The Range Rover has a lot to answer for.
It was the car that sparked off the trend for luxury 4x4s, and was instrumental in making the 'Chelsea Tractor' the di rigueur accessory of yummy mummies and Premiership footballers the length and breadth of the land. All of today's high-end mud-pluggers -- the BMW X5, the Porsche Cayenne etc. -- can trace their lineage back to the original Range Rover of 1970.
And to celebrate the unveiling of the new Rangie, we're delving into the past to take a look at the evolution of a true motoring icon.
1970
The original Range Rover was revealed to the press on 17th June 1970 and immediately won plaudits for its revolutionary design, coming second in Car Magazine's 1971 'Car of the Year' issue. At launch it would have set you back £1,998 (£25k in today's money), and was available in two-door form only.
1981-1994
It was during the 1980s that the Range Rover started to go upmarket. In 1981, a four-door model was offered for the first time, and leather trim and an automatic gearbox were offered from 1984 onwards. The last hurrah for the original Rangie was the LSE long wheelbase model you see here, which was launched in 1992.
1994
Nearly twenty-five years after the Range Rover was released, the second-gen model was launched. By this time, Rover was under BMW ownership and the new car benefitted from a range of BMW diesel engines alongside the old Rover V8. Although plagued by reliability problems throughout its eight-year life, the Mk2 Rangie pushed the model's image further upmarket.
2002
The current Range Rover was unveiled in 2002 and went on to become the best-selling Rangie of them all. It shared many electrical components with the BMW 7 Series of the time and was the first model in the Range Rover's history to be offered without Rover's legendary V8 -- a range of Jaguar, Ford and BMW engines were fitted instead.
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2005
The Range Rover line-up was supplemented in 2005 with the introduction of the Range Rover Sport, which was based upon the Land Rover Discovery. A third car, the Evoque, joined the Range Rover family in 2011.
2009
The current model was facelifted in 2009 with an updated grille, new headlights and redesigned bumpers.
2012
Land Rover unveils the new car, the first in Range Rover's history to feature an all-aluminium construction.
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