When you think about timeless design, a few iconic objects come to mind perhaps: The Riva speedboat, a Chanel fragrance bottle or Rolex timepiece. In the automotive-SUV world, arguably the most timeless design of them all is that of the Range Rover. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know it was the vehicle that started the whole lifestyle-SUV genre. However, the Range Rover’s ascent to greatness was by no means guaranteed.
THE ORIGINAL TIMELESS DESIGN
20-years ahead of its time, back in the post-war ’50s, Land Rover was kicking around plans for a ‘Road Rover’, a leisure-orientated 4×4 vehicle based on a humble ‘Landy’ but with a station wagon-type body on top. No one had made such a thing before. So, the firm undertook extensive market research in the United States. And the response confirmed they might in fact be onto something pretty special.
Engineering work on the project – originally known as the ‘100-inch Station Wagon’ – started in 1966. True to their word, Land Rover took an original ladder-frame ‘Landy’ and wrapped it with an all-aluminium body. The original Range Rover entered production in 1970 and was sold until 1996, before its first major replacement. Talk about timeless design.
RANGE ROVER ONYX
Fast forward another three decades and what you see here is the bespoke Range Rover Onyx from the firm’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division. Just seven will be made and they’re only for sale on the African continent. Price is on application only, of course. It wears unique colour-shifting paint, and the firm says it satisfies a desire in its customers for things that are both extremely ‘valuable and rare.’ Fair dues, because Onyx is a rare gemstone known for its parallel bands of colour, ranging from black to white and sandstone. Hence the trick paint job.
This is not the first time SVO has created a region-specific vehicle in exclusive numbers. Cars in the Middle East, Japan, UK and United States have had the honour, too. Besides seeing this one-of-seven exclusive in South Africa, we discussed timeless design with creative specialist for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Vit Rosicky. This talented designer has worked on Range Rover, as well as the upcoming all-electric Jaguar launching later this year.
CREATING A DESIGN ICON
Rosicky, who hails from the Czech Republic, explains that timeless design comes from a less-is-more approach. ‘One-clean line of perfect proportions’ is the mantra behind everything you see on the new Range Rover. Being trendy wins you a certain shock factor initially, but it doesn’t last forever, and your design will not become timeless (think Tesla Cybertruck) if you fall into that trap. Similarly, the Range Rover follows a ‘reductive’ rather than ‘minimalist’ approach. Because going too far down the minimalist route risks your vehicle becoming instantly forgettable. Instead, Rosicky explains there is ‘a purity and tension to the design that gives it a peerless refinement.’
In the original ‘70s Range Rover, a number of coincidences directed its development. Like industrial cooperation with General Motors for the V8 engine. And the decision to run permanent four-wheel drive, which meant raising the body and endowing it with the now much-copied high-seating position. The styling was a combined effort from engineering chief Spen King and designer David Bache, making it the very embodiment of form meeting function. Let’s not forget the royal family saw fit to have one 50-years ago, which must qualify the Range Rover as a bona fide timeless design in anyone’s book.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF RANGE ROVER ONYX?
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