From exclusive paint palettes to tailored interiors, the art of personalization is elevating customization to an entirely new level

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How Range Rover is Redefining Bespoke Luxury

From exclusive paint palettes to tailored interiors, the art of personalization is elevating customization to an entirely new level

Alexandra Cheney

28 February 2025

There was a time when the singular decisions of vehicle design departments dictated the color palette and visual expression of a brand, and the romance of cars rolling off an assembly line, complete with pre-selected options and a manufacturer-chosen color, was a statement. As automobiles evolve into technological extensions of our lives, no longer simply modes of transport, but rather displays of personality and statements of taste, the growing demand for personalization throughout the luxury vehicle segment is booming. From Rolls-Royce to Mercedes EQS, Range Rover to Bentley, automakers are investing in individualization.

“Range Rover clients are increasingly choosing to tailor their vehicles with more exclusive bespoke and elevated palette paints,” said Jamal Hameedi, director of SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) at JLR (Jaguar Land Rover). Demand for the most exclusive Range Rover SV models as well as requests for personalized color options have more than doubled recently.

In response, JLR says it will more than double its capacity for bespoke paint and elevated palettes by opening new paint facilities in Castle Bromwich and West Midlands in England, and in Nitra, Slovakia. According to the brand, this will allow more than 17,000 additional bespoke client orders per year and make its most exclusive paint colors available for the first time across its other brands.

Hannah Langridge-Robinson, who has worked in Bespoke for the last nine years, has witnessed the evolution of both customer desires and the technology enabling JLR to push the possibilities of personalization. Very often she can be found in the paint and palette room at SVO working alongside clients to configure their vehicles. COOL HUNTING sat down with Langridge-Robinson in the Cotswolds to discuss Range Rover SV Bespoke, why bespoke vehicles are surging in popularity, and when JLR says “no.” 

We passed by some laser etched graphics into the center console of a Range Rover en route to come sit with you. We’ve never seen that before.

Part of what’s so exciting about Range Rover SV Bespoke is the offerings are adapting and changing. Even more from a technology point of view, it’s enabled us to create more opportunities for personalization, like laser etched graphics.

Where do you begin when customers want this level of bespoke?

Typically, we start with the exterior because it’s the most impactful change a customer can make. Walking up to a vehicle, it’s what everyone else can see, it’s the exemplification of their character that they’re showing to the world. But that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a customer really wants a specific interior.

Which is part of the reason you expanded DuoTone?

We’ve specially curated those for customers to make sure that we can deliver the right color proportion, that all the colors are available in the right locations. Something a lot of people don’t realize is that bespoke can be really overwhelming. If customers want to change every individual part on their car, we’ve found as we’ve gone through this commissioning process over the last few years, that the experience becomes less enjoyable when it’s about each individual part having a color and a finish, and it’s more about, do you want to evoke a DuoTone? Do you want to have a driver focused environment… [or] a passenger focused environment? And we focus a lot of the commission around those questions. How are you going to use the car? Is it for something more formal? Those are the kind of questions we ask based on their lifestyle and how they’re using the car. Then we can tailor [it]. From my point of view, 1,000 options is kind of pointless if we can’t actually deliver what someone really wants.

How do you deliver what someone really wants? I feel like you’ve likely received some outlandish requests. How do you walk the line between allegiance to JLR and allegiance to the customer?

It’s the ‘would you do a pink Range Rover’ question, right? Our standpoint on it is that for a one-off client car that is ultimately a personal vehicle, if they’re adamant that they want something that we can, within warranty, deliver, they can have it. Areas where we might feel a little bit nervous is when we start getting into volume. When customers might want to put their own personal logos, things like that. That’s when we start to censor things. But that really doesn’t happen that often. I think bespoke is for people who don’t feel they can express themselves within the suite of offerings that we have, that are more widely available. And I have to say, I haven’t seen any outrageous commissions.

What do you find in the bespoke journey to most surprise clients on a regular basis?

I would say it goes back to the amount of attention to detail that we would take as part of the client commissioning journey. Adding the amount of glass flake to certain paint colors, for example, that level of input that a client can have is pretty incredible. That can also be the most overwhelming. Also customers’ perception of how we perceive color and how we can adapt and change it. I think if you’re not in the industry and working on developing lots of colors, we see a whole spectrum of colors. What we would recommend, I think that’s probably what surprises people. How far we can stretch the character of the car, what would look good, what combinations really go well together might surprise them as we walk through that commissioning journey.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity