The Range Rover Story part 2

When we left the Range Rover, it had risen from a farm workhorse to a school run fashion accessory. But in the process it had turned into a steady seller that was keeping Land Rover afloat, despite no update for 24 years. So, what happened after that long overdue facelift? Video link: https://youtu.be/L4PKiUknHj8

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Last week I talked about the first generationRange Rover, maybe the only bright spot in
British Leyland in the 1970s.
This is the second part of the story wherethe Range Rover was refreshed after over 20
years.
It’s a story with a few twists and turnsas the company that makes the car gets passed
from pillar to post, and the people workingon the car need to ignore all of this as best

(00:33):
they can and focus on making the best carwith what parts they have from their new parent
company.
Anyway, on with the show!
When we left the Range Rover, it had risenfrom a farm workhorse to a school run fashion
accessory.
But in the process it had turned into a steadyseller that was keeping Land Rover afloat,

(00:55):
despite no update for 24 years.
So, what happened after that long overduefacelift?
This is the second part of the Range RoverStory!
Land Rover was owned by the Government throughoutmost of the 1980s but was sold to British

(01:18):
Aerospace in 1988.
That same year, the new owners approved aRange Rover update.
Even British Aerospace with their tight fiscalcontrol realised that the Range Rover wasn’t
the golden goose that was going to lay forever.
After 18 years with no major updates, at somepoint the competition was going to catch up

(01:39):
and the Range Rover would be finished, soit needed money for a refresh, and that refresh
needed to be done properly.
The new Range Rover wasn’t the only newLand Rover in development.
The lower-priced Discovery had started developmenttwo years before, in 1986.
It would take on the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser, Mitsubishi Shogun and Isuzu Trooper

(02:01):
that were eating into Land Rover’s marketshare.
Bringing this mid-level car into Land Rover’sline-up would allow the Range Rover to continue
its push upmarket.
While the Discovery would use the runninggear from the previous Range Rover, the new
Range Rover’s chassis would be thoroughlyupdated.
The lowly Defender was all but abandoned,as Land Rover went chasing more affluent customers.

(02:27):
When a car has been around for so long withoutchanging, its shape can become iconic.
That happened to the Mini, to the Beetle andthe Jaguar XJ.
When the humble London taxi was updated, theboxy design wasn’t embraced to people’s
hearts like the Austin from the 1950s.
Updating a classic design is hard, and it’seasy to be on the receiving end of a pitchfork-wielding

(02:50):
mob if you get it wrong.
Land Rover were aware of this when they tenderedfor a new Range Rover shape.
Five designs would be considered – fromBertone, partners Hefferman and Greenley,
ItalDesign, Pininfarina, and from Land Rover’sinternal design team.
These designs were whittled down to just two– Bertone’s and Land Rover’s.

(03:13):
Customer clinics made it clear that conservativecustomers wanted the classic Range Rover shape
that had been produced by Land Rover’s in-houseteam.
However, it’s dangerous to let customersclinics guide development.
As Henry Ford didn’t say, but should have,“If I had asked people what they wanted,
they would have said a faster horse.”.

(03:34):
It’s hard for customers to make a leap tosomething new when they want the same comfortable
thing they know, only better.
Sometimes revolutionary products aren’tunderstood by customer clinics but are embraced
by customers when they’re launched.
In this case though, the conservative routewas likely the right course to take.
There wasn’t effective luxury off-roadingcompetition at this time.

(03:58):
It was clear that the Range Rover was competingnot with cars like the Toyota Land Cruiser,
but with the BMW 7-series and Mercedes S-Class.
So, the interior needed a level of refinementthat would allow it to compete with its German
rivals.
But with a limited budget, this refinementmeant delving into the Rover 800 parts bin,

(04:18):
and given the limited level of refinementof Rover parts at that time, the Range Rover
was always going to be fighting with one handtied behind its back.
The chassis was stiffened, with 1990s levelcrash structures and improved safety, such
as side impact bars.
Further sound deadening made for a quieter,more refined cabin.

(04:39):
The previous car had been updated to use airsuspension in 1992, and the new car would
come with it as standard.
This allowed the ride height to be adjusted,so it could be low to help with cornering
on the open road, and high for ground clearancewhile off-roading.
And although the Range Rover rarely went off-road,it sold as a one of the finest off-roaders

(05:00):
that could go anywhere.
So, it was important that the new car hadall the 4x4 ability the old car had, whilst
being better on the highway.
Like the classic Range Rover before it, thenew car would use the venerable Rover V8 engine,
first used by Buick in 1961!, and famouslyused on the Rover SD1.

(05:22):
But it was improved and enlarged to 4.0 and4.6L. While the 200Tdi was meant to be the
future diesel engine for all Land Rover’scars, the unrefined engine wasn’t considered
for the luxury Range Rover even though bythe time the Range Rover launched it had been
enlarged to the 300Tdi.
Land Rover’s quest to find the perfect dieselled them to BMW’s M51 6-cylinder, used in

(05:47):
their 3, 5 and 7 series.
With a tweaked torque curve, it worked wellfor Land Rover’s new 2 tonne (2.2 US tons)
beast, although it was a little underpowered.
While the Land Rover Discovery took just threeyears to make it to market, arriving on the
scene in 1989, it would take a leisurely sixyears for the new Range Rover to appear.

(06:08):
When it did arrive the press praised the car,but in truth it wasn’t the all-round success
6 years of development should have produced.
But it was enough to keep customers flockingto Land Rover dealers around the world.
Although development of the Range Rover wasstarted the year British Aerospace took the
company over, it would be launched under newowners BMW, just 7 months after their takeover

(06:31):
in February 1994.
With BMW and Rover both producing around halfa million cars a year, BMW hoped it would
catapult them past Mercedes-Benz, and allowthem to compete with volume car maker Volkswagen.
But the jewel in Rover’s crown, at leastas far as BMW was concerned, was the Range
Rover, further expanding BMW’s share ofthe luxury car market.

(06:56):
BMWs first plan for the Range Rover was toreplace the Rover V8 petrol engines with something
from BMWs stable, and to uprate the 2.5L dieselengine to 3.0L. Along with this, BMW investigated
a super-luxury stretched version that couldsell for over £100,000 ($123,000 USD, €110,000,
$180,000 AUD).
But it became clear to BMW that Land Rover’squality wasn’t as high as BMWs.

(07:21):
During a blindfolded test, the car’s qualitywas torn apart and it became clear that the
Range Rover wasn’t ready for this pricecategory just yet.
This also showed that instead of focusingon a 1998 refresh, they should start again
with a completely new version.
The refresh was scaled back, the new Discoverywas delayed and the Range Rover engine updates

(07:44):
were put on hold so Land Rover could focuson delivering a new Range Rover that would
have the quality BMW thought it deserved.
Rover’s evergreen V8 engine would live foryet another day!
But this didn’t stop Land Rover from producinghigh end luxury models for its wealthy clientele.

(08:05):
Since 1993 the Range Rover could be customisedthrough Land Rover’s “Autobiography programme”,
and this continued for the new 1994 model.
And it was a popular choice for its rich customers,delivering some much-needed additional revenue.
They could choose from any external colour,from a wide variety of the finest leather

(08:26):
and wood interior finishes, wheel designs,technology gadgets and other body styling
packages.
With the Autobiography programme a success,Land Rover decided to offer a standardised
package as the “Vogue SE” version in 1998,initially limited to just 220 cars but that
run was expanded with the Vogue being a popularoption.

(08:49):
But in 2000 BMW had had enough of its Britishexperiment.
With one stroke of the pen, BMW sold LandRover to Ford.
It’s easy to see why BMW would want to off-loadRover, as that was still losing money hand
over fist, but it’s harder to see why theywould want to sell Land Rover.

(09:09):
BMW stated the company wasn’t making a profit,but that may be due to the massive injection
of capital for the Range Rover replacement.
But the Discovery, Freelander and Range Roverwere popular cars, and if you’re not making
a profit when your cars are selling well,then you’re doing something wrong.
Land Rover’s portfolio complimented BMWbeautifully.

(09:32):
The Discovery was a popular 4x4 alternativeto cars like BMW’s 5-series, and the Range
Rover was bought by 7-series owners.
So why sell Land Rover, especially as it wasa marque BMW was so keen to get its hands
on just five years earlier?
It’s not clear, but it seems it all camedown to money.

(09:52):
Rover had been sucking BMW dry to a tune ofalmost £1B ($1.25B USD, €1.1B, $1.8B AUD)
every year and was still losing £2.5M ($3.2MUSD, €2.8M, $4.6M AUD) a day.
The English patient that had bankrupted BritishLeyland in 1975 and continued to lose taxpayer
money into the 1980s was still on its deathbed despite BMW’s funding.

(10:15):
BMW would pay a further £500M ($629M USD,€558M, $915M AUD) to the new owners just
so Rover wouldn’t go immediately broke.
And don’t forget the £529M ($665M USD,€590M, $968M AUD) BMW paid British Aerospace
for the company in the first place.
Not even BMW’s deep pockets could take apounding like this, which probably explained
Bernd Pischetsrieder’s exasperation withthe British Government over further funding

(10:38):
to keep Rover alive.
BMW had to jettison Land Rover to raise cash,only being able to keep the MINI brand.
So, Ford bought Land Rover for a cool £2.3B($2.9B USD, €2.57B, $4.2B AUD) to add to
its 1989 Jaguar purchase, despite it supposedlylosing money.
Ford inherited a new Range Rover that wasessentially ready to release, and it had been

(11:03):
well funded by a company that knew how tomake luxury cars.
Ford knew how to sell in the lucrative NorthAmerican market, which could further expand
Range Rover sales.
But funding the Range Rover had been doneat the expense of the Discovery.
Development of the new Range Rover had begunat BMWs engineering centre in Munich as Rover’s

(11:24):
Gaydon design centre was busy on the Minireplacement, but it transferred to Land Rover’s
Solihull factory soon after Ford’s purchase.
However, even after Ford’s purchase BMWwas involved in the development of the new
Range Rover, to ensure the car could be broughtto market smoothly.
One issue Ford had with the new car was theamount of BMW parts it used.

(11:47):
Ford negotiated the use of these parts, butsoon got to work to remove them so they could
use parts they had control over.
The new car would use BMWs engines – the4.4L V8 petrol and 2.9L diesel from BMW’s
5-series, all allied to a 5-speed automatic.
For the first time the Range Rover wouldn’thave a manual option.

(12:10):
It would use the electronics and in car entertainmentsystem from the BMW 5-series.
As such the car was much more reliable bothelectronically and mechanically than the outgoing
car.
For the first time the Range Rover used aunibody design.
Previously it had used body-on-frame constructionto maximize its abilities off-road.

(12:32):
But this made for a heavier car and producedfar too much body-roll on fast country roads.
To ensure the car could still cut it off-roadthe car would lean on its air suspension system.
The car’s ride height would rise to tackleoff-road obstacles, and where the previous
Range Rover used a live axle that allowedfor dramatic acrobatics while off-roading,

(12:54):
the new car used its air suspension systemto perform similar tricks.
The air suspension would also lower whileon the open road and could be used to counteract
body roll.
It was a win-win, and it was more reliablethan on the old car where the suspension could
lower by itself when not in use.
The car continued to get more luxury featuressuch as multi-zone air conditioning and seats

(13:18):
that both heated and cooled.
Customer and press reaction to the new carwas unanimous – this was the best Range
Rover yet!
Ford released an updated Discovery in 2004,and they decided to produce an upmarket version
as the Range Rover Sport the following year.
While initially this seems to hurt sales ofthe regular Range Rover, it soon became a

(13:40):
second revenue stream for Land Rover, quicklyincreasing sales of both models.
Where Land Rover had sold almost 21,000 RangeRover’s in the USA and Europe in 2002, just
four years later sales of the Range Roverline had more than tripled to 64,000 cars.
2005 was also the year MG Rover had to callin the receivers.

(14:04):
Since BMWs 2000 sale of Rover, they had heldon to the Rover marque name, to ensure the
new company couldn’t use the Rover namein North America which might devalue the Land
Rover brand.
In 2005 they sold the Rover marque to Ford,reuniting the Rover and Land Rover brands
that had been inseparable since Land Rover’sinception in the late 1940s.

(14:28):
The 2005 Range Rover offered the 4.2L JaguarV8, and the following year Ford added a 4.4L
version, deleting the BMW petrol engine.
Ford removed more BMW parts from the car,and the infotainment system was updated with
one from a Ford approved supplier.
The BMW diesel that Land Rover had been sokeen to use in 1994 was swapped in 2007 for

(14:54):
a new large Ford diesel that was mainly usedfor Jaguars and Land Rovers, but also farmed
out to PSA for the Citroen C5 and Peugeot407.
This was a much more powerful unit than theoutgoing diesel, giving the Range Rover some
serious grunt.
Its interior was improved with Range RoverSport parts, and it got better brakes, suspension

(15:17):
and 4WD system.
With all this work integrating the Range Roverinto the Ford family it was a shock when Ford
put both Jaguar and Land Rover up for salein 2007!
From the outside it didn’t seem to makemuch sense, but Ford had a good reason.
Like BMW in 2000 it was in financial trouble.

(15:38):
They’d already jettisoned their controllingstake in Aston Martin earlier that year, but
they needed to get rid of not just Land Rover,but Jaguar as well.
In fact, Jaguar was the main problem.
Land Rover was profitable, but if Ford waslosing money, Jaguar was haemorrhaging it
– to the tune of £476M ($600M USD, €531M,$871M AUD) per year.

(16:00):
The S-Type and X-Type that Ford had such highhopes for had both failed to set the world
on fire.
With both companies being so intertwined,it made sense to sell them as a two for one
offer.
After all, who would buy Jaguar if it waslosing so much money?
Better to sweeten the pot by selling bothcompanies together.

(16:22):
So just 6 years after the BMW experiment hadended, Land Rover found the “for sale”
notice once again hanging outside their factorygates.
After a long search, Ford finally selectedIndian mega corporation Tata who offered £1.7B
($2.3B USD, €1.9B, $3.1B AUD).
That might sound like a lot, but it was abouthalf of what Ford paid for Jaguar in 1989

(16:45):
and Land Rover in 2000 (£4.3B, $5.3B USD,€4.75B, $7.8B AUD).
Ford was luckier than it knew at the timethough, because just months after the deal
concluded in 2008 the world was hit by theGreat Recession that drove both its American
competitors, General Motors and Chrysler,into bankruptcy.
After spending big to get the British carcompanies engineering know-how, and to help

(17:07):
expand their Indian car operations, Tata wasforced to get a £340M ($428M USD, €380M,
$622M AUD) loan from the European InvestmentBank to tide Jaguar and Land Rover over while
they got Jaguar back into the black.
Despite the recession hitting luxury productshard, sales were still strong, and the Range
Rover line would be increased with the RangeRover Evoque in 2011.

(17:31):
The car had been in development since 2006,and was a major departure for the large luxury
Range Rover.
It was shorter than the diminutive Land RoverFreelander.
Land Rover was following the pattern of Germancar companies who were making ever smaller
versions of their luxury saloons and crossovers.
And talking of competition, while the RangeRover had the market pretty much to itself

(17:55):
in the 1990s, by 2011 the luxury SUV marketwas getting crowded.
We had the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Mercedes M-Classand the Lexus LX.
Heck, even Porsche had muscled in on the gamewith their SUV, sports car, whatever it was
- the Cayenne.

(18:16):
Where Land Rover had previously tried to expandtheir range using the Land Rover brand, this
time it was the luxury Range Rover brand thatwould be used.
This made sense, as the brand had real caché.
If you could buy a mini BMW, why not a miniRange Rover?
The Evoque was brought to life by Gerry McGovern.

(18:36):
Gerry was born in Coventry, just down theroad from Land Rover’s Solihull factory
and spent his early career at Chrysler inthe UK before moving to Austin Rover in 1982.
He created the MG EX-E concept before becomingthe lead designer on the MGF.
After this he switched to Land Rover wherehe led design work on the Freelander and he’d

(18:58):
led the team who created the 2002 Range Rover.
After this he’d been lured away to rejuvenatethe design of American Lincolns and Mercurys.
But by 2004 he’d returned to Land Rover.
The Range Rover Evoque started off as theLRX concept in 2008 and had been well received.
Gerry McGovern said at the launch “It’sa Land Rover that would be comfortable on

(19:22):
Bond Street or Fifth Avenue but wouldn’tflinch at getting its wheels dirty”.
Land Rover clearly understood its customers.
It’s a testament to the original designthat the Evoque changed so little on the outside,
although the interior was watered down a little.
Gerry McGovern would be at the heart of LandRover’s raft of new cars from now on.

(19:43):
So, by 2011 we now had three different RangeRover models – the small Range Rover Evoque,
larger Range Rover Sport, and original RangeRover.
And those expensive Autobiography versionswere still available, meaning you could spend
a lot or a boatload for Land Rover’s topof the line car.
But the Evoque was the first Range Rover thatwould be produced overseas as well as in the

(20:08):
UK.
Thanks to Tata’s 2011 £5B ($6.3B USD, €5.59B,$9.2B AUD) investment in the company, what
followed was updates to both the Range Roverin 2012 and Range Rover Sport in 2013, producing
a completely updated product line to takeon the best the competition could throw at
it.
The 4th generation Range Rover launched 42years after the original.

(20:32):
It shows Land Rover’s tumultuous historythat each generation had been launched by
a different owner.
The design language from the Evoque was clearin this car, and it would continue to be used
across the Land Rover range.
The new car would use an all-aluminium monocoquefor the first time, saving 420kg (925lb) over

(20:52):
the old car.
And all those weight savings meant the carwas only 436kg (961lb) heavier than the original
Range Rover, despite all the extra gadgetsand safety features.
That’s quite an accomplishment!
It also grew 55cm (22”) in length over theoriginal car to provide more leg room.

(21:12):
The Jaguar V8 was improved and a new V6 wasadded.
That Ford diesel was still available alongwith a new 4.4L V8 built in Mexico.
Range Rover was clearly pushing ever higherin making this car a go-anywhere palace on
wheels.
The interior was attempting to leave its competitionbehind and push into Bentley territory.

(21:36):
But the new car would have a price to match– the starting price was just shy of £70,000
($88,000 USD, €78,000, $128,000 AUD)!
The car retained its amazing off-roading capabilities.
The permanent 4WD used a two-speed transfercase for high and low gears and was controlled
with an 8-speed automatic gearbox.

(21:56):
The air suspension had been improved so itprovided even better active roll prevention
on fast corners while offering excellent off-roading.
Think of this as the spiritual successor toCitroen’s hydropneumatic suspension.
The Terrain Response system was like a sortof advanced traction control system providing
the best grip on different surfaces.

(22:19):
Long Wheelbase and Autobiography editionswere released a year later.
The next generation Range Rover Sport usedthe same platform as the new Range Rover.
And this platform would be used by severalJaguars and other Land Rovers.
Land Rover obviously didn’t think threedifferent Range Rovers were enough when they
introduced the Range Rover Velar in 2017.

(22:42):
Size-wise it fit between the small Range RoverEvoque and larger Range Rover Sport.
It shared its platform with the Jaguar F-Paceto reduce development costs and help expand
its business.
And that business was certainly growing!
In 1997 Land Rover sold just over 20,000 RangeRovers in its main export markets, the US

(23:04):
and Europe.
The year the Velar launched Land Rover sold273,000 Range Rovers around the world.
The investment Tata had put in the businesscertainly seemed to be paying off.
And why not?
Range Rover’s were well put together carsthat did just what their rapidly growing customer
base wanted.

(23:25):
If you wanted a bit more sportiness in yourSUV, they were happy to supply a Jaguar that
could satisfy your needs.
And with celebrities around the world usingthe Range Rover, the caché of the brand continued
to grow.
Land Rover continued to update its suite ofRange Rovers when the Evoque got an update
in 2018, and as electric cars moved into themainstream, Jaguar Land Rover and old frenemy

(23:49):
BMW joined forces on electric car developmentin 2019.
The Range Rover was never something ecologistscould love, but over the years Land Rover
has made small efforts to improve its environmentalfootprint.
Many of the materials in the 4th generationcar are sustainably sourced and are more recyclable.

(24:10):
In 2018 the car became a plug-in hybrid forthe first time, using a 2.0L 4-cylinder engine
used on smaller Jaguars and Land Rovers.
The battery pack allowed the heavy Range Roverto get 31 miles (km) without using its engine.
When I make videos about British cars, thestory rarely has a happy ending.

(24:31):
Yes, Jaguar Land Rover made a loss last yeardue to falling diesel sales and weak sales
in China, and yes, they had to lay off somepeople in 2019 and 2020, but in general the
company’s sales are growing.
The consolidated Jaguar Land Rover businessis certainly more stable and profitable than
it was when Tata took it over in 2008.

(24:53):
It’s grown to be a force to be reckonedwith, as customers move away from saloons
and estates and towards crossovers and SUVs.
And the Range Rover itself is most certainlya success story.
What started as a replacement to the LandRover that could work well both on and off-road
had morphed into, excuse the pun, a rangeof cars that are successful around the world,

(25:17):
and continue to grow in sales.
Since I made this video in 2020 Jaguar LandRover have launched a fifth generation version
of the Range Rover in 2022 using a new MLA-flexplatform.
It’s a pretty heavy platform, which is reallyfelt on the smaller Range Rover Sport which
uses the same platform.

(25:39):
The Range Rover still has a plug-in hybrid,but this time it has more range, about 50-60
miles, but for the most part the Range Roverwas more of the same.
More luxury, more power, and more money!
There’s the long wheelbase option, now withseven seats, and all wheel steering for getting
your long wheelbase monster out of tight parkingspots.

(26:02):
Jaguar Land Rover know there are many peoplewho will pay for the best, and they intend
to keep it ahead of its rivals.
But Jaguar Land Rover business isn’t actuallydoing that well.
They sold 614,000 cars in 2018, but that’sfallen to 354,000 in 2023.

(26:22):
That’s just a little bit more than halfthe amount from 2018.
Some of that’s COVID supply issues but othercar companies are bouncing back and doing
better than ever.
So, to keep the Range Rover competitive, theyreally need to start selling more cars.
As always, if you like these podcasts thentell your friends and relatives, even the

(26:45):
dodgy relatives!
If you want to see it along with many, manyother car histories take a look at my YouTube
channel.
Thanks for listening and I’ll see you inthe next episode!