Land Rover Freelander E-Book

James Taylor

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Land Rover Freelander - The Complete Story recounts the history of the Land Rover Freelander, and its popular successor, the Freelander 2. This new book covers the original Freelander, from its design and development to its launch and reception in 1997. In 2006 , the innovative Freelander 2 was launched, with its pioneering technology in fuel efficiency. Also covered are the Freelander variants from across the world, and its use in UK law enforcement. This is an indispensable guide to the history of both generations of Freelander and is aimed at enthusiasts of Land Rover throughout the world. Lavishly illustrated with 284 colour photographs.

Leseprobe

LAND ROVERFREELANDER

T H E  C O M P L E T E  S T O R Y

James Taylor

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2017 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2017

© James Taylor 2017

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 327 1

CONTENTS

Introduction and Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1BREAKING NEW GROUND

CHAPTER 2FREELANDER 1, 1998–2000

CHAPTER 3FREELANDER 1, 2001–2003

CHAPTER 4FREELANDER 1, 2004–2006

CHAPTER 5THE US EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 6EXPORT FREELANDERS AND UK POLICE MODELS

CHAPTER 7DESIGNING THE FREELANDER 2

CHAPTER 8FREELANDER 2, 2007–2010

CHAPTER 9FREELANDER 2, 2011–2014

CHAPTER 10EXPORT FREELANDER 2s AND UK POLICE MODELS

Appendix IFreelander Identification

Appendix IIFreelander Production Figures

Index

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Land Rover’s Freelander has been controversial among enthusiasts of the brand ever since it was announced in 1997. But it was certainly not perceived that way by the buying public. Right from the start, it sold extremely well, and for its first few years was the best-selling 4x4 in Europe.

So why the controversy? Simply because the Freelander sacrificed ultimate off-road ability for improved on-road ability, the thinking behind that being the entirely sensible recognition that most drivers avoid difficult off-road driving most of the time. Yet the Freelander has off-road ability far beyond what most drivers ever need, and certainly way in excess of most of its rivals.

For Land Rover, the Freelander was a bold and decisive step into mainstream car manufacture. When the model was launched, the company calculated that 75 per cent of sales would be ‘conquest’ customers – people who had not previously owned a Land Rover of any kind. Those new customers would not be typical 4x4 buyers, who wanted such a vehicle either for use off the road or for such duties as towing. They would be ordinary everyday folk who were attracted to the strengths and image of the Land Rover brand but who, for the most part, would not have bought one of the company’s existing models.

That calculation was entirely correct, but for the second-generation model, introduced in 2006, Land Rover took heed of the negative comments directed at the first Freelander. The Freelander 2 (called LR2 in the USA and some other markets) was a superb all-rounder, with all the desirable features of its predecessor allied to a more recognizable Land Rover ‘feel’ and much improved reliability.

Land Rovers have always sold in far greater quantities overseas than in their home country, and it is easy to fall into the trap of writing only about the UK models. For that reason this book takes particular care to examine Freelanders abroad, but I am well aware that there is far more that could be said. Overseas Freelander owners who want to add to the story – or indeed any readers who feel they can correct or add to what is in this book – are more than welcome to contact me through the publisher.

As always, I am indebted to a number of individuals who have helped out with information and pictures. A great deal of information obviously came from Land Rover itself, not least during the period between 1997 and 2010 when I was able to attend several technical seminars, ride-and-drive and other Freelander-related events laid on for the media.

Individuals at Land Rover who added their own views have included John Bilton, Roger Crathorne, Dick Elsy, Mike Gould, Steve Haywood, Gerry McGovern and Don Wyatt. I have also been fortunate to receive plenty of help from Paddy Carpenter at the Police Vehicle Club (PVEC), from David Morgan, from Philip Bashall at the Dunsfold Collection and from long-standing photographer colleague Nick Dimbleby. I hope I have made good use of their contributions.

James TaylorNovember 2016

CHAPTER ONE

BREAKING NEW GROUND

It really was a most unusual Land Rover. The new Freelander announced in August 1997 had no low-range gears for off-road use; it had no separate chassis; the engine was mounted transversely; there was no aluminium in its outer body panels; and it had rack-and-pinion steering and all-round independent suspension, both previously considered taboo by Land Rover engineers. Most of all, it was entering a sector of the market where Land Rover had never before been represented, a sector where the off-road ability central to perceptions of the marque was likely to be of little consequence. No wonder many people, both inside and outside the company, had difficulty accepting it as a real Land Rover. Some still do.

The ideas behind the Freelander had nevertheless been around for a long time: they can be traced back to 1988, nearly ten years before the Freelander reached the market. In that year the British Government persuaded British Aerospace to take the Rover Group (formerly British Leyland) off its hands and into private ownership. Not surprisingly, managers on both the Rover Cars and Land Rover sides of the business scrambled to make the right impression on their new bosses with forward-thinking product plans. And in these plans lay the origins of the Freelander.

On the Rover Cars side, the major new trend in the market was identified as the MPV, a spacious family-orientated vehicle exemplified by the Renault Espace, which had been introduced in 1984. Rover people thought there was scope for a smaller and more affordable equivalent. On the Land Rover side of the business, Suzuki’s announcement of the Vitara over the summer of 1988 had sharply focused minds, as this new model made a 4x4 ‘lifestyle’ estate available at a new and lower-priced point in the market. As they sifted the ideas that reached them, Rover Group’s top engineers began to think in terms of developing a single platform from which both these similarly sized vehicles might be produced.

Dating from around June 1989, this sketch by Land Rover designer Don Wyatt shows an idea for Project Lifestyle.

Around March 1989 an engineering project was formally established to look at the possibilities. Known as Project Lifestyle, it was run by Anne Youngson and, unlike most other Rover Group projects of the time, was run completely independently of Honda. The Rover and Land Rover teams assigned to the project initially worked up their ideas separately, and then during August 1989 were co-located at Canley. The project was now renamed Pathfinder.

This ‘see-through’ GRP model of the Pathfinder vehicle shows some of the problems: the sloping bonnet was too car-like for a 4x4, and the high sills were too 4x4-like for a car. The picture dates from 26 June 1990.

Collaboration with other carmakers, however, was not completely off the agenda. British Aerospace was keeping a close eye on costs and encouraged the Rover Group to find a partner for this new venture. At this stage Honda had no interest in a small 4x4 (a view that would change a few years later), and for a time the Korean company Hyundai was brought on board as a development partner. This may have been what prompted yet another change of project name, this time to Oden. At a guess, the name was actually intended to be Odin, but somebody involved could not spell the name of the Norse god.

This GRP model, pictured at Canley on 3 December 1990, shows Oden, still too delicate for a 4x4.

The Rover Cars proposal for Oden, July 1991.

The Land Rover 4x4 and Rover MPV GRP models of Oden were pictured at Canley on 17 June 1993. By this stage acceptable design compromises seemed within reach, but a new approach was already taking shape.

Project Oden stumbled on through 1993, although it ran into the same difficulties that had beset its predecessors: the requirements of the Rover MPV and the Land Rover 4x4 tended to pull in opposite directions. Then at the Tokyo Motor Show in October that year, Toyota previewed its new RAV-4 model, another small road-focused 4x4. Clearly, Rover Group was not alone in seeing a market for such a vehicle.