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ONE prestigious British marque is recruiting factory workers rather than laying them off, thanks mostly to the design master who created the Evoque.

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IT'S clear even before we sit down for our interview with Gerry McGovern, Land Rover's design director and chief creative officer, that this is a man with an acute eye for detail.

Before we shake hands he's already apologised for the decor of the room we're in (for the record, it's a nondescript hotel conference room). He comments on my jacket and tie and then a discussion about the virtues of the perfect pocket square ensues.

On appearance alone it's apparent that McGovern is no ordinary car designer. The debonair Englishman, who started his automotive career at Chrysler and had stints at Peugeot and Ford before becoming design director at Jaguar Land Rover in 2006, is as comfortable talking about fashion, design and architecture as he is about cars.

He collects mid-century modern furniture, Italian glass and contemporary art and it's his singular vision that has made Jaguar Land Rover one of the few success stories to emerge from the automotive industry in recent years.

When the Indian conglomerate Tata bought the prestigious company from a cash-strapped Ford in 2008, the 40-year-old manufacturer was losing money. But after just four years, Tata, its sixth owner, was last year rewarded with a 1.5 billion ($23 billion) profit largely on the back of a unique new SUV design by McGovern, a spin-off of the company's flagship Range Rover model. The distinctive Range Rover Evoque, which was launched in June last year, has been such a success - about 100,000 cars have been sold globally-that one year after it launched Jaguar Land Rover announced it would recruit 1000 new factory workers at its facility in Halewood, Liverpool, to keep up with demand, making the carmaker one of the few to be hiring rather than firing. It also made McGovern an industrial design god mentioned in the same breath as Apple's Jonathan Ive for his ability to marry design and sales success. The car also won Britain's highest accolade in engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering's McRobert Award. "Everyone in the company wants to be a designer now," McGovern tells WISH. McGovern, however, has achieved a rare accolade for a designer. In 2008 he was elected to the Land Rover board and he now oversees every aspect of the company's visual communications including its advertising, he says, "to ensure there is a strong link between the vehicles we make and our brand communications".

"We now place design at the heart of everything that we do," he says. "Design has always been important, but Land Rover had become a byword for functionality where the only thing that mattered was the vehicle's capability. We were a company that produced cars with an engineering-led design, whereas now we are one where design leads the engineering." Like Apple, says McGovern, Land Rover needs to produce cars with a design that not only functions well but that also looks and feels good. "In the world of luxury there come certain standards particularly in terms of craftsmanship, precision and quality. People who buy into the luxury world have very high expectations. They don't just want fads or fashion; they want products and services that have integrity, that resonate with them on an emotional level."

The Evoque, priced from about $54,000, was a totally new design aimed at attracting a new customer to the brand. According to McGovern, "80 per cent of people who bought an Evoque had never bought a Land Rover before, which shows that we can produce new designs that can mean new things to new people".

Next off the Land Rover production line is a new flagship Range Rover, only the fourth new design since the model appeared in 1970. Tinkering with the design of an icon is a far bigger gamble than creating completely new model, as in the Evoque. After all, the customer for the new Range Rover, says McGovern, "is the existing Range Rover driver". It's a car that is peerless and distinctive and is driven by everyone from royalty to movie stars to soccer mums. It's also big and boxy and that's precisely why people love it. It's a brave designer who would want to fix something many consider not to be broken.

"When we asked our current customers how they would like to see the new Range Rover change, they said 'don't change it; just make it better', and that's a difficult thing to design to," he says. "We have a design strategy that helped us create the Evoque and it's based on four elements: a fresh approach to functionality, sustainability, luxury and, of course, desirability. This design of the Range Rover really does have those four key elements. When you look at it, the first thing it tells you is that it's a Range Rover. It's unmistakably a Range Rover but it's completely new from the outgoing model. The exterior design still has those key ingredients you'd expect from a Range Rover. It's got that classic DNA of a floating roof and a clamshell bonnet, but you'll notice it's more elegantly proportioned. Its roof is lower and it falls off to the rear. It's got a cleaner shape at the front and taper at the back and that helps with the aerodynamics. Although the actual volume of the vehicle is reduced there is actually more room inside. And it's made from aluminium, which makes it incredibly light but still incredibly strong."

When McGovern gets going detailing the design features of the car there is no stopping him. He's a designer who sees beauty where others might just see a car and his excitement in describing the car is contagious. "Just look at how modern it looks," he says to WISH, pointing at a photograph of the car. "And look at that beautiful flush glazing on the front; it's the first time we've ever had that. The interior, on the other hand, is an exercise in reduction. In the new model there is a reduction in the switch gear with something like 50 per cent fewer switches. We still have that distinctive Range Rover command driving position; it still has that sense of elevation and with beautiful views out of the vehicle."

The 2013 model Range Rover is the result of more than five years' work by McGovern and his team. And while the car has more than 3500 new parts - new exterior styling and technological developments such as an eight-speed automatic gearbox, the latest in air suspension, and can go from zero to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds - the company is betting that the even more luxurious interior will be a major factor that wins over new customers. McGovern says that although the car is a serious off-road vehicle, customers will weigh it up against the flagship limousines of the German marques. The materials and finishes used in the interior are suitably luxurious and Range Rover will offer the option of creating a bespoke interior with an extensive range of colours, finishes and special details.

"It's what customers at this end of the market are looking for," says McGovern. "Remember a lot of people who drive a Range Rover drive it in the city and they like comfort and to feel an emotional connection to the car."

Land Rover has been taking orders for the new Range Rover since September with prices starting at $168,900 and deliveries expected from next month. Next to get a McGovern makeover is the car that started it all in 1948, the Land Rover Defender. "There will be a new Defender," says McGovern. "And it will be as tough as nails. There's a great opportunity with that vehicle. Currently we're selling about 8000 Defenders a year. If we get that one right, we could be selling 100,000."