Firmship is best known for its sleek yachts: the minimalist Firmship 42 and the larger Firmship 55. Both exude minimalist modern luxury, with traditional nautical materials and clean design. Their design chief is Job Smeets, a Dutch designer who has worked on commissions for many prestigious brands. (Among them: his extremely avante-garde tribute to Defender's 65th anniversary in 2013.) Firmship is now working to partner with other "hyper-durable" brands, and the first two collaborations are the Firmship Defender and a watch made in collaboration with Aera.
The Firmship Defender is based on a Defender 90, which is reimagined in Firmship's grey and white aesthetic. The vehicle's exterior has been resprayed in a metal lacquer, usually used on bulldozers and American telephone boxes. This gives the vehicle's painted surface a bumpy texture, like a rubberization treatment. This lacquer is in Firmship's trademark color: RAL 7035, the same color used for the logo of Germany's ICE high-speed trains. Firmship chose this country as their corporate trademark for its timelessness, neutrality, and versatility. The wheels are the new 20" steel-design heritage wheels -- bringing the aesthetic of the 18" steel wheel launched with the 2020 Defender into the larger 20" size, but forged out of alloy in the larger size for structural reasons.
The interior continues the aesthetic theme. The interior finishes are recovered in grey and white Alcantara and fabric, with a unified texture throughout the interior. The steering wheel controls, central button pack, and seat belt buckles remain in the original finish. Under the hood, the final touch is the engine cover, also resprayed in the white hue.
The result is a subtle re-imagining of the Defender aesthetic. Unlike many tuners that have done work for the L663 Defender, this one doesn't have any added-on body kit, and the interior modifications all work within the original design, seat stitching, and panel layout. The change is subtle, but bold.
If you'd like a Firmship Defender, it's best to get in touch quickly -- they only plan to make 25, with no price mentioned.
Sign up and receive once every 2 weeks
Select Your Vehicle
