The Rover 75
was launched at the Birmingham Motor Show at the NEC in 1998, it was developed
under the wing of BMW ownership as BMW purchased the Rover Group from British
Aerospace in 1994. The Rover was the first vehicle to be built wholly in house
by the marque for over 20 years, as the last true Rover (without any assistance
from Honda) was the Rover SD1 which was launched in 1976.
The 75 was the first car which Rover had developed and launched since the BMW take over, development started in 1994 alongside the MINI. This was because the 'Portfolio' range of vehicles had just been released so Rover's smaller cars were fresher than its large car range such as the 600 Series and the 800 Series. The 'Portfolio' range of cars consisted of the Rover 200 Series (R3), the Rover 400 Series (HH-R) and finally the MGF the first new MG since the end of production MGB which had stopped production in 1980, the 'Portfolio' range was released in 1995.
The Rover 800
Series has been around since 1986, and the Rover 600 Series was comparatively
more modern and contemporary in design (being released in 1993), so with this in mind BMW gave Rover the funding and investment to start designing a new car to be the flagship of what Rover could do without any financial
limitations and the flagship of their model range to enter the next century
with.
The Start of the Rover 75 Story
Rover 75 Sketch - Richard Woolley
The Rover 75's design was to take the 600 but add a more 'Rover' feel to the car as they did not want to be associated with the 'Ronda' feel to the car (a mix between Rover and Honda) Comparing the two sketches, the Rover traditional grille is in place like the Rover 600, however it is more prominent than the 600. Next, the 75 features more curvaceous body work as the 600 was based on the current Honda Accord at that time so door structures had to be kept the same as the Honda. The 75 did not have to work on any other body design so therefore design cues could be brought in from the Rover P6 such as the extensive use of chrome and the bullet mirror caps. Notice the lack of door rubbing strips on the 75 giving a perceiving an up-market image.
Rover 600 Sketch - Richard Woolley
In 1989 this was the first new Rover to feature the traditional Rover grille since the Rover P6, yes, the Rover 800 did feature it before hand, but the 600 was the first new car to feature it. The 600 marked the start of the new direction for Rover as the 'Rover 600 Sketch' above shows from 1989 where Rover was going within the 1990's and beyond.
The Rover 75 story began when development received the green light by BMW management in 1994 soon after they purchased the Rover Group. Rover were allowed to design the new car in the way they liked especially in the earlier stages of the development program., so therefore the Rover 75 story showcases everything Rover could do. Richard Woolley’s Rover 600 replacement design was the design Rover would pursue without that much modification, this is shown in the top sketch above a more 'Rover' version of the 600.
Rover 75 Clay Model
During the development stages of the Rover 75, the exterior of the vehicle was pretty much done by 1994. The designers of the 75 only used one design from the start, and this was stuck with right from the start of the development program, there was only one clay model which was finished in 'Solar Red', this was clay model was a more realistic version of the 'Rover 75 Sketch - Richard Woolley' which is pictured above. The spontaneous nature of the vehicle lead to significant praise at the cars launch in 1998.
However, the interior was not as simply executed at the exterior. There was a split method of decision within Rover. The first effort of design (which is the design that made it into the final car) was a modern interpretation of the Rover P6's dashboard with wood being a large integral feature of the dashboard. The idea was to combine up to date methods of manufacture with old methods of styling and materials. Wyn Thomas designed the Rover 75's interior said that there would be no visually reduced version of the dashboard within the finished production car. This was a wise decision due to the fact that could you really imagine a black matte plastic Rover 75 dashboard? Wyn Thomas also designed the MINI R40's dashboard, if you look at the two dashboards then you can see the family resemblance which was intended because the MINI was due for manufacture at the Longbridge site. So Wyn Thomas was already incorporating the family look into the new generation vehicles such as the R40 (Rover 75) and the R50 (MINI).
Rover 75 Concept Interior
This dashboard shows how Rover materials combine with modern design, but not with traditional design. Luckily, this design was dropped in favor of the picture of the dashboard below as it is very hard to imagine the 75 with this interior which is very angular compared to the curvy exterior. Notice the wraparound heater vents to the right of the picture, this is a more conservative approach to the 75's dashboard a styling cue seen before on the E39 BMW 5 Series.
This dashboard shows how Rover materials combine with modern design, but not with traditional design. Luckily, this design was dropped in favor of the picture of the dashboard below as it is very hard to imagine the 75 with this interior which is very angular compared to the curvy exterior. Notice the wraparound heater vents to the right of the picture, this is a more conservative approach to the 75's dashboard a styling cue seen before on the E39 BMW 5 Series.
Rover 75 Finished Design
Thankfully the production Rover 75's received this interior as it is completely Rover within its design right down to the details such as the analog clock which could be found on traditional Rover's of the past. (This photograph was from the 1998 launch press picture pack)
Engineering the Rover 75
With the interior and exterior designed now completed, it was now a matter of compiling all of these ideas together in a modern package. To conform with upcoming safety standards and to also conform with Rover Group's revised quality standards, they were set out to make the 75 a rigid car, crash impacts would also benefit from this as the car would be safer as a consequence of the rigid chassis. This design would prove useful for MG Rover in 2003 in the MG ZT V8, this is because the boxy design of the chassis would provide space for the propeller shaft enabling a V8 engine to be installed longitudinally therefore allowing the MG ZT to be transformed into a rear wheel drive muscle car.
This boxy design lead the press to believe that the Rover 75 was based on the BMW 5 Series platform as front wheel drive cars did not need the large section in the middle to accommodate a propeller shaft as the drive only goes through the front wheels.
The cost of adapting the rear-wheel drive BMW’s floor pan for a front-wheel drive Rover would have been too high and pointless as a newer design could be achieved for the same money.
The BMW methods of suspension and platform set up continued within the 'Z-Axle' arrangement of the rear suspension set up. Rover had been used to watching how much money they spent on developing cars, the R3 Rover 200 is a clear example of this. Rovers engineers did not know what to do with the money BMW had been injecting into the company, Rover investigated many rear suspension set-ups before BMW stepped in but BMW imposed their Z-axle arrangement, first seen in the BMW Z1 roadster in the late 80's but it was put into a mass produced car in the BMW 3-Series (E46) in 1998.
Rear Z-Axle
(in this case it is from the MG ZT 260, you can tell this by the propeller shaft leading to the rear axle)
During the 1990's BMW heavily emphasied the sporty characteristics of their vehicles with their keen response and reassuring handling, qualities that a true car enthusiast loves. This kind of success for BMW would be hard for them to emulate within the Rover brand, BMW's were associated with their keen driving characteristics, those connotations are its brand values, Rover needed brand values too. Gone were the days of Rover trying to massage Honda designs to be acceptable enough to be sold as Rovers, now Rover could build what they wanted and they could build true Rovers instead of reengineered Honda's.
BMW directed Rover to market its cars as 'gentlemen cars' with an English feel to them, this was achieved in the 75 by the use of the materials of wood and leather and thick carpets, also it was achieved by the relaxed driving style it offered and the soft set up of the suspension. The glowing of the switch gear also added to the English ambiance of the interior.
Launching the Rover 75
The plan from the start was to launch the 75 at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show which took place in the Spring of that year. However, BMW forced Rover into launching the 75 at the Birmingham Motor Show of 1998 at the NEC.
You can see a Top Gear and a Men and Motors link to their reports on the launch of the Rover 75. BMW were keen to show their new model to the world and they clearly did not want to wait untill Spring of 199. The the idea of a UK launch was a very appealing one due to the fact that BMW could promote the new Rover as being distinctly British and all-Rover instead of the perception of a a BMW with a Rover badge.
You can see the Top Gear coverage of the launch of the Rover 75 here:
The Rover 75 and the Jaguar S-Type; Many journalists compared these two cars as being in the same class, yet the Jaguar was bigger in terms of actual physical size, and also cost. Despite this setback, the Rover still received positive press with Jeremy Clarkson stating "For me this is the star of the show".
Credit to Keith Adams at - http://www.aronline.co.uk/ for the inspirations and some of the photographs for this article.
No comments:
Post a Comment