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48 years of Range Rover: the evolution of the world’s most luxurious SUV

19 January, 2017

When talking luxurious, refined, well-engineered, and pioneering designs, there is probably one SUV that springs to mind … Range Rover. 

Since its inception in 1969 (as a prototype), the brand has evolved into one of the world’s most elegant and sophisticated SUVs, with any number of who’s who celebrities driving one, and it has since cracked more than one million units sold (1.7 million to date, to be exact).

Forty eight years on and it’s hard to sum up the brand’s heritage in a simple two-minute space, but it was long enough for Range Rover to celebrate this motoring icon through a specially commissioned animation — created to mark key dates in history for the legendary SUV.

You can see that today’s incarnations retain many of the original design hallmarks established way back when in 1970. These include its ‘floating’ roof design, distinctive clamshell bonnet, continuous belt line, and practical split tailgate.

Timeline: 
1969 Range Rover Prototype (Velar)
1970 Range Rover Classic (two-door)
1973 Range Rover Classic (Suffix C)
1981 Range Rover Classic (four-door)
1994 Second-generation Range Rover (P38a)
2001 Third-generation Range Rover
2012 Fourth-generation Range Rover
2014 Fourth-generation Range Rover Long Wheelbase
2015 Range Rover SVAutobiography
2016 Range Rover SVAutobiography Dynamic

Fraser Cars – low flying into the fourth decade

10 July, 2026

With almost three and a half decades under its belt, Fraser Cars is one of New Zealand’s longest-surviving car manufacturers. The company first opened its doors for business in 1988, during the boom time for kit manufacturers. During the ’80s, around 40 different companies were building kits and turnkey cars for this niche market. Of those, only Fraser and Almac Cars (established 1981) are still in business today.
Most of the new kit car companies were killed off in the cradle by the threat of new legislation that never eventuated and definitively by the sudden availability of high-performance Japanese cars when the floodgates to second-hand imports were opened. The now long-retired founder of the company, Neil Fraser, first came across Lotus Seven replicas while racing Lotus Cortinas in the early ’80s. He regularly found himself racing against a little Caterham, a Lotus Seven–styled car built in England. He was very impressed by its simplicity and handling. In 1986 Fraser built his own Lotus Seven–type car, using the knowledge he had gained from several close looks at the Caterham.

2027 Star Insure Calendar Competition Terms and Conditions

2 July, 2026

2027 Star Insure Calendar Competition
We’ve partnered up with Star Insure in search for 13 outstanding classic cars to feature across the 2027 Star Insure Calendar and the December issue of NZ Classic Car Magazine. One standout entry wins the ultimate honour: cover placement on both the calendar and the magazine, with the remaining 12 featured across the monthly pages.
Email your photo to [email protected] and include your full name, postal address, phone number and vehicle details (year, make and model). Entries close Friday, 31 July 2026. *T’s & C’s apply.
Read more to find out the full details >>