A new initiative is underway with the Land Rover Defender Hard Top as its protagonist. The vehicle, in its work variant, consolidates the relationship between the brand and its partners. Among the active collaborations, the one with the Italian Red Cross stands out, born with the aim of supporting the anti Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
Land Rover Defender: 70 years of history
The Defender is certainly one of the most iconic models of the family Land Rover. This best represents the entire brand, as it is capable of combining performance and agile driving both on and off-road. The vehicle is characterized by robustness and dynamism, but also by a 70-year history and evolution. Defender has always been used for solidarity projects, such as aid missions in the event of natural disasters or to support populations in difficulty. The conformation and versatility of this vehicle makes it perfect for reaching places inaccessible by other means.
All of these features are an integral part of the commercial Defender variant, the Hard Top. The name dates back to 1950, when the launch of the detachable Hard Top ensured the first Land Rover series greater safety and protection from bad weather. The new Defender Hard Top take up this element with the fixed metal roof and the profile of the iconic original. This version identifies the most robust and practical of the range. In the Hard Top, unstoppable all-terrain capabilities combine with 21st century connectivity. This allows to offer professionals a unique combination of space, practicality and comfort.
The Defender forWorks project is born
Thanks to know these characteristics is born Defender forWorks project. The idea is to strengthen the relationship with prestigious partners with the possibility of customizing unique Defender models. The Project is 100% tailor-made, and emphasizes the versatility of the vehicle, given that the brand partners operate in the most disparate sectors. Land Rover therefore proposes to provide an exclusive customization of the Hard Top, customizing it according to different working needs. By creating unique models, the vehicle positions itself as the progenitor of the new vehicle segment Premium Commercial SUV.
Hard Top has a cockpit separate from the loading floor. In addition, compared to the traditional Defender, it offers spaciousness, unique on-road and off-road driving capacity and high performance and load. The possibilities of customization for the most specialized uses are therefore almost unlimited.
Land Rover partners involved
The forWorks Project proposes its services to two macro categories of partners. In fact, on the one hand we find institutional collaborations, defined, in fact, hardworks; on the other hand we find more lifestyle and smart values, these partnerships are called styleworks. Here’s how they stand out:
- hardWorks (institutional): this partnership links the car to associations and entities strongly committed to social issues and operating on the front line. In this case the Defender will always and only be in support of the community. Some hardWorks partners are Italian Red Cross, INGV, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the National Fire Brigade
- “styleWorks”: the partners in this category best represent the lifestyle and smart mood of the Defender Hard Top. These are exclusive collaborations with important partners in more leisure areas, among which the activations with Ferretti Group, Baladin Beer, Callaway Golf, DJI, Busnelli Corporate.
Each Defender Hard Top reflects an extreme customization made according to the specific needs of use indicated by the partner. For example, in the case of INGV, the vehicle is equipped with a black box for vehicle location. The one for the Ferretti Group, on the other hand, is equipped with equipment for initial shipbuilding assistance services in the group’s marinas. Callaway’s Defender features a mobile putting green on the roof, while the vehicle for DJI offers a drone landing device.
Land Rover and the Red Cross: a 65-year partnership
One of Land Rover’s historic partnerships is that which has seen it engaged alongside IFRC (International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent) for 65 years. The brand, in Italy, has been supporting national initiatives for more than 10 years, joining the Italian Red Cross. As part of the forWorks project, a Defender Hard Top was created with an exclusive livery and customized fittings for Italian Red Cross. The vehicle was used in support of the anti Covid-19 vaccination campaign. The Defender is proposed as a solution for the transit of supplies to hubs. This favors rapid and incisive help, aimed at reaching the goal of a fair and widespread vaccination.
The vehicle is equipped with flashing lights and siren and with a biomedical refrigerated container. This has a front opening for the safe transport of vaccines and biomedical products. The walls are particularly thick and guarantee maximum insulation. This allows to limit energy consumption while maintaining precision and reliability in temperature control.
The use of the Defender during the Covid-19 emergency
The vehicle has been used by the Red Cross on all fronts since the start of the pandemic. In addition to the enormous activity in contrasting the Coronavirus, the CRI has given and continues to respond to the economic consequences of the virus through direct and concrete support to families.
“Land Rover vehicles have been testifying on roads across the country for months – he underlines Francesco Rocca, President of the Italian Red Cross – the commitment of the Italian Red Cross in the fight against Covid-19. We are grateful to Land Rover Italia for this new vehicle, equipped to provide supplies at our vaccination hubs safely and quickly. Thanks to this new Defender we can be even more ‘an Italy that helps” ”.
“We are really proud to be once again at the side of CRI in their important activation in support of the community” comments Daniele Maver, President of Jaguar Land Rover Italy – which continues – “On this occasion, I am very pleased to present the Defender forWorks Project which sees the Defender Hard Top as protagonist in a Land Rover initiative aimed at consolidating and strengthening a close relationship with our partners, to offer them an experience increasingly tailor-made, unique and exclusive. The relationship between Land Rover and its partners finds new form in a fusion of shared elements, expressed through design, performance, technology, but above all the values represented by the iconic Defender. ”