Victoria Beckham has been called out by the design director at Land Rover after she claimed she designed a special edition of the Range Rover for her husband David Beckham.
At the launch of a special VB Evoque, the former Spice Girl claimed: “I’ve designed a car that I want to drive, a car I think David wants to drive.”
This claim incensed Gerry McGovern, the real designer, and he addressed it at a public event last week. He accused Victoria of exaggerating the part she played in creating the car.
He said: “She didn’t design the car… I’ve forgotten more than that woman will ever know about (car) designing – to be a car designer takes years. When we went to China to present it, she stood up in front of the world’s press and said, ‘When I designed this car…’ I said, ‘Victoria, that wasn’t on the script.’ She said, ‘Oh, I didn’t realise what I was saying.’ ”
McGovern’s annoyance goes back to a time in 2012 when Victoria Beckham was asked to create a version of the Evoque with “restrained colour and detail changes”, as the company explained. But not to “change the award-winning design”. The £80,000 Range Rover Evoque featured matt paintwork, vintage-inspired leather seats, rose gold accents inspired by Mrs Beckham’s watch, mohair trimmings and a leather luggage set.
“We never said she designed the car – that’s an assumption people made,” added Mr McGovern.
In one interview, Victoria Beckham had said: “I wanted to really roll my sleeves up and get involved. I never just put my name on anything… I was very hands-on.”
McGovern said that after she made that claim he “didn’t want to work with her after that.”
Land Rover said: “The three-year project was completed in full by both parties and was a huge creative success around the world. Mrs Beckham remains part of the Land Rover family.”
