MY, HOW YOU’VE GROWN!
Half a century of growth – in every sense – looks like this
1970 1998
RANGE ROVER MK1 ‘A UNIQUE FOUR CARS IN ONE CONCEPT’
Rover shelves plans for a Land Rover-based ‘Road Rover’ in the ’50s but the concept’s re-booted when, in the ’60s, 4x4s like the Ford Bronco begin to sell like incendiary baked goods. The two-door Range Rover is unveiled in June 1970 with four-wheel drive, a 100mph top speed and an unfussy aesthetic (engineering thought design would re-skin the car – design didn’t bother) that somehow grows more handsome with every passing day.
Key tech: Long-travel coils (rather than leaf springs) with telescopic dampers for a cushy ride + Compliant Michelin radial rubber + Full-time four-wheel drive + Refined and grunty all-aluminium V8 Sales: 325,000
1994 2002
RANGE ROVER MK2, P38A THE VERY, VERY DIFFICULT SECOND ALBUM
A flop? The numbers don’t tell the whole story but the original was on sale nearly 30 years, overlapping with the P38A in the ’90s. Its successor lasts less than a decade before being killed off (by BMW’s Wolfgang Reitzle) to make way for the altogether more convincing L332. For years people ‘in the know’ have been saying the P38’s time will come – we’re still waiting.
Key tech: Air suspension a big step but the system’s painfully unreliable, as are the electrics… + Still, there’s a low-range ’box + And, er, sat-nav
Sales: 185,000
2002 2012
RANGE ROVER MK3, L322 BMW THE RED CROSS FOR BRITISH ICONS
A revolution inside and out, the L322 fuses progressive engineering (monocoque, independent suspension, 21st century electrics – initially from BMW – and a modern, intuitive off-road-mode interface) with a body that manages to look expensive, luxurious, like a Range Rover and absolutely nothing like a P38A, all at the same time.
2012 PRESENT RANGE ROVER MK4, L405 EFFORTLESS LUXURY AND A TIMELESS AESTHETIC
As ‘right’ as the Mk3, the Mk4 is an effortless update of the key ingredients (lots of glass, that regal, upright silhouette and mountain-goat off-road performance in what drives and rides like a luxury car) that stays true to the original’s remit and aesthetic. Zeitgeisty performance derivatives (and underwhelming PHEV hybrid) fail to satisfy like the ‘standard’ car.
Key tech: Aluminium structure + Plug-in hybrid power + Terrain Response electronics to make o -roading accessible to people without maps and beards Sales: 272,000
All-new L494 takes a leaf out of the L405 Range Rover’s book with a full aluminium monocoque. In a move that could have been tailor-made to rile Greenpeace, the SVR version arrives in 2014: supercharged V8 from the Jaguar F-Type, magnetic dampers and a switchable thug of an exhaust to rub salt in the wound. New Range Sport is due 2022.
Key tech: Aluminium monocoque and, latterly, hybridisation: the V6 petrol is a mild hybrid, while the PHEV bolts an e-powertrain to JLR’s 2.0-litre inline four Sales: 617,333 (to the end of 2020)