LAND ROVER DESIGN: 70 YEARS OF SUCCESS
On the face of it, you might think that Land Rover and Range Rover are not brands that have required much ‘design’ or ‘styling’, as their appearance has changed at a glacial pace. This enjoyable book shows otherwise. Nick Hill, whose earlier books include similar titles on Ford and Jaguar design, covers the full story, from the first prototype Land Rover, called the ‘J-model’, with centre steering, to the latest Range Rover S coupé.
In fact, while the looks appear to have changed little over the years, this fascinating book makes it clear that much was going on behind the scenes to meet changing demand, taste, and legislative requirements. The Range Rover, already aimed at the landowner rather than the gamekeeper, took on a more luxe persona over the years while retaining its offroad capabilities.
A real strength of Nick Hull’s work is that he combines the stories of the key people with the products; from Spen King to Gerry Mcgovern.
Although the Landie; Rangie; and, to a lesser extent, Freelander and Evoque, carved out new market niches, the company was sometimes
slow to react to initiatives from other players, such as the soft-roaders from the likes of Toyota and Daihatsu and perhaps the more sporting off-roaders from Porsche and BMW. Some of the friction between the company traditionalists who liked hose-out rubber mats and the newcomers conscious of changing market demands and expectations are played out in the book, as are the company ownership changes and restructurings. Land Rover has passed through a number of owners and the impact of those including BMW and Ford are well covered in the book. Those changes no doubt made life interesting for the design teams!
This large 240-page hardcover book features design sketches and photos of prototypes such as the SD5 and the Range Stormer with ‘butterfly’ doors, which show the thought that goes into new-model development, even though much of the work didn’t make it into production.
Well illustrated, this book should delight owners of any of the models featured, but it deserves a wider audience simply because it is so interesting and readable.