in the 2000s with much media coverage, the Humvee obviously became seen as the soldiers best friend by the public. Even if not quite so true in the field when initially very prone to bullets and land-mines. It looked tough, but unless upgraded with ballistic protection, was definitely not.

The failings of the Humvee have been recognised and its replacement involves a mix of lightly re-engineered COST vehicles to reduce costs, and creation of various new vehicles within-built  Ambush Protection, in light and heavy guises of GVW, under the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle moniker.

The now ageing and defunct Humvees have since 2009 been gradually sold-off by the US government through military surplus sales channels, which themselves have created a network effect of US regional and international on-sellers and direct-sellers. Typical are the likes of websites like www.govplanet.eu for the European markets, and www.humveeuk.com in Britain.

As of this week, Govplanet illustrates a US government auction with a reserve of $2,000 (Eur 1,764) for a 2001 two-door soft-top. Other past indicators show the wide availability, from under $1,000 for a shell and basic ancilleries to $20,000 for a cosmetically refurbished 4-door hard-top vehicle.

The median price though is around the $5-6,000 mark for direct ex-Army stuff, and around $15,000 for lightly refurbished vehicles.

But whilst the public gaining access to Humvees was much improved over the narrow sales channels for ex-Army vehicles before the internet, web forums allow those in the know and those interested in private purchase, to better understand the important issues around purchase, ownership, maintenance and resale.  

And web commentators and youtubers like Doug Demuro allow for good direct insights of such matters via postings such as his Jalopnik column.

The three young founders of Mil-Spec - as per Jay Leno's Garage this week - have obviously reviewed the marketspace to their offering, and believe that there is potential for a  'better than new' Humvee in the private sphere, something wholly re-furbished and upgraded inside the cabin, replacing vacuum formed plastics with aluminium and luxury materials and finishes, aswell as aesthetic upgrades to various external features, such as turn signals, lamps, bumper bar, wheels, tyres.

And with conjoined academic backgrounds in Design and Economics, it was self-presumed they knew how to research the potential market, devise a healthy cost vs retail price profit and set-out a low set-up cost start with low cashflow demands within the overall business plan  well before setting up. And on paper they no doubt did.

The asking price for the apparently much improved Mil-Spec Humvee is $218,000.

That is an awfully large amount of money, especially so when seen by those many Humvee-literate people who know the vehicle and know its mechanics and know the actual cost of turning a 'pigs ear' into a 'velvet purse'.

If the business is successful, they view that 'velvet purse' as going straight into the founders' pockets for relatively little outlay in BOM (bill of materials) and strip and rebuild time, given the starkness and simplicity of the Humvee, even with fancy GPS connected instrument dials.

Inevitably, the comments section of the website immediately drew detractors of the 3 young men, their offering and the business model.

Some highlighted that there are already Humvee refurbishers turning over a basic living by doing one or two vehicles and selling them on to buyers who are looking for something affordable other than a standard American 4x4 Pick-Up truck or SUV.

Others view the founders as simply 'rich kids' who are squandering Dad's money on a frivolous and ill-considered business venture for whom their are few actual buyers beyond the ignorant wealthy as a momentary plaything.

The founders see things differently, believing they have a recipe for success in resuscitating at a premium level what might be forgotten hero vehicle.

If actually plausible and the first 10-20 units sold provide a solid cashflow to pay-down any start-up debts (likely bootstrap finance from family) and provide a substantive cash cushion by which to expand internationally to likewise select buyers (such as the Arab states) then there could be a viable outcome, the Up-cycled Humvee seen as the enlarged spiritual successor to Lamborghini LM, if far more luxurious fitments and accessories can be introduced.

At this point the founders obviously need to focus on immediate retail possibilities to gain income. But simultaneously they need to start considering what their true USP is besides basic mechanical improvement and lightly 'blinged' cosmetics.

Just as the Humvee in the field had various guises, so must the Mil-Spec breed across the world to match and surpass local buyer expectations.

Those 3 young men need to start truly exploring how very specific  'bolt-on' product design possibilities can provide additional new 'after-sales' revenue streams.

The military personnel who configured and reconfigured the Humvees from their  Motor Pools had to provide as best they could a product that would be driven by their colleagues over deserts and plains and had to surmount ravines and rivers; in all types of guise, from 'Helmet Top's in Helmund, to stripped-down low-silhouette reconnaissance buggies, before the taking of Basra.

Mil-Spec should adopt that military mindset, to think about strategy like a General, and vehicle details like an Engineering Corps Technician.

The Arabs loved the old Dodge Powerwagon, from the early oilfield days, because it was 'Always Faithful' to them; and such histories also offer guidance.

The Humvee in action was not always so faithful, with its many mechanical faults, but Mil-Spec should remember the arguably over-touted phrase "Semper Fidelis" of the Marine Corps, to be Always Faithful to itself and its customers.

And if that means reconfiguring the business model itself as learning provides valuable input, don't be dissuaded from the original mission.

Importantly for the new business helping to put life back into Detroit, it would be good to prove the naysayers ultimately wrong, by taking the truths of what they say to remold the venture as it progresses.

Remember, every good General listens to what is said in the AM to tweak strategy and tactics by the PM.  

D - Day : 6th June 1944 - 75 Years On.

In an age when supposed statesmen of different political persuasions 'tweet' all too base insults, and swathes of 'the people' think themselves social revolutionaries simply by wearing slogan shirts, attending protests and wasting large sums on costly protest toys, the difference between "their age and ours" is only too starkly obvious.

To echo the words of those enormously brave, but oh so modest...
"We are just the Veterans...the real heroes are down there".

The time difference between then and now is less than a lifetime.....but it appears an eternity.