News : Land Rover Discovery 5’s LEGO debut

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The Land Rover Discovery 5 was revealed to the press in typically media-savvy style by breaking a Guinness World Record for the largest LEGO structure ever built, and doing so with the endorsement of brand ambassadors, Bear Grylls, Sir Ben Ainslie and Zara Phillips.

The LEGO unveil was impressive, as the rendering of Tower Bridge was made from 5,805,846 individual bricks, breaking the previous Guinness World Record by 470,646 pieces. Laid end to end, the bricks would stretch for almost 200 miles, or from Tower Bridge in London to Paris.

Led by the UK’s only LEGO Certified Professional, Duncan Titmarsh, it took five months for expert LEGO Master Builders in the UK to construct the Tower Bridge structure. It was erected in the grounds of Packington Hall, Warwickshire, UK – close to Land Rover’s Solihull plant, where the Discovery 5 will be produced.

As part of the reveal sequence, Bear Grylls appeared in typically exciting fashion by abseiling from the top of the huge Tower Bridge installation, through the open drawbridge and onto the stage beside the new Discovery. In addition, the Land Rover BAR Team Principal, Sir Ben Ainslie, drove his sailing team through 900mm-deep water under the bridge – demonstrating its versatility.

Sir Ben towed a LEGO replica of the Land Rover BAR boat, a 186,500-brick model of the boat that will challenge for next year’s America’s Cup. The model of Tower Bridge was flanked by two LEGO ‘Discovery Zones’ celebrating 27 years of Land Rover Discovery heritage. An Equestrian Zone, hosted by rider Zara Phillips, featured a typically British picnic scene made entirely from LEGO bricks. The Bear Grylls Adventure Zone included a LEGO fire and boulders to represent a scene from a typical mountain exploration.

Click here for more Discovery 5 information.

 

 

Keith Adams
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7 Comments

  1. I think they must be 6 months out of synchronisation. It was 1st October , not 1st April . The sad thing is, it probably wasn’t meant to be laughable

    • What is laughable? The use of Lego?

      Lego is big news these days, and gets a lot of love on social media. It’s almost as popular as pictures of cats.

      The brand ambassadors are all credible individuals and are well known by upper middle class folk who sail, ride or do adventurous stuff i.e. people who buy new Land Rovers.

      Out of interest, what would you have done differently?

      • I would not have done it at all. Pulling silly stunts does not sell expensive motor cars – it merely suggests that those running the company are pratting about. You would not have found either the Wilks Brothers or William Lyons doing this

          • Indeed. The sales numbers don’t lie.

            If everyone else (BMW, Merc, Audi et al) does big glitzy launches, then you can’t just opt out and “not do it”.

            A press day in a muddy field in the West Midlands and a 5 minute slot on Old Top Gear where Chris Goffey drives the car around a mild off-road course is not going to get the column inches and internet buzz that is required to sell luxury cars in this day and age.

            I thought it was great, and bang on target for LR’s prospective buyers. People complain when MG do low budget crappy PR stunts, and complain when JLR do big budget showbiz stuff. There’s no pleasing some!

    • Wouldn’t surprise me if this inspires MG for a GS launch event, on a piece of wasteland in longbridge to build a replica of Hammersmith Flyover out of Mega Bloks.

  2. As the owner of one of the last Disco 4’s, I finally get LR’s subliminal message here (by their rampant use of Lego at the launch):

    “After the D4, the D5’s just a toy!”

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