LAND ROVER DAKAR
2025
Land Rover is joining the 2026 Dakar Rally with a machine so tough it could probably tow the desert behind it: the Defender Dakar D7X-R. The factory livery unveiled in late 2025 set a strong foundation; bold, clean, and unmistakably Land Rover. But for me it didn’t quite carry the story of this moment: Land Rover returning to take on the Dakar.
It requires something a bit wilder, something that looked alive and pops in those long, sweeping helicopter shots.
So I went to work.
The colour palette was already spot-on: sand, stone, earth and those rare desert waters. But it needed movement. Drama. A sense that this Defender isn’t just crossing the dunes; it’s surfing them. Enter the bright turquoise ribbon: a sweeping line that cuts through the livery like a rare oasis. But moreover,
it echoes the roof and tracing the wild, unpredictable path this car is about to carve across the desert.
The toughest Defender ever built now looks like it’s doing what it was born to do and captures the moment itself. Even before the first stage starts.
*Courtesy of Land Rover for the original imagery and design references, used here with full respect and admiration.
LAND ROVER DAKAR
2025
Land Rover is joining the 2026 Dakar Rally with a machine so tough it could probably tow the desert behind it: the Defender Dakar D7X-R. The factory livery unveiled in late 2025 set a strong foundation; bold, clean, and unmistakably Land Rover. But for me it didn’t quite carry the story of this moment: Land Rover returning to take on the Dakar. It requires something a bit wilder, something that looked alive and pops in those long, sweeping helicopter shots.
So I went to work.
The colour palette was already spot-on: sand, stone, earth and those rare desert waters. But it needed movement. Drama. A sense that this Defender isn’t just crossing the dunes; it’s surfing them. Enter the bright turquoise ribbon: a sweeping line that cuts through the livery like a rare oasis. But moreover, it echoes the roof and tracing the wild, unpredictable path this car is about to carve across the desert.
The toughest Defender ever built now looks like it’s doing what it was born to do and captures the moment itself. Even before the first stage starts.
*Courtesy of Land Rover for the original imagery and design references, used here with full respect and admiration.
