How to sell a six-figure car? How about take over a reef island?

As the world of luxury, and catering to top-tier clients, shifts, so too does the sales process.

Inside Range Rover House, Orpheus Island edition. Picture: Sam Evans

Unfortunately for Anna Marsden, managing director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, it did not take long into her new job to discover that she got catastrophically sea sick.

Still, as she says, as we head out to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, it’s always worth it to experience what she calls our “beautiful insignificance”.

Besides, she has figured out the perfect calibration of medicines and breathing exercises to get her through it, and she regularly takes everyone from business tycoons to scientists and, on this particular weekend, top-tier clients and guests of Range Rover out on boats to experience the reef.

All of whom, she says, tend to be moved by the vastness of the ocean and the perilous nature of its otherworldly beauty beneath its surface.

“People often say snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef is a life-changing experience,” she says. “It’s not just about seeing its breathtaking beauty, but feeling a deep connection to something truly extraordinary. That sense of wonder naturally transforms into a desire to protect and give back to the reef so it can survive for generations to come.”

All guests tend to be swayed by the beauty of the reef. Picture: Sam Evans

It’s why she thinks more people are interested in ocean conservation. It’s easy for people to understand. One such example is the Sapphire Dinner, held in the subterranean floor of the new wing of the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney earlier this year by the Sapphire Project in support of ocean conservation. It raised more than $1m, the most raised since the event’s launch in 2022.

One such brand to find an affinity with the Great Barrier Reef is Range Rover, which this year was a gold partner for the Sapphire Dinner. This month it took over the private Orpheus Island in far north Queensland (owned by Morris Group founder Chris Morris) to launch its invitation-only Range Rover House concept – and just six Range Rover SV Bespoke Orpheus Edition cars, exclusive to Australia – on another nearby island owned by Morris, Pelorus Private Island.

The reef was central. Range Rover donated corals to aid reef regeneration on behalf of all guests visiting Range Rover House via the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The car takes inspiration from the reef’s beauty too, its gleaming navy gloss exterior taking on its deep blues, and the wavy design detail on the plush cream quilted leather interiors from the sand and the waves.

Range Rover House, meanwhile, is a particularly striking example of not only the way the British heritage brand is thinking about modern luxury – and taking it quite literally off-road – but also how the worlds of ultra luxury have shifted.

As Jaguar Land Rover Australia managing director Penny Ferguson puts it, luxury without purpose now has less appeal.

“Today’s luxury clients are seeking brands that they have an emotional connection with. The purchase is no longer just about fulfilling a set of product requirements,” she says.

Or as Jaguar Land Rover regional director overseas Martin Limpert says of what he knows about the brand’s clientele, “they highly value the overall ownership experience, design provenance and storytelling”.

This is especially true, Ferguson says, of the high-net-worth individuals who are a growing demographic in the Australian market. Ferguson says all four of Jaguar Land Rover’s brands – Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar – are set to surpass the previous year’s sales performances.

Inside Range Rover House, on Pelorus Private Island. Picture: Sam Evans

What top-tier clients want, Ferguson says, is personalisation, their preferences noted. This fits with a just-released report from global consultancy Bain, in conjunction with Altagamma, the Italian luxury goods manufacturers’ industry association. The report says while luxury spending has remained stable despite macroeconomic uncertainty, many consumers have opted out. Bain forecasts a slowdown, though one mitigated by consumers increasingly favouring travel and social experiences.

Bain & Company partner Claudia D’Arpizio, lead author of the study, says some clients, especially top ones, feel as if luxury isn’t exclusive enough.

“This is a signal for brands that it’s time to readjust their value propositions,” D’Arpizio writes. To win back customers, particularly the younger ones, brands will need to lead with creativity and expand conversation topics. Simultaneously, they must keep their top customers front and centre, surprising and delighting them while rediscovering one-to-one human interactions. For all customers, it will be critical to double down on personalisation, leveraging technology to achieve it at scale.”

Luxury consumers want personalised experiences more than ever. Picture: Sam Evans

The focus on high-net-worth clients, the ones who don’t typically feel the pinch of the cost of living, fits with earlier research from Bain into the luxury car market that found while the upper premium segment is suffering in a wider luxury slowdown, absolute luxury is holding strong. Bain’s findings also state that in this segment customers are seeking, yes, ultra-personalised solutions as well as limited-edition and bespoke models.

The Range Rover House concept – launched in 2022 and staged everywhere from the Italian Alps to the Californian coast – turns this proposition of absolute luxury just for you into something tangible, if only for a few days. The idea being, of course, that after spending time at the super chic Range Rover House, where you may snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, enjoy curated tasting plates by Merivale executive chef Clayton Wells or take a masterclass with renowned interior stylist Steve Cordony, who oversaw the creative direction of the house, at least some of these clients will then feel so inclined to buy a six-figure car. (The car, by the way, is priced from $520,561 plus on road costs.)

So does it work?

There are just six of the Range Rover SV Bespoke Orpheus Edition cars, exclusive to Australia. Picture: Sam Evans

At the end of several days on Range Rover island as guests were begrudgingly preparing to chopper back to Townsville and then later, reality, the group was introduced to Morris who had just arrived on the island.

What did you think of the car, Morris asks.

Well, there are only six, so we’re very happy to see it first, one guest responds. Which, whether under the effects of island time or not, sounds an awful lot like a sale.

Annie Brown travelled to Orpheus Island as a guest of Range Rover