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Companies from all over the automotive spectrum are joining the SUV gold rush
Tall people-movers that blur the line between an off-roader and a van are the hit of the decade, replacing estates and saloons in the hearts and minds of drivers. Car makers immune to SUV fever risk losing profits and market share; even Ferrari expects to jump on the bandwagon sooner or later.
Join us on our journey for how the SUV evolved from an electric car designed by Ferdinand Porsche to a showy luxo-cruiser, by way of the original Jeep and the first Chevrolet Suburban.- Slide of
Lohner-Porsche (1900)
The first all-wheel-drive car was arguably the Lohner-Porsche, designed by Ferdinand Porsche. In lieu of an air-cooled flat-six, the engine that made Porsche famous all over the globe, the Lohner-Porsche was equipped with four in-wheel electric motors. It was built well before the term SUV was coined, but it’s the common ancestor of every all-wheel-drive model sold today – and the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which used similar electric hub motors.
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Spyker 60 HP (1903)
Dutch firm Spyker designed the 60 HP as a race car, which explains its 8.7-litre straight-six engine. It was entered in the 1903 Paris-to-Madrid race but wasn’t on the starting grid because Spyker couldn’t finish it in time – a tradition the company has preserved through its numerous bankruptcies. The 60 HP is displayed in a Dutch museum today and is remembered as the first car equipped with a six-cylinder engine and all-wheel drive.
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Badger Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company Battleship (1909)
Wisconsin-based Badger Front-Wheel Drive Auto Company began building four-wheel-drive vehicles in 1908, when most cars were rear-wheel drive. Its first car allegedly earned the name Battleship because it kept going over inhospitable terrain while comparable two-wheel-drive cars got stuck. Ten examples were built between 1909 and 1911, according to the foundation in charge of preserving the company’s heritage. The Four-Wheel Drive Auto Company stopped making cars to become a truck manufacturer before the end of the 1910s.
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Ford Model T Speedster (1915)
Four-wheel-drive cars were few and far between in the 1910s and the handful available were jaw-droppingly expensive. Engineer Jesse Livingood put together an affordable four-wheel-drive conversion kit for the Ford Model T, by far the most common car in the US at the time. It included a front axle, a transfer case, a driveshaft and beefier front springs, according to FourWheeler.
Livingood refused to sell the design to Ford, instead asking for the rights to sell his kit through dealers. Ford never offered a four-wheel-drive Model T and Livingood continued making kits on his own. - Slide of
Chevrolet Carryall Suburban (1935)
At launch, the Chevrolet Carryall Suburban stood apart from other estates on the US market with body made out of metal instead of wood. It shared its frame and many mechanical bits and pieces with Chevy’s truck line – an approach the automaker continues to use 12 generations later. The modern-day Suburban is closely related to the Silverado pickup, one of the best-selling vehicles in the US. It appeals to a wide scope of buyers, from adventure lovers who need to tow a boat to the US Secret Service, which deploys squadrons of them for VIP protection.
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GAZ 61-73 (1940)
Early Russian cars were often based on existing designs and the GAZ-M1 was no exception. The basic model was a Ford V8-40 with Russian-specific tweaks such as a stronger frame and a four-cylinder engine. GAZ blazed its own path when it built a prototype with all-wheel drive, a six-cylinder engine and additional ground clearance.
The open-bodied 61-40 was hailed as the ideal car to conquer Siberian terrain… until winter brought with it a real risk of hypothermia-on-the-go. GAZ corrected this glaring omission by building new prototypes named 61-73 with an enclosed cabin. A small number were built for the Red Army. - Slide of
Willys MB (1941)
In preparation for World War II, the US army urgently asked car makers for a light, manoeuvrable off-road vehicle. Ford, Bantam and Willys-Overland submitted proposals. Willys’ design was chosen partly due to its Go Devil four-cylinder engine. The MB became a ubiquitous sight on the battlefield during the war and many ended up in private hands after the conflict. Rover designer Maurice Wilks drove one on his family’s farm, which inspired him to begin working on the original Land Rover.
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Jeep CJ-2A (1945)
Willys had an important choice to make as the prospect of peace in Europe became increasingly realistic. It could stop building Jeeps and go back to manufacturing passenger cars or it could try to develop a civilian version of the Jeep and continue to profit from the design. Company officials wisely chose the second option. The CJ-2A was closely related to the MB, although it received a flip-down tailgate and a spare tyre mounted on the side of the body. The modern-day Wrangler is the CJ-2A’s direct descendant.
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Willys Jeep Station Wagon (1946)
Willys saw Jeep’s immense potential before World War II was even over. There was a market niche to fill in the US, one that catered to buyers seeking the ruggedness and versatility of a Jeep in a bigger vehicle capable of carrying an entire family. The Station Wagon laid the groundwork for the SUV as we know it today. Its replacement, the Wagoneer, was introduced in 1963, but Station Wagon production carried on until 1965. In an odd twist of fate, Ford bought Willys’ Brazilian factory and put a Blue Oval on the Station Wagon.
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Land Rover Series I (1948)
Affordable, durable and capable, the original Land Rover was born when Rover chief designer Maurice Wilks needed to replace the Jeep he drove on his family’s farm. New Jeeps weren’t sold in England and used ones were often battered, so he suggested Rover build a similar car.
The Land Rover was initially designed for farmers and Rover executives believed it would remain in production just long enough to keep workers busy until the passenger car market recovered from the post-World War II slump. As the saying goes, the rest is history. - Slide of
Porsche 597 (1953)
Well before the Cayenne, Porsche’s first foray into the world of off-roaders came in response to a request sent out by the German army. Officials asked for a small, light, off-road vehicle similar to the US Jeep. Porsche’s proposal used a rear-mounted, 356-sourced flat-four engine that spun all four wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. It wasn’t selected because it was too expensive to build and the company wouldn’t have been able to supply the number of cars required. The government contract was instead awarded to the DKW Munga. Just 71 were made in total.
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International-Harvester Scout (1961)
Known for pickup trucks and agricultural machinery, International-Harvester became Jeep’s first true rival when it introduced the Scout. The original model was developed to replace horses on farms, but later models such as the Scout II morphed into more recreational trucks equally capable of work and play.
The Scout pioneered an entire segment, inspiring models including the Ford Bronco and the Chevrolet Blazer that left an indelible mark on US popular culture. International-Harvester deep-sixed the Scout in 1980 after suffering a series of setbacks, including a crippling worker strike and a recession in the US. - Slide of
Jeep Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer (1963)
The Jeep Wagoneer (and, later, the Grand Wagoneer) helped democratise the SUV from the US all the way to Iran, where it was built under licence for years. It became more luxurious over time, adopting the infamous wood panelling that continues to characterise it today. US production lasted until 1991, when it was replaced by the original Grand Cherokee. Industry rumours indicate Jeep will resurrect the nameplate on a new SUV in the coming years.
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Land Rover Range Rover (1970)
While the Land Rover Series I started life as a work horse, the Range Rover was envisioned as a more leisure-oriented model aimed at the burgeoning recreational SUV market. It received more creature comforts than the Series IIA – which, admittedly, wasn’t terribly difficult to accomplish – and a 135hp Rover V8 engine derived from a Buick design. Permanent four-wheel drive – a real novelty at the time – made it more user-friendly than its function-oriented sibling.
US sales of the car did not start until 1987, when it quickly developed a classy cachet. - Slide of
Monteverdi Safari (1976)
Perhaps inspired by the Range Rover’s success, Swiss coachbuilder Monteverdi anticipated the demand for an SUV with executive saloon-like levels of luxury inside. The Safari wore a bespoke design perfectly in tune with the era and offered a spacious, well-appointed interior. The upscale treatment was only skin-deep; the sheet metal concealed mechanical components borrowed from the International-Harvester Scout. It became Monteverdi’s most successful model, although historians disagree on precisely how many examples were manufactured.
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Lada Niva (1977)
The design brief for the Lada Niva allegedly instructed engineers to design “a Renault 5 on a Land Rover chassis” after early prototypes were rejected for leaning too far on the side of utilitarianism. The idea was never to build a Jeep; the Niva needed to be brawny yet usable on a daily basis. It was developed by Lada from the ground up, but early examples relied on engines shared with the Fiat 124. Production continues today. It has a cult following and is generally regarded as Lada's best car.
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Volkswagen Iltis (1978)
Volkswagen Iltis almost became a mere footnote in the biography of the SUV, an obscure 4x4 destined to appear on the news whenever conflict broke out in a remote part of the world. Its fate took an unexpected turn when Audi engineer Jörg Bensinger drove one in snowy Finland and noticed it could beat a sports car in a race. Bensinger began looking at shoehorning the Iltis’s four-wheel-drive hardware in a passenger car – a project that ultimately led to the very first Audi Quattro. The Iltis won the Paris-Dakar in 1980.
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AMC Eagle (1979)
With the Eagle, AMC set out to build an off-roader that looked and handled like a regular car. The project was a way to capitalise on Jeep’s four-wheel-drive expertise while pulling AMC out of a dire financial situation. The Eagle was based on the existing Concord and was offered as a saloon with two or four doors, a coupé, a hatchback and an estate. The latter body style outsold the other four by a wide margin. The Eagle died without a successor shortly after Chrysler purchased AMC in 1987, although its spirit lives on in modern sporty SUVs.
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Land Rover 90/110/Defender (1983)
The countless headlines claiming Land Rover stopped building the Defender after a 68-year production run are fallacious. Styling cues are the extent of the similarities between the dearly departed Land Rover and the original Series I; its closest predecessors are the 110 and 90 models introduced in 1983 and 1984 respectively.
The redesigned models were the logical evolution of the Series III. They were more comfortable thanks to a set of coil springs and they acquired a permanent four-wheel-drive system from the Range Rover. The Defender nameplate came with a round of mechanical updates in 1990. Official US sales started in 1993, although there had been many grey-market imports before then. - Slide of
Jeep Cherokee XJ (1984)
The Jeep Cherokee is the holotype of the modern SUV. It was relatively compact (especially when compared with the original Cherokee), it was practical and it demonstrated mountain goat-like aptness on off-road trails. It was also the first Jeep to use unibody construction instead of a bulkier body-on-frame layout. The original design was so well thought out that it lasted until 2001 in the US and until 2014 in China.
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Lamborghini LM002 (1986)
The Lamborghini LM002 traces its roots to the Cheetah, a Chrysler V8-powered prototype built for the US army in 1977. Climbing sand dunes in a heavy, rear-engined machine dangerously upset the laws of physics, so the production model adopted a more conventional front-engined configuration. The V8 was replaced with a V12 from the Countach, creating the world’s first super-SUV. Roughly 300 examples were built before Lamborghini pulled the plug on the project. The Lamborghini Urus coming out in December is billed as the LM002’s spiritual successor.
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Ford Explorer (1991)
Developed to compete against the Cherokee, Ford’s original Explorer embodies the beginning of the SUV craze in the US. During the 1990s, you were hard-pressed to find a street without at least one Explorer, be it a base model with a stick shift or a gussied-up Eddie Bauer. Gas cost less than a $1 a gallon at the time, so customers happily sacrificed fuel economy for more space, additional ground clearance and four-wheel drive. In hindsight, the estate didn’t stand a fighting chance.
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Hummer H1 (1992)
With the H1, Hummer transformed a vehicle designed for desert warfare into a street-legal grocery-getter. The herculean SUV undeniably looked more at home parked next to tanks in the Middle East than roaming around compact cars in an Ohio mall. It quickly became the poster child of the gas-guzzling, ozone layer-reaming SUV segment in politics and popular culture. General Motors tried wringing an entire brand out of a single model, but the venture came to an abrupt halt after the group filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
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BMW X5 E53 (1999)
BMW’s roundel emblem on an SUV? Say it ain’t so! In the late 1990s, the idea of BMW building a truck was as obscene as the thought of Land Rover moving into Z3 territory. Luckily, engineers had access to all the right ingredients to balance on and off-road performance. Land Rover (a BMW division at the time) provided technology such as hill descent control from the Range Rover, while BMW foraged through the E39 5 Series parts bin for mechanical hardware. The X5 drove like a BMW but it could hold its own off the beaten track, too.
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Nissan Qashqai (2006)
Nissan became one of the first companies to bring SUVs to the masses when it introduced the original Qashqai in 2006. The model offered the ground clearance normally associated with truck-based SUVs in an affordable, car-based package with restrained dimensions. It deserves recognition for its leading role in getting European buyers hooked on SUVs.
Eleven years and three generations later, the Qashqai remains one of the best-selling SUVs on the European market. Nissan hopes to write a similar success story in the US, where the Qashqai was recently launched under the alias Rogue Sport. - Slide of
BMW Concept X6 (2007)
BMW pioneered the SUV-coupé segment at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show with the Concept X6. The sleek, swoopy model daringly defied the definition of a coupé with a fastback-like roofline and four doors. It spawned a production model a year after its presentation, creating a whirlwind of controversy and an entire segment that has got really crowded really quickly.
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Bentley Bentayga (2015)
Bentley’s Bentayga stood out as the most powerful series-produced SUV when it made its debut at the 2015 Frankfurt motor show. It trumped the Porsche Cayenne Turbo with a twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre V12 engine tuned to 600hp and a chassis more at home on the Stelvio Pass than on the Rubicon Trail. Purists cried foul when Bentley announced plans to build its first SUV, and the original EXP 9 F concept car of 2012 certainly wasn’t a looker, but the Bentayga has been a hit for the British brand. In the US, 38% of Bentley's 2016 sales were Bentaygas, equating to 988 units.
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Tesla Model X (2016)
The Tesla Model X is the world’s first mass-produced electric SUV. Powertrain parts shared with the Model S helps it rub shoulders with the world’s quickest cars while carrying seven passengers, and the trick falcon doors add to its uniqueness. It’s currently in a class of one, but European competitors such as Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz are preparing to strike back.
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Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet (2017)
Stretching the boundaries of its prestigious Maybach brand, Mercedes-Benz turned the venerable G-Class into a quasi-convertible palace on wheels with portal axles normally found on the rugged Unimog. Over 40cm of ground clearance and a 630hp V12 engine ensure the G650 can go anywhere – assuming the driver is bold enough to risk scratching or denting such an exclusive car. Production is strictly limited to 99 examples, making this off-roader rarer than a Bugatti Chiron. Cost? €630,000 (around $740,000).
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