The Real Pioneers: Luxury SUVs

The Real Pioneers series reminds us the cars credited with being first to anything actually rarely were. And in motoring mythology there is surely no legend more enduring than the narrative that Britain’s most successful premium car, the Range Rover, was also the world’s first luxury SUV. An historic truism from Solihull to Sydney – where the original version was also assembled – it’s partly why the Range Rover is so internationally venerated. Creators invariably get the kudos.

Just as Hoover first mass produced the vacuum cleaner, Jacuzzi invented the modern jetted hot tub, Xerox gave us photocopiers, Kleenex introduced disposable tissues, and Sellotape what Blue Peter presenters used to call ‘sticky back plastic’, so history tells us Range Rover invented the luxury 4×4.

Except it didn’t. In this case as so many others we’ll go on to cover in this series, history is indeed bunk, to paraphrase Henry Ford, founder of the company that once owned Land Rover and Range Rover though, as if to prove his point, he didn’t precisely say that either. This oversight even amused the ‘father’ of the Range Rover, Charles Spencer King.