A little more buzz under the hood, unusual paint colors or your own initials on the headrest? Customers' wishes are becoming more and more individual and manufacturers are trying to make as much of this as possible come true. So if you are not completely satisfied with the standard models from Mercedes, you can get more power from AMG or have the car prettied up by the Designo department, at BMW the M and Individual divisions take care of it and Audi also has one with quattro GmbH experienced refiners in their own ranks. Jaguar- and Land Rover customers, on the other hand, had to take the cars the way they rolled off the assembly line for a long time - or hand them over to a tuner afterwards. It was a profitable business for them and the fact that this turnover missed their tills did not taste good for the British in the long run. So they launched the house tuner Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) without further ado two years ago.
Although the circular SVO logo is reminiscent of a computer game provider, the workshops on Oxford Road in Coventry are by no means about virtual fantasies. "Dreams come true here," enthuses landlord Mark Stanton and refers to the Range Rover top models SVAutobiography and the strongest ever Jaguar, the F-Type SVR with 575 PS, for which the good 1.200 employees of the SVO team draw responsibility. In addition to these "special series vehicles" Stanton's people but also take care of the personal wishes of customers. So that he gets exactly the car he wants, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has set up a "Commissioning Suite" on Oxford Road.
Surrounded by countless color samples, leather samples and wood examples, the picky customers can freely configure their dream vehicle on a giant touchscreen and view it on all three viewing directions on a high-resolution screen: top yellow, down blue, purple leather, gray wood and a few metal decor pieces with individual character - it is allowed, what pleases. In between, a dedicated star chef takes care of the small appetite, and even after trying out all the shades provided by 288, the right nuance is still not found, so Jaguar just mixes the right lacquer. It is applied only a few meters away in its own paint shop, which occupies a large part of the SVO grounds.
"At the moment, about four customers come to us each week," says personalization director Greg Clark. "We could invite more, but we want to make sure we have enough time for every single customer. Some plan to spend just an hour or two, and then stay the whole day. "Clark is aware that JLR can not discuss all of Coventry's favorite vehicles. After all, not every customer from China, the Middle East or the US wants it extra travel to England. "This is a test attempt. In the future we want to offer comparable suites around the globe. "The business with the individual preferences is indeed quite profitable: Around 25.000 pounds per car are put into the personalization - of course, in addition to the list price.
The customization is currently limited to the luxury equipment. But soon SVO also wants to develop special design kits that can also be installed by local dealers from spring and give the respective Land Rover or Jaguar a somewhat more distinctive look. And the off-road area, the core competence of the Land Rover brand, also wants to be more in focus. SVO boss Stanton has not yet revealed what the customer is expecting: special terrain modifications, higher elevations are conceivable - or why not a Defender with 6 × 6 drive in the future? Mercedes did this with the G-Class at least years ago. And the engineers are already proving that they are very familiar with SVO not only with precision work, but also with the rough: In Coventry, the up to 300.000 pound armored high-security variants called Sentinel from Range Rover and Discovery are now also manufactured .
But that's not all: The SVO division also includes the old-timer department of the manufacturer, which relocates from Jaguar's headquarters in Browns Lane and the Land Rover home Solihull to Oxford Road. Historic models will be able to be restored here under the best of conditions, and spare parts will be supplied from the SVO headquarters in the future. "Everything that is special finds its place with us", emphasizes the head of the special unit - and runs his hand over the dull green paint of a new Land Rover. (Michael Gebhardt / SP-X)
