I added the qualifier, “but”, there, because it is required.

You don’t carry a rucksack and wear a sharp suit. It just doesn’t work. You carry a sports bag or similar instead. Ideally one that doesn’t (necessarily) have Nike written all over it or make you look like a rather old high school student.

If you carry a rucksack it immediately screws up the shoulders and back material of the suit. Worse, if like half the men on the platform, you opt to carry the rucksack on just one shoulder, it seriously disfigures that section of the suit.

There are a few occasions when it’s permissible without the wearer rendered the status of low-level-chump. I suppose if you’re going to the gym later, fair enough. If you ride a bike or a motorbike, I suppose that is ok. Combine it with a bike helmet and you’re all set (a la Boris Johnson).

But if you’re just carrying the rucksack because you couldn’t think of anything else to do, seriously … think twice. Think about the damage you’re doing to the suit. And how much of a chump you look.

The post When did chaps in suits start carrying rucksacks? appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

I was given some at Christmas and I’ve been using it regularly. Suddenly I have run out. I’m not sure if this is due to over use. I thought there was at least half left. I wonder if one of my sons has spent the morning spraying it everywhere. That would account for what feels like half of it disappearing.

Anyway. In these Amazon listings for the Chanel aftershave I happened to scroll to one entry written by a lady describing that although expensive (the “EDT” is £58 for 50ml) she likes to give it to her husband as something special. [wait for it]. For either Crimbo or birthdays.

Immediately millions of pounds of marketing my the Chanel brand team has been disassembled by a lady somewhere in the UK in a relatively innocent comment on Amazon of all places.

I can’t stand the word Crimbo. It seriously annoys me.

I can’t even define why. It’s that bad.

I think it’s the utter nonchalance of topic that is required by the phrase that grates on me — that is, reducing the whole Christmas concept down to an occasion dedicated to “expensive but nice” gifts.

I would be delighted to see the Internet authorities impose a blanket switch making all references of “crimbo” automatically change to “Christmas”.

As for the aftershave, I didn’t bother in the end. I think I will get some Penhaligons instead.

So. Of you are a regular holiday weekend, please think about the situation ant suggestions?

The post Is it wrong to be infuriated by the word ‘Crimbo’? appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

Everyone that I’ve spoken to about the destination has emphasised how much you need to book ahead. Indeed, some have suggested to me that you effectively “need to book everything” because it gets so busy.

For example, if you’d like to participate in an Archery club or get a back massage, you need to book those before you arrive online.

The wealth of activities offered by Center Parcs is ridiculously comprehensive. I’d seen a few options for toddlers that caught my attention including the ability to create a handprint in some pottery. Something I’m sure they’d enjoy messing around with and something we could “take home”. There was even the opportunity to arrange some photography sessions for the family and/or the children.

However everything of relevance was already sold out. This is fair enough given that we booked the weekend about 2 weeks out.

If you recall I paid for the bikes when we booked. My wife and I decided that this was a good idea. But we were not able to add any extras during booking. So I logged in and booked two cycle seats (for the boys) and 4x cycle helmets.

This was straight forward. I had to use my booking reference and the arrival date to login and then I went through the convoluted menus. It’s from 2002. Not a single user interface expert has cast their eye over this process. It’s fine, but by way of example, you have to click on an item. That gets you the description. Then you have to click for more details to actually see if it’s available. Stupid. Because you can’t tell what’s actually available and what’s booked out without having to click-click-click-click everywhere.

The process does work, though. But as someone who appreciates simplicity and elegance, it was like pulling teeth.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the whole item booking process is payment. It’s as though Center Parcs don’t know who I am.

Well, they don’t.

I paid.

And then I have to pay again for ANYTHING else I add to my “experience”. Each transaction is treated as a completely standalone happening.

What’s astonishing is that, at the credit card payment page, they can’t even be bothered to remember or suggest my address.

I had to do a completely new transaction with the credit card. Laborious, but it worked.

And interestingly… notice that the start date and expiry date on THAT form is arranged correctly, unlike the main holiday booking system.

Right. Next up: I’ll tell you how we got on actually *in* resort.

The post Part 2 of the Center Parcs Experience: Booking items ahead of time appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

Sometimes I’d like the option to quickly zip around my face before/during/after the shower and get on with my day.

I was in Boots the other day looking and I was overcome with choice. In a Tesco Extra I really couldn’t pick out the difference between the £39 model and the £180 model beyond some basics (e.g. one needs to be plugged in constantly, the other has a fairly hefty battery).

I’m not sure what brand to use.

I’m not sure what price point is sensible either.

This is where Amazon is absolutely useless.

I searched for Electric Shavers and got hundreds of results. I was about to buy one Phillips model when I read a review, possibly written by an arse (there’s no way of telling) who likened his £160 purchase to be almost exactly the same as the £45 model he’d already bought. That made me pause.

Gahhh.

So I’d very much welcome your feedback. What do you recommend? Which brands? Braun? Remington? Phillips?

What features?

I think I need:

• Cordless
• Battery that doesn’t need charging every time
• Good blade?
• Zero maintenance or thereabouts

I could seriously justify buying a £25, £50, or £200 model given that it’s something that I’d probably be using regularly.

Thoughts?

The post What is the best electric shaver to buy? appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

Center Parcs UK, according to the Wikipedia entry, is a network of four holiday villages offering a range of family friendly activities.

And it’s the family bit that appeals to me. We have two young children (an almost 3 year old and a newly 1 year old). Friends and work colleagues have described the best part of the Center Parcs experience being that you can “chuck everything in the car,” and then once you’ve arrived, “dump the car for the week.”

We’ve opted for a New Executive Lodge. We made the decision based on the 6 or 7 pictures displayed along with a stupidly small badly scanned floor-plan layout. I simply cannot stand this approach used by so many travel companies. Why can’t they show full size images? And MORE than 6 or 7? And why can’t they show huge full resolution ones so my wife and I can umm and ahh properly? Instead we had to squint and then buy it the Apple way — i.e. look down the list to the most expensive one and make a base assumption that we a) wanted to spend that amount of money and b) that this offered the best range of facilities. For the dates we were booking there wasn’t much cost difference between the different styles.

I realise that elsewhere it’s possible to find bigger images. I don’t expect to have to go hunting for them though. However, I recognise why. The Center Parcs online presence hasn’t been overhauled for years. Or, if it has, it’s been done excruciatingly badly. It’s fundamentally a bolt-on to (I imagine?) the physical brochures that I’ve never ever seen. The assumption, I suppose, is that you’ve phoned up and asked for a brochure. The website appears to be a transaction engine — a flipping rubbish one, by the way — rather than the portal for managing your vacation experience in the run-up to the event.

Registering an account
The first thing I did when we sat down to “book” was to hunt around for the “create an account” or “register now” button. I thought it would be useful to establish a record of business with the company. You know, get the account sorted with the name, address, children’s details and whatnot so that it would make things easy for the actual booking. I also thought they’d probably want to take my credit card then so that I don’t need to type it in during the booking. I am, you see, intending booking multiple Center Parcs experiences.

There’s no account facility. None that I could see.

Fine, fine.

We began the booking process. That was fairly pedestrian to begin with. Select the party size, desired location, holiday type (weekend, mid-week, etc) and finally the dates.

The different types of lodges are then displayed along with pricing and relevant notes (“Just 1 left!”). Again this is all good.

Having selected the lodge we then needed to choose our desired locations from the available FOUR choices. Heh. We had a choice of four specific villas, each helpfully numbered. However in order to make a decision, we had to download a huge PDF file that took — I kid ye not — about 3 minutes to download. (We’ve a pretty fast internet connection!)

My wife and I just stared into space. I sat cursing the Director of IT / Commerce — whoever he or she is — at Center Parcs. Who decided this was a brilliant fix? Why not pop-up a simple screen showing the locations in context and… oh I can’t be bothered to even write it out.

So this was a rubbish experience. We arsed about trying to find the various numbers on the plan. As folk new to the whole thing, we didn’t have a clue.

I wanted a choice though. You can just turn up and be allocated somewhere. I felt we should at least have some degree of control. So we paid the extra cash — £39 — and selected one of the villas.

Or, more accurately, I selected a drop down villa number from a list. How experiential.

Adding Extras
I felt a little more at home at the extras screen where we were given a long list of additional things we could add to our package. I selected two bikes. Friends have told me it’s wise to get them booked ahead of time. I then read the small print and found you’d have to order the other bits — like a seat/hats for the children and whatnot — when you’d done your main transaction. Stupid. But acceptable, given we’ve got this far into the process.

I impulse bought some fire logs. That appealed to the caveman inside me. We evaluated whether to buy some discount meal vouchers (25% off) and decided that this wasn’t a big enough incentive.

We scanned the rest of the list then, content, proceeded to the next step.

Paying
I openly cursed the utter idiots who designed the pay screen: What sensible right minded person puts the credit card EXPIRY date ahead of the start date? I had to do some double-takes.

That seriously annoyed me. It indicates someone wasn’t really paying attention. On every credit card I have, the sequence is start date then expiry date. Gahhh.

We hit purchase.

And the credit card transaction failed. The Center Parcs system unhelpfully told us there had been a problem with our card and, thank you very much, please start again.

I stared open-mouthed at the screen, unable — for a few moments — to deal with the user experience.

You what?

We have to start again? The 20 minutes we’d invested was erased in a second. Remember all that time we had to spend waiting for the PDF to download to determine what villa to buy? Not good.

My wife wasn’t impressed. I was flipping furious.

Quickly we realised I’d got the expiry date wrong on the card. Idiot. But goodness me where was the error checking? Or the “oops, that didn’t work, try again?” screen?

To just terminate the process is utterly ridiculous.

We started again.

And I had a sneaky suspicion that the villa we’d spent ages selecting would no longer be available. It wasn’t. Of course not. I suspected that it was probably locked in the Center Parcs booking system pending my other transaction.

So we ended up booking another one.

I did give serious consideration to not bothering. But I relaxed. I thought of the children.

Post-Purchase
The transaction complete screen was a big relief. We were then presented with a huge amount of other options that we could add to our package in the run up to the commencement of the break.

I immediately hunted for the cycle seat things. Our boys can’t ride bikes yet but we’re relatively sure they will enjoy riding on the backs of ours. So I found the “Bike Seat” option and added two of them.

Nothing.

Nothing happened. The basket just said “empty”. I tried clicking to check out and confirmed the basket was empty. Arrrrrgh.

I tried again and again.

I wondered if the session had expired. Probably. Something wasn’t working.

I thought it would be worth trying again. Although I’ve no idea how to login yet. I suspect there must be a reference number and email combination to get you back into your booking. I shall try this later.

My wife and I then spent a little while browsing the huge list of activities on offer. It’s true that almost everything at Center Parcs costs extra — but I don’t have a problem with that as long as there’s value.

For example, we were pretty excited at the possibility of getting a meal delivered from the Center Parcs restaurants in the evening. That should work nicely. I didn’t know this was possible or offered.

We had a look at the menus which, alas, took nearly as long as the villa map to download. That really needs a fix Center Parcs. Either make it lower resolution or convert it to HTML or JPG. There is absolutely no need to publish print-ready resolutions for your customers. That’s a sign of a really lazy webmaster or a silly ineffectual system.

Conclusion
I was significantly irritated by the whole transaction process. But I recognise that the system is probably sitting on about 10 other systems, most of them built in COBOL or something back in the 1980s. Whilst it was very annoying I don’t think it’s going to impact our on-site experience.

At least I hope not.

I have to point out that I’m pretty impressed at the idea of receiving a physical letter of confirmation of my booking. How old-skool.

Still. I am looking forward to the whole experience. Standby for Part 2.

The post Part 1 of the Center Parcs experience: Booking appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

Ridiculous, I know.

But that’s the situation.

Actually, it’s been working out rather nicely because it has given me an enforced opportunity to get work done ahead of time (on the way into the office) or afterwards. Often, though, I don’t feel like working. And now and again I flick up BBC iPlayer to check out what’s available.

I’m pretty traditional with my iPlayer use: Top Gear…. and that’s usually it. Unless something really catches my eye.

Recently I thought I’d check out: “The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track”

It’s a typical BBC production. The team spent a year traversing the UK to create a series of 60 minute documentary style episodes focusing on different sections and regions of Britain’s railways. I’ve actually found it very interesting to watch, particularly as I’ve usually been on a train at the time. It has given me good insight into the logistics required to deliver the train service I take every day.

I found myself pretty embarrassed watching the outraged reactions from commuters at being told their train is 12 minutes late (or something like that) when we — the audience — have just been hearing that the reason for the delay is that someone’s just lost their life in a tragic accident. I’m never one for screaming “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???” at train guards and customer service team members — but I do often get rather frustrated internally when I arrive at Waterloo and find the trains delayed for hours.

I think it’s “not knowing” that causes the real frustration. Standing there on the platform I don’t mind if the train is going to be delayed by 20 minutes. Or even 60 minutes or more. Tell me, so I can plan accordingly. The documentary has reset my expectations — principally because I’ve been able to see that, a lot of the time, the railway teams don’t actually know what’s going on. This is simply because they need to wait for an engineer to travel to some distant location, find that some thief has ripped all the cables out of some newly installed switching cabinet and then assess the damage. Fair enough.

You can still catch the episodes on iPlayer right now. Worth a look, especially if you’ve a bit of time to use up when you need to decompress after work. On the train.

The post The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

Hugh Howey’s postapocalyptic thriller “Wool” has sold more than half a million copies and generated more than 5,260 Amazon reviews. Mr. Howey has raked in more than a million dollars in royalties and sold the film rights to “Alien” producer Ridley Scott.

And Simon & Schuster hasn’t even released the book yet.

In a highly unusual deal, Simon & Schuster acquired print publication rights to “Wool” while allowing Mr. Howey to keep the e-book rights himself. Mr. Howey self-published “Wool” as a serial novel in 2011, and took a rare stand by refusing to sell the digital rights. Last year, he turned down multiple seven-figure offers from publishers before reaching a mid-six-figure, print-only deal with Simon & Schuster.

Fascinating.

The story goes on to highlight that the publisher has now got involved and has put Mr Howey on a standard media tour. The publisher is busy banging the traditional marketing drum as that’s how they’ll make their money. What I find so fascinating is that having heard about the book, I think I might check it out.

What I mean is that I’ll probably buy it. It’s $5.99 or £5.39 for the eBook. I don’t want a physical copy though.

I wonder if the Wall Street Journal piece this weekend was effectively delivered via public relations paid for by the publisher? Because it’s helping the author — I’ll buy his book, he’ll get 70% of the proceeds — but that certainly won’t help Simon & Schuster. Not at all.

I wonder how many other people will hear about the book via traditional channels such as television, print and radio and then reach for their Kindle or Kobo?

Interesting times.

Here’s the blurb for Wool:

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.

To live, you must follow the rules. But some don’t. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.

Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.

Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.

The post It’s a brave new world out there… Have you come across the book, Wool? appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

I had to smile to myself in wonder at the headlines this morning as The Telegraph splashed with the news that apparently Findus, makers of frozen ready meals, have discovered that their Beef Lasagne is actually 99% Horse Lasagne.

(I got the “99%” from today’s issue of The Sun newspaper!)

I was rather surprised to discover that, again “apparently”, this has been going on for more than a year. It’s not as if a little bit of horse fell into the meat mixer at some factory somewhere. No. It seems Findus have been shipping horse ready meals for ages, unbeknownst to them or the public.

Just where is this going to end?

I’m reasonably content that the Tesco Finest bacon I had this morning is 100% pig. I think it would be quite difficult to fake that. However when it comes to anything containing “meat” like Lasagne, I suppose you can’t quite be sure.

I’m reminded of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler from the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. He routinely sells sausages, “made not of pork but rather of anything that’s been near a pig.”

Oh dear.

You’d think that serious people in serious white coats would have been, I dunno, testing the food before Findus (et al) actually stuck it into their factories? Or maybe they just check to see that it looks mostly meat-like?

We shall no doubt find out soon.

The post There’s a horse in your lasagne, sir appeared first on The Pursuit of Quality.

I have to say I wasn’t feeling that good about being forced to use the Collect+ service to return my Amazon package. Although I expect nothing but greatness when it comes to Amazon, I did wonder how it could possibly match my standard (super-high) expectations of Amazon.

I shouldn’t have worried, I really shouldn’t.

Here’s the background: Over the Christmas period I ordered a big noticeboard for the office via Amazon. I buy everything I can on Amazon, primarily because of the purchase experience and the predictability. Unfortunately when the product arrived one of the corners was seriously damaged.

I did a few clicks on Amazon and — boom — they instructed me to print out a returns label. No bother, I thought.

It was only when I continued reading that I saw the mention of Collect+.

Right.

Here’s the Collect+ overview from their website:

Collect+ is a new parcel service delivering freedom and convenience, not just parcels. We have built a network of over 5,000 local corner shops, open from early ‘til late and often 7 days a week, allowing you to drop off or pick up parcels at a time and place that suits you.

I did wonder. This all sounds good but what’s the actual user experience when you head into the local corner shop? Especially when you arrive with a huge noticeboard-sized package?

I stuck the return label on the package and put some selotape over it to protect from the elements. Thoughtful, I reckoned.

Then I checked for my nearest local shop. Even on a Sunday it was open until 6pm. I arrived at the Spar mini supermarket and I had to take a moment behind the car wheel to mentally prepare myself for the consumer horror I was potentially about to be exposed to. I could picture the scene and it wasn’t pretty. I was mostly thinking about the possibility of a totally disinterested employee telling me words to the effect of “I dunno what you mean”.

I did see a PayPoint sign on the wall of the shop as I did the mental preparation. On that sign, bottom right, was a Collect+ logo. So I wouldn’t feel totally stupid trying to explain what I wanted. At least I could respond with, “Well, there’s a Collect+ logo on the sign outside” when challenged by the fictional shop assistant.

I did feel rather strange walking into the shop with a package. It’s not the standard user experience, you see. One or two other shoppers stared as I waited to be served at the… well… the payment concession bit. I didn’t see any Collect+ branding but I did see the PayPoint machine which, I began to understand, seemed to be the glue that underpins everything.

It was my turn shortly.

“Hi, I’d like to drop this off,” I said, nodding to the package.

“Oh sure,” said the shop assistant chap, “Just bring it round here.”

He took the package from me and then explained he just needed to scan the barcode and give me a tracking number.

I was thinking of some handwritten scrawl on a used Bounty wrapper — that was the model in my mind — but no, the shop had a proper machine. And everything

He scanned the barcode and the machine duly printed out a receipt with the tracking ID.

“Thanks very much,” the chap said, handing me the receipt.

I thanked the guy and walked away, wondering why I had ever doubted Amazon’s smart thinking executives.

It was utterly simple.

I’ve got my proof of delivery. As far as I’m concerned, job done. The shop assistant explained that apparently a Collect+ truck will arrive tomorrow morning and pick up the package.

I’m delighted.

I’m impressed with the Collect+ service. I might even give it a shot with some deliveries. You can opt to have items delivered to your local corner shop rather than your home address which makes a TON of sense if you’re out all day or if you can’t stand getting one of those notes through the door from the postman.

The place I selected today is open from 730am until 8pm daily, however the nearest Collect+ place to me is actually a service station… which is open 24-hours a day. Absolute genius. I doubt very much that you can actually walk into the store with a package to return (or pick up) at 4am in the morning as service station places usually swap to doing business through “the window”, don’t they? I’ll need to check.

Thank you Amazon. Thank you also to Collect+ team for creating such a seamless service.

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My first car was a Range Rover.

For most of my early twenties I was too busy messing around with dotcoms in central London to bother with cars. I then borrowed my brother’s Ford Ka now and again when I needed to get around… until I got a very rude awakening. As CEO of a pretty successful interactive services firm, some of my clients were incredibly confused as to why I would turn up to meetings in a Ford Ka. I realised rather quickly that my vehicle choice didn’t match their expectations. I thought this was ridiculous. Indeed I spent a lot of time ruminating over the need to simply get from A to B.

But image and perception is important. I’d mismanaged it with these chaps. They actually began to question the success and validity of doing business with me. I know that might sound rather shallow — I certainly thought it was a bit silly — however I was so pleased they actually voiced their concerns and connected them to the car. These executives were in positions of influence and control. It was business critical for me to fix, especially given the contract with them was worth hundreds of thousands. They couldn’t understand how they were paying my company something like £300 per hour for my services yet I was driving what they considered to be a “rubbish” car. They were all driving an assortment of Mercedes, Porsches and so on.

I resolved to fix the issue.

I thought carefully.

I tried “Porsche” on as a brand. I tested an Audi TT. For a while I was seriously considering getting a Mercedes SL55 or similar. I thought about an Aston Martin until I saw similar parts had been used in the Ford Focus. I swear the window buttons were the exact same ones in each car.

Eventually I settled on the Range Rover.

There are many, many reasons to love and appreciate the Range Rover. Perhaps the most important to me — at this point, in this situation — was that there is no other car that beats a Range Rover in the standard masculinity brand line up.

Nothing.

Oh there’s plenty of possibilities for faster cars. But in terms of refinement, reputation, quality — you can happily park a Range Rover next to a Ferrari or a Bentley Continental GT and not feel inconsequential. It’s just a different choice. Invariably the Ferrari chap will nod with respect. It’s a different choice, but not a sub-calibre one.

You might argue all you want about whether an SL55 tops a Bentley, but you can’t quite compare a Range Rover. They fit nicely into any situation, whether in the country or the city.

I bought the Range Rover. The original, not the Sport. I certainly appreciate the Sport, but I like the extra headspace and the size and presence of the original Range Rover.

The Evoque is a handsome car — as are the Land Rover and the Freelander. However I prefer the original.

The driving position is the best I’ve ever experienced.

It’s road presence is second to none. People seriously do defer to you. Even London Taxis and that’s saying something.

I’ve had someone ram me as I was stationary in the Range Rover at 30mph+. His van was a virtual write-off. I got a bit of a bump and there was some minor paintwork damage on the rear bumper. (More about that here).

I was almost in a crazily serious accident, driving along at 29mph when a BMW 3-Series came out of nowhere doing about 70mph swerving around a corner — if I’d been in a Mini, I think he wouldn’t have seen me. He’d have hit me square on. He couldn’t help but notice (and then panic) at the hulking Range Rover coming into view. The panic, I think, caused him to swerve into a tree instead. That was when my wife turned to me and said, “Right, yes, I get the Range Rover thing now.”

Since then we’ve been a Range Rover family. At one point we had two of them. One for me for the occasional commute and one for her to cart the children around in.

Our last Range Rover went the way of the dodo — after about 10 years of service it required a substantial amount of work to recondition, so we let the local garage take care of that. We needed a car so I quickly snapped up a top-of-the-range “pre owned” Volvo V70. It’s a nice car, I’m delighted with it, but it’s not the Range Rover. There wasn’t time to think though. I gave some thought to hunting for a second hand Range Rover — but with a young family, a car was much needed and I didn’t have time to go around the garages. Instead I asked my brothers to find a quick fix. That was the Volvo.

Meantime I had heard that the original Range Rover was due a refresh.

It turns out that refresh was yesterday. Well, at least a slight reveal. The full reveal is due in September — so not long.

But what a refresh! Have a look…

That is looking simply gorgeous.

Here’s the summary overview from Land Rover:

· World’s first 4X4 with a lightweight all-aluminium monocoque* body structure
· Created in Britain; designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK; lighter, stronger and more refined, the world’s finest luxury 4X4
· The pinnacle of Land Rover refinement, with a more spacious and luxurious interior and a truly composed driving experience
· Enhanced all-terrain performance with introduction of Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 Auto®
· State-of-the-art exclusive Meridian audio technology
· Unparalleled levels of craftsmanship and impeccable material quality
· An evolution of the iconic Range Rover design first launched over 40 years ago
· An unrivalled breadth of capability with transformed handling and agility
· 420kg weight saving over previous model delivering improved fuel economy and CO2 emissions

Oh yes please.

In case you were wondering about that asterisk by the word monocoque, here’s what it denotes: A single unit formed from the body and chassis. Like a unibody MacBook laptop!

Here’s the full release from Land Rover:

With ‘Best of British’ being celebrated by nations across the globe, Land Rover, one of the world’s most iconic British brands, offers a first look at the all-new Range Rover, a modern interpretation of a classic design icon. A handful of first images have been released ahead of its global reveal in September.

The world’s first 4X4 with a revolutionary lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure is 39 per cent lighter than the steel body in the outgoing model enabling total vehicle weight savings of up to 420kg.

The all-new Range Rover is the most luxurious and capable Land Rover yet. Lighter, stronger and with new levels of design and technology refinement, the Range Rover reinforces its position as the world’s finest luxury 4X4.

Designed and engineered at Land Rover’s development centres in the UK, the all-new Range Rover will be produced in a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Solihull, UK.

John Edwards, Land Rover Global Brand Director, said: “The new Range Rover preserves the essential, unique character of the vehicle – that special blend of luxury, performance and unmatched all-terrain capability. However, its clean sheet design and revolutionary lightweight construction have enabled us to transform the experience for luxury vehicle customers, with a step change in comfort, refinement and handling to create the most capable Range Rover ever built.”

The fourth generation of the unique Range Rover line, the all-new model has been developed from the ground up, capturing the innovative spirit and iconic design of the original model which changed the world of motoring when it was launched over 40 years ago.

The sumptuous interior incorporates distinctive Range Rover design cues, but executed with a very contemporary treatment, and clean, elegant surfaces which are flawlessly presented using the finest leathers and veneers, all sourced from the UK. With over 120mm more legroom, the rear passengers benefit from increased space and comfort, with the option of a new two-seat Executive Class seating package for the ultimate in rear-seat luxury.

The all-new Range Rover has been engineered with the latest developments in vehicle technologies:

· Exclusive Meridian surround sound music systems
· Power upper and lower tailgates
· Industry-leading new Auto Terrain Response system, which analyses the current driving conditions and automatically selects the most suitable vehicle settings for the terrain
· World’s first 4X4 with revolutionary lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure

The all-new Range Rover has a clean and elegant shape, derived from a fresh new interpretation of Range Rover design cues. While instantly recognisable as a Range Rover, the new vehicle takes a significant step forward with a bold evolution of the model’s iconic design language.

The lightweight aluminium body is 39 per cent lighter than the steel body in the previous model enabling total vehicle weight savings of up to 420kg. This delivers significant enhancements in performance and agility, along with a transformation in fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

In addition to the strong and rigid lightweight body, an all-new aluminium front and rear chassis architecture has been developed with completely re-engineered four-corner air suspension. While the luxurious ride has been retained, the vehicle’s handling and agility have been significantly improved. The new suspension architecture delivers flatter, more confident cornering, with natural and intuitive steering feel.

Available in over 160 markets worldwide, pre-orders open from September 2012 [market dependent] with customer deliveries scheduled to start from early 2013.

Well count me in as a fan already.

I have to say I do like the idea of the two-tone (shown in the above picture). The black roof, the silver body. Inside is looking familiarly sumptuous as well.

I’ll need to give some serious thought to which one I should be buying. What colour? What configuration? Bring it on.

Good work Land Rover. I look forward to the official launch!

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