The Range Rover started with humble roots when it launched in 1970, but evolved to luxury status by the time the the 1990s rolled around. Looking to take advantage of the Range Rover's premium status, Wolfgang Reitzle, BMW's engineer chief, commissioned a version of the second-generation Range Rover with a V12 engine from the BMW 7-Series. Photos of the prototype were recently unearthed by Autocar.
Not sold on the idea of a six-figure SUV, BMW ultimately dropped the project. Shortly thereafter BMW sold Land Rover to Ford.
However, the story of the V12-powered Range Rover doesn't end there. After the sale Reitzle was hired by Ford to run the company's Premier Automotive Group, which included Land Rover. Reitzle, convinced that a $100,000 SUV could work, reportedly continued development on the car and even built another prototype with an Aston Martin-sourced V12 (Aston Martin was part of Ford's PAG at the time). But as history will show, Ford never picked up Reitzle's idea.
The all-new 2013 Range Rover might not be packing a V12, but it certainly carries on Reitzle's vision of a super high-end utility vehicle.
