London - Arabstoday
Alongside banker bonuses and Bernard Tomic's P-plated M3, this must rate among the great injustices of our time. If you, dear punter, went to The House of Junque de Luxe and spray "I-wuz-here" along the side wall, you'd be marched off to the local cop shop, charged, fingerprinted, and fined a few hundred dollars. Meanwhile David and Victoria Beckham spray their names like cat urine all over clothes, perfume bottles, kitchenware, barbecue tongs, roof tiles, bits of string, whatever. And people queue to pay huge premiums for goods with P&B's names daubed on them... Well, Land Rover's certainly hoping so anyway, if the upcoming limited-edition Victoria Beckham Range Rover Evoque is anything to go by. Get this: the poshest three-door Evoque currently on sale in Britain – the 2.0-litre petrol-engined Si4 Dynamic with auto transmission – costs £40,010. At the time of writing, that was almost $63,000. Following its debut at the Beijing show, the Limited Edition Posh Spice Special three-door Range Rover Evoque Si4 Dynamic with auto transmission will arrive in UK showrooms priced at… are you ready?... deep breath now… £79,995. Yes, that's right: double. Or, in our speak, $125,659. For what, beyond the donor vehicle with its 180kW turbocharged petrol engine, full-time 4WD, six-speed auto transmission and the junior Rangie's standard Terrain Response system? Well, for the outside, Victoria has selected hand-finished matte grey paint with contrasting gloss black finishes on the roof, side wheel-arches and wheels – 20-inch rose gold-accented alloys. Indoors, you get semi-aniline vintage tan leather furniture with 'baseball' stitch detailing, extending to the door inserts, armrests and the central storage box lid. There's a headlining of microsuede, mats of mohair, all capped off by a four-piece leather luggage set and a hand-stitched, rose gold-accented leather case for the owner's manual, personally graffittied by the woman herself. Money well spent! "When I first started working with the design team on the Evoque special edition I did a lot of research, and created mood boards to show the team my love of timeless and classic design," Posh Spice's press release writers told her to say. "I looked at yachts, luxury jets, classic cars, movies, personalities and fashion. I want everyone who gets into this car to feel special and empowered by its quality and craftsmanship." Jumping up and down behind her and waving his arms, Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern added: "At the first meeting, Victoria herself inspired the use of rose gold. She was wearing dark clothes and no jewellery apart from a rose gold, man's watch. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the masculine watch on a very elegant, feminine wrist." The car will, without doubt, sell out depressingly quickly – they're only making 200 of them. We hope to see Victoria Beckham work her magic on the new Bentley EXP 9 F next.