Development on the new Range Rover started in 1995, and it went through several metamorphoses before management was completely happy with the direction it was going in.
Land Rover and BMW produced competing design proposals, and it was the British iteration of the concept that won through at the end of the day.
Range Rover L322: Reimagining an icon
Former Rover Director of Design, Geoff Upex, who moved to Land Rover in 2000, and Lead Designer Don Wyatt were responsible for how the new Range Rover should look.
Both men saw the directive from BMW, that they should start with a clean sheet of paper (instead of basing it on the P38A) as a positive advantage, and embarked on their task with some relish.
All pictures courtesy of Autocar and used are used with permission
- The converters : Crayford Metro Politan - 28 March 2024
- The cars : Range Rover P38 Vs Jaguar X300 - 26 March 2024
- Opinion : Welcome to the classic fold, Ford Focus - 23 March 2024
I’d love to see more of the BMW designs. Curious as to how they, under Chris Bangle, saw the Range Rover style progressing.
Thank goodness Chris Bangle’s designs were passed over! He did enough damage during his time at BMW and to a lesser extent, with the R56 MINI. Fortunately, he seems to have disappeared into obscurity.
The L322 was easily the best reinterpretation of the Classic (and I say that as the owner of an L405!). The only downside was the front and wasn’t quite right from the start and the subsequent facelifts only made it worse, quite a lot worse.
Strange how this design has almost become a classic blending the angular and somehow still fresh style of the original with a modern look.
I first saw a rendering in either What Car? or Autocar, and really hated it. I thought they had ruined the brand with this odd design which to me even had flashes of the then current model Mondeo in them.
How wrong could I have been. This (apart from the original) has to be the best looking Range Rover so far. I looks like a Range Rover, looks and feels luxurious but also retaining a look that lets you know it can do a lot more than your average upmarket car.
Perfectly proportions and unlike most cars, the facelifts actually improved what was a good design further.
The P38A though it was a long time in gestation always lacked a sense of effortless quality and poise. I always thought the front and rear lights together with the grille were nicked from a 1979 Chrysler Horizon. It just did not seem worthy – in terms of looks – of carrying the badge. The L322 put that right.
Having said that, I like the P38A, I just think round headlamps, and smaller tail lamps echoing the MKI would have been the way forward.
Really interesting piece, many thanks
The L322 was a brilliant piece of styling, that managed to move the RR on, while still looking like a RR.
Off topic, but is there a list of Land Rover model codes since the separation from Rover, and what the gaps are, seeing that we’ve had
RR – L322, L405, L460
RR Sport – L320, L494, L461
Discovery 5 – L462
Evoque – L538, L551
Freelander – L314, L359
New Defender – L663
Disco Sport – L550
L322 Range Rover was originally L30.
Disco 2 was L25 and Freelander 1 L20. Defender must have had an Lxx code too but I can’t remember it…
These are all good points and I should add them to the codename page