What if BMW’s first SUV hadn’t been the X5 in any respect, however a Vary Rover with a BMW badge within the showroom? Within the mid-Nineties, that wasn’t simply an concept — it was an actual chance being mentioned in Munich and New Jersey boardrooms. The corporate was wrestling with how to answer the booming SUV market in North America, the place the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee had been dominating driveways and Mercedes-Benz and Lexus had been gearing as much as launch their very own contenders.
The Rover Group Acquisition and Land Rover’s Outdated Flagship
On the time, BMW’s lineup was all about sedans, coupes, and wagons — the three and 5 Collection had been core to its identification, and the Z3 roadster was in growth. The notion of a tall, heavy utility automobile sporting a BMW roundel didn’t sit effectively with everybody inside the corporate. However in January 1994, BMW acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace for £800 million, later shopping for out Honda’s stake. In a single day, BMW owned 15 British marques, together with Rover, Mini, MG, Triumph, and, crucially, Land Rover.
The acquisition appeared to present BMW an on the spot SUV arm. Land Rover’s identify carried severe weight, and the concept of promoting Vary Rovers by means of BMW dealerships was floated as a option to faucet into the SUV increase with out diluting the “Final Driving Machine” picture. The issue was that Land Rover’s flagship was already behind the occasions. The P38A Vary Rover, launched in September 1994, was thought of outdated from day one.
BMW’s Position in Shaping the L322 Vary Rover
The corporate had two autonomous design studios on the time,” notes Steve Saxty, creator of the definitive BMW by Design books. “Designworks in California had been tasked with facelifting the unloved P38A second-generation Vary Rover to deliver it updated, whereas BMW Technik in Germany had already explored – and rejected – the concept of a minivan, ” Saxty advised us. “The Californian-redesigned Vary Rover may have served as a fast repair for U.S. gross sales, probably by means of both BMW or Land Rover sellers, however neither firm actually needed it.”
Based on Saxty, Chris Chapman was amongst a gaggle of designers and engineers despatched to California to discover what a BMW ‘exercise automobile’ is likely to be. That train sparked design chief Chris Bangle’s creativeness for a purpose-built BMW within the phase – an concept his boss, Wolfgang Reitzle, enthusiastically endorsed. Understandably, many later assumed that the X5 and the L322 Vary Rover shared DNA, however the truth is they didn’t. Reitzle had a definite imaginative and prescient for every, making certain they reached the market with totally completely different characters.
Saxty remembers how BMW initially thought of a faster repair. “Designworks did a slew of P38A Vary Rover facelifts that had been meant as a short-term repair and so may very well be offered as a premium product,” he says. “They acquired shelved when it was realized that the standard of the bottom automobile was so poor that it was higher to speed up and do a brand new one, the L322.”
That new L322 Vary Rover would turn into a landmark venture — and, as Saxty factors out, it was way more BMW than many understand. “The Vary Rover L322 was 100% engineered below BMW in Munich, however the Vary Rover designers did the styling. The L322 Vary Rover was very a lot BMW engineered and examined.”
By 1995, BMW’s Particular Autos division in Munich, led by Dr. Burkhard Göschel, was deep into the L322 program — whereas Göschel quietly explored the potential of constructing an SUV with BMW DNA.
“Mr. Pischetsrieder was completely in opposition to this,” Göschel later recalled of then-chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder, “however I advised him there’s a distinction between each manufacturers which you can understand.”
“Proudly owning the Storage”: The U.S. Push for a BMW SUV
In the USA, BMW of North America president Vic Doolan had his personal technique. He needed a BMW SUV that might compete immediately with the rising checklist of luxurious entrants. Along with newly employed head of product planning Wealthy Brekus, he coined a easy mantra: “personal the storage.” They confirmed pictures of actual buyer garages — a BMW sedan parked alongside a Ford Explorer — and warned that with out a BMW SUV, that second house may simply go to a Mercedes M-Class or Lexus RX.
Brekus remembers his job interview vividly. “Vic requested me, ‘Munich is considering doing a minivan. Do you suppose we should always do a minivan?’ I stated, ‘You’d be out of your thoughts to do a minivan, however you might want to do an SUV. Not an off-road SUV, however an on-road SUV. That’s the place the market’s going.’”
The Assembly That Modified Every little thing
By late 1995, Doolan offered two choices to BMW’s board: mix BMW and Land Rover dealerships, or construct a BMW SUV. At a gathering close to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, he confirmed renderings of a shared showroom. Land Rover’s Gross sales and Advertising and marketing Director, John Russell, responded sharply: “Over my useless f***ing physique.” BMW R&D chief Wolfgang Reitzle ended the assembly on the spot, however later that night over dinner advised Doolan, “You’ll get it.”
From there, the concept gained momentum. Brekus laid out the core requirement: no body-on-frame building, no cumbersome low-range switch case, and no pretensions of being a rock-crawler. “I didn’t need a truck,” he stated. “I needed the shape issue of an SUV, however I needed it to drive like a automobile.”
Göschel started testing a raised 5 Collection Touring chassis, adapting MacPherson strut and multilink suspension from the 5 and seven Collection, however utilizing metal for sturdiness. He borrowed Hill Descent Management from Land Rover to keep away from the load of a low-range gearbox, and changed locking differentials with digital traction and stability methods.
Designing a Sport Exercise Automobile, Not an SUV
Design work began at BMW’s Designworks/USA studio in California below Chris Chapman, mixing E39 styling with SUV proportions. Frank Stephenson refined the C-pillar into the signature “dogleg” form nonetheless discovered on BMW SUVs. Early prototypes had been fashionable however brief on cargo house; Doolan pushed for an extended rear to make it genuinely helpful. He additionally coined the time period “Sport Exercise Automobile” to place it as one thing completely different from a conventional SUV.
The enterprise case got here from South Carolina. BMW’s Spartanburg plant, which was constructing the Z3 roadster, had extra capability. Assigning the brand new mannequin there made monetary sense, and by spring 1998, the venture was formally greenlit.
Launching the X5 in 1999
The E53 BMW X5 made its debut in January 1999 on the Detroit Auto Present, launching first with a 286-horsepower 4.4-liter V8 and later joined by a 3.0-liter inline-six. Costs began at $38,900 for the six-cylinder and $49,400 for the V8. On the press launch in Spartanburg, journalists drove X5s by means of muddy off-road trails at Land Rover’s former check website, then straight onto Street Atlanta for high-speed laps — a back-to-back demonstration of its twin functionality.
Between 1999 and 2006, BMW constructed 616,867 first-generation X5s, greater than half for export. The mannequin remodeled Spartanburg into BMW’s largest plant and paved the way in which for a whole household of X fashions.
Wanting again, Doolan summed up its affect: “The X5 remodeled BMW. It facilitated the expansion of Spartanburg into the most important plant within the BMW world, spawned a whole vary of SAVs, and generated the money to eliminate the albatross that was Rover.”
If the early plan had gone otherwise, BMW’s reply to the SUV increase may need been a Vary Rover within the showroom. As a substitute, the corporate constructed its personal — and altered the course of its historical past.
[Source: BMW USA via Motor1] [Range Rover images by Land Rover Media Center]
