Range Rover turns 40!

Now so ubiquitous as to merit scarcely a second glance, the Range Rover firmly enters middle-age next week when it celebrates its 40th birthday.


Launched on June 17, 1970 the Range Rover was revolutionary in its day; the first luxury 4x4 as good off the road as on it.


Relatively spartan by today's standards - with vinyl seat trim and moulded rubber flooring - it is now seen as a key milestone in the development of the SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) and today's versions are packed with leather upholstery, wood veneer, thick carpets and a host of high-tech driver aids.

The first Range Rover - characterised by the square, upright stance still apparent in today's version - is now known as the "Classic" and had two doors only.


It continued in production with numerous upgrades, the addition of two further doors and a vast number of variants, for 25 years.

The second-generation vehicle, known as the P38a, went on sale in 1994 and was replaced in 2001 by the current Range Rover. The latest version has enjoyed higher sales than any previous model and is still popular around the world.

"The Range Rover is really four vehicles in one," said Land Rover managing director, Phil Popham.

"It's a seven-days-a-week luxury motor car; a leisure vehicle that will range far and wide on the highways and no-ways of the world; a high performance car for long distance travel and a working cross-country vehicle."

Charles Spencer "Spen" King, the former Rover car company's engineering chief for new vehicle projects and the "father" of the Range Rover, is more prosaic: "The idea was to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road ability of a Land Rover.

"Nobody was doing it at the time. It seemed worth a try and Land Rover needed a new product."

A second model line, the Range Rover Sport, based on the Discovery platform, was launched in 2005. In 2007 it was Land Rover's best-selling vehicle worldwide.

Later this year, a further member of the Range Rover family will be added; a "baby" model which, says the firm, will be "no less premium, no less special than other Range Rover products". It will be revealed at the Paris motor show.

Perhaps what appears to have changed most over the course of 40 years is the price. On June 17, 1970, the Range Rover would have set you back £1,998. Today the starting price is an eye-watering £66,095.