Generation Gap: Charting Land Rover's 6 most important designs

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Land Rover has long stood beside Jeep as the originator of the SUV, and it’s developed a global reputation for producing unstoppable four-wheel drive trucks that can be adapted to nearly any driving situation.

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It was several decades, however, before the company was able to evolve from purveyor of basic 4x4s to the luxury powerhouse that it is today. Along the way, it designed a number of memorable models that have stood the test of time as key chapters in Land Rover history, whether it was through building the brand’s off-road reputation or polishing the brass on its upscale Range Rover line of vehicles.

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Generation Gap: Charting Land Rover's 6 most important designs Back to video

Which of these classic Land Rovers played the most important part in developing the brand’s future? Here are our selections for each significant step in design and style from the British automaker.

Series I/II/III

The ur -Land Rover, if you will, is the Series I and its Series II/III follow-ons. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that the Land Rover Series I’s design also inspired the look and mission statement of both the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Nissan Patrol when they arrived on the scene just a few years after the Series I’s 1948 debut (as well as the later Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen).

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The Series I (which itself borrowed from the Willys Jeep of World War II) featured the square proportions, removable canvas roof, and ease-of-repair that would become a common feature of nearly every early SUV. Leaf springs and four-wheel drive were standard, and the doors could be removed and windshield folded forward. Unusual for the time, the Land Rover sport-utilities were built out of aluminium, a result of a steel shortage in a Britain still rebuilding from the devastation of the war.

As the Series I evolved into the Series II and Series III, it gained a hardtop, a four-door wagon body style, the availability of an open pickup bed, and the option of three rows of seating. This was on top of the countless variants intended to satisfy farmers, forestry workers, search and rescue operations, and utility companies, all of which were attracted to the Land Rover’s incredible versatility. This rugged entry into the automotive lexicon was produced all the way until 1983, and has remained an indelible icon of design that informs the brand’s styling language to this day.

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Range Rover Classic

Eager to crack international markets where a less agricultural driving experience was required to be competitive in the rapidly growing SUV segment, Land Rover spent the latter half of the 1960s developing the Range Rover Classic. Originally marketed simply as the ‘Range Rover,’ the goal was to create a wagon with a 100-inch wheelbase that could go anywhere, do anything, and of course turn heads with its combination of presence and style.

The Classic differed from the Series I in almost every respect, with its fixed roof, angled glass and pillars, and sculpted sheet metal. A two-door arrived in 1970, followed by a four-door in 1981, and the Range Rover Classic was an instant success that eventually found its way to North America at the end of that decade. Positioned alongside the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, it helped break open the upscale sport-utility market, in large part thanks to its recognition that tough trucks didn’t need to offer spartan interiors or stripped down driving experiences.

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On sale for 26 years straight, like the Series I, the Range Rover Classic continues to serve as the spiritual inspiration for the brand’s trucks. It was also the thin end of the wedge that opened up the extremely profitable U.S. market for the automaker.

Defender

The vehicle that drew most directly from the Series I’s look and feel was the Land Rover Defender that arrived in 1983 as its replacement. Sold as the ‘One Ten’ and the ‘Ninety’ in reflection of the four-door and two-door wheelbases, the Defender took the Series I’s template and modernized it. Rounder and better-finished than its predecessor, the Defender nevertheless maintained the same ultra-tough character that had made the older Land Rover such a hit with those who regularly trod where the road ran out.

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Built until 2016, the Defender became something of a celebrated anachronism among the jet set (much like the G-Wagen), with a clear divide emerging between those who purchased the truck to tackle daily drives through the mud and muck and those who simply wanted to flash at the valet station. This dichotomy persisted despite the Defender’s basic driving character, which certainly didn’t prize on-road comfort or dynamics above its ability to eat dirt and smile. The Defender became a visual shorthand for the brand’s commitment to off-road excellent, and remained the closest link to the Land Rover’s roots even as the company soared ever-higher into the luxury stratosphere with each passing year.

Discovery/Discovery II

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Recognizing that not every SUV shopper needed the full-on capabilities of the Defender (which had a limited audience among increasingly important American buyers), and wanting to serve customers seeking a less expensive, and more family-oriented alternative to the Range Rover Classic, Land Rover introduced the Discovery at the very end of the 1980s.

The Discovery borrowed much of the Range Rover’s chassis bits but delivered more modest engine options combined with a softer driving experience. Like the Classic, it started out as a two-door but quickly added a four-door into the mix, eventually installing a third row of jump seats for maximum practicality. The exterior shape was a unique mix of the Range Rover’s square-ish front end with a rounded, extra-tall roofline that culminated in an expanded greenhouse at the back incorporating Land Rover’s ‘safari windows’ to reduce claustrophobia among rear seat riders.

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The Discovery and its Discovery II successor did more than any other vehicle in the Land Rover family to increase its volume, making it an attractive target for the series of acquisitions that began in the 1990s and ended with the stability of Tata Motors ownership in 2007.

Freelander/LR2

The Freelander is not a particularly legendary branch of the Land Rover family tree. However, the pint-size soft-roader served as a turning point for the brand in that it introduced unibody design into its showrooms, allowing for greater levels of on-road comfort and handling.

Not only was the Freelander (also sold as the LR2) the most affordable Land Rover on the lot, but it was also the most forward-facing in terms of looks. Arriving in the late 90s, the smooth-and-round styling of the Freelander eventually became standardized across most of its models. The Freelander pre-dated the more aero-oriented full-size Range Rover by more than a decade, and unibody construction would be integrated into nearly every Land Rover model over the course of the next 15 years.

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Range Rover Velar

After the Freelander’s design concepts reached their apex with the outstanding fourth-generation full-size Range Rover (which remains on-sale today), the brand expanded in a new direction with the Velar.

In some ways, the Land Rover Range Rover followed the same four-door SUV trend that had swept through German showrooms over the course of the previous decade. When it appeared in 2017, however, the Velar’s unique combination of swept, angled roofline and classic Range Rover styling cues gave it a fluidity that had been lacking from the bulkier interpretations of that body shape. At the same time, it went all-in on the automaker’s latest cabin accoutrements, in particular the flat, near-buttonless instrument panels and center stack that is finding its way into almost every other Range Rover product.

Sleek and svelte, the mid-size Velar points the way towards the next step in Land Rover’s design evolution.