Range Rover

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The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel
drive sport utility vehicle (SUV) produced by
British car maker Land Rover , a subsidiary of
Jaguar Land Rover , and serves as its flagship
model. The model, launched in 1970, is now in
its fourth generation. Land Rover has
expanded the Range Rover model line to
include two entirely different designs: the
Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover
Sport that derive core styling, brand identity
and breadth of capability from the current
Range Rover model.
History
The Rover Company (the creator of the Land
Rover marque) had been experimenting with a
larger model than the Land Rover Series as
far back as 1951, when the Rover P4 -based
two-wheel-drive "Road Rover" project was
developed by Gordon Bashford . [2] This was
shelved in 1958, and the idea lay dormant
until 1966, when engineers Spen King and
Gordon Bashford set to work on a new model.
[3]
In 1967, the first Range Rover prototype was
built, with the classic Range Rover shape
clearly discernible, but with a different front
grille and headlight configuration. The design
of the Range Rover was finalised in 1969.
Twenty-six Velar engineering development
vehicles were built between 1969 and 1970
and were road registered with the number
plates YVB151H through to YVB177H. [4] The
Velar name was derived from the Italian
"velare" meaning to veil or to cover. [5] Range
Rover development engineer Geof Miller used
the name as a decoy for registering pre-
production Range Rovers. The Velar company
was registered in London and produced 40
pre-production vehicles that were built
between 1967 and 1970. Most of these Velar
pre-production vehicles are accounted for and
have survived into preservation. [5]
The Range Rover was launched in 1970. In
the early 1970s, the Musée du Louvre in Paris
exhibited a Range Rover as an "exemplary
work of industrial design". [6]
In 1972, the British Trans-Americas Expedition
became the first vehicle-based expedition to
traverse the Americas from north-to-south,
including traversing the roadless Darién Gap .
The specially modified Range Rovers used for
this expedition are now on display in the
British Motor Industry Heritage Trust
collection at Gaydon , Warwickshire.
Before 1987, Land Rover vehicles were only
sold in the United States through the grey
market . The Land Rover company began
selling the Range Rover officially in the U.S.
on 16 March 1987. From that time until 1993,
the U.S. marketing was all in the name of
Range Rover, because it was the only model
offered in the American market. In 1993, with
the arrival of the Defender 110 and the
imminent arrival of the Land Rover Discovery,
the company's U.S. sales were under the
name "Land Rover North America".
In 2005, Land Rover launched another model
under the Range Rover brand – the Range
Rover Sport, which was based on the Land
Rover Discovery platform, but the new Range
Rover Sport has the latest Range Rover
platform.
In 2011, the Range Rover Evoque was
launched.
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