What if the first SUV from BMW had not been the X5 at all, but a Range Rover with a BMW badge in the exhibition room? In the mid-nineties, that was not an idea to discuss in the meeting rooms in Munich and in New Jersey. With the reaction to the booming SUV market in North America, on which the Ford Explorer and the Jeep Grand Cherokee dominated the entrances, and Mercedes-Benz and Lexus prepared to start their own competitors.
The Rover Group Acquisition and the outdated flagship from Land Rover
At that time, BMW’s line -up was all about limousines, coupes and cars – the 3- and 5 were the core of his identity, and the Z3 roadster was in development. The idea of a high, heavy supply vehicle that wears a BMW Roundel did not fit well with everyone in the company. But in January 1994 BMW acquired the Rover group from British Aerospace for £ 800 million and later bought Honda’s participation. Overnight BMW had 15 British brands, including Rover, Mini, MG, Triumph and, especially Land Rover.
The acquisition seemed to give BMW an immediate SUV arm. Land Rover’s name was serious, and the idea of selling Range Rovers by BMW dealer became floating to use the SUV boom without watering down the image of the “ultimate driving machine”. The problem was that Land Rovers flagship was already behind that time. The P38a Range Rover, introduced in September 1994, was considered outdated from the very first day.
BMW’s role in the design of the L322 -range Rovers
At that time, the company had two autonomous design studios, ”notes Steve Saxty, author of the definitive BMW of Design Books.“ Designwork in California had the task of expanding the unpopular P38a area of the second generation to get it up to date, while BMW Technik in Germany had already researched the idea of a minivan Create, calculate the calculated-to-do-it-all-the-be-the-calculation-the idea of a minivan red TE as a rapid solution for US sales, possibly through BMW or Land Rover dealers, but none of the two companies really wanted it. “
According to Saxty, Chris Chapman belonged to a group of designers and engineers to California to examine what a BMW activity vehicle could be. This exercise solved the imagination of the design manager Chris Bangle for a specially built BMW in the segment that his boss Wolfgang Reitzle was enthusiastic. Understandably, many later assumed that the X5 and the L322 area Rover shared the DNA, but actually not. Reitzle had her own view for everyone to ensure that they reached the market with completely different characters.
Saxty remembers how BMW initially looked at a faster solution. “Design works carried out a number of P38A-Range Rover Facelifts that were intended as a short-term solution and can therefore be sold as a premium product,” he says. “They were put back when it was realized that the quality of the basic car was so bad that it was better to accelerate and make a new one, the L322.”
This new L322 Range Rover would become a pioneering project – and, as Saxty emphasizes, it was much more BMW than many. “The Range Rover L322 was 100% constructed under BMW in Munich, but the Range Rover designers did styling. The L322 Range Rover was very constructed and tested.”
Until 1995 that of Dr. Burkhard Göschel listed Special Vehicle Department in Munich, deep into the L322 program -while Göschel quietly examined the opportunity to build an SUV with BMW -DNA.
“Mr. Pischetsrieder was completely against it,” Göschel later recalled to the then chairman Bernd Pischriederer, “but I told him that there is a difference between the two brands that can realize them.”
“Possession of the garage”: The USA are pushing according to a BMW -SUV
In the United States, BMW of the North America President Vic Doolan had its own strategy. He wanted a BMW SUV that could compete directly with the growing list of luxury entries. Together with the newly set head of product planning Rich Brekus, he shaped a simple mantra: “Ownic the garage”. They showed photos of real customer garage-one BMW sedan, which was parked next to a Ford Explorer-and warned that this second room could easily go to a Mercedes M-Class or Lexus RX without BMW SUV.
Brekus lively remembers his interview. “Vic asked me: ‘Munich thinks about making a minivan. Do you think we should make a minivan?’ I said, “You would be out of your head to make a minivan, but you have to do an SUV.
The meeting that has changed everything
By the end of 1995, Doolan presented two options to the BMW board: combine BMW and Land Rover dealer or build a BMW SUV. At a meeting near New York Laguardia Airport, he showed renderings of a common exhibition space. The sales and marketing director of Land Rover, John Russell, replied: “About my dead corporation”. The BMW R&D boss Wolfgang Reitzle ended the meeting on site, but later in the evening for dinner, Doolan said: “You will get it.”
From there, the idea of dynamics won. Brekus presented the core requirement: no body-on-frame construction, no bulky transmission case with a low range and no claims to be a rock crawler. “I didn’t want a truck,” he said. “I wanted the form factor of an SUV, but I wanted him to drive like a car.”
Göschel began to test an increased 5 -way chassis that adapted the Macpherson -Strut and Multilink -Seuspension from the 5- and 7 series series. He was borrowed from Land Rover’s hill relegation control in order to avoid the weight of a gear with a low range, and replaced locking differences with electronic traction and stability systems.
Designing a sports activity vehicle, not an SUV
The design work began in the BMW Design Works/USA Studio in California under Chris Chapman and connect E39 styling with SUV proportions. Frank Stephenson refined the C-pillar into the “Dogleg” form signature, which can still be found on BMW SUVs. Early prototypes were stylish, but briefly on the cargo dream. Doolan pushed for a longer rear to make it really useful. He also shaped the term “sports activities” to position it as something different than a traditional SUV.
The business case came from South Carolina. The Spartanburg plant from BMW, which built the Z3 Roadster, had excess capacity. The new model there made financial sense and the project was officially green by spring 1998.
Start of the X5 1999
The E53 BMW X5 made its debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January 1999. He started first place with a 286 hp 4,4 liter V8 and later competed from a 3.0-liter inline-six. The prices started at $ 38,900 for the six -cylinder and $ 49,400 for the V8. At the press launch in Spartanburg, journalists drove on Muddy Offroad Trails on the former test site of Land Rover X5 and then directly on Road Atlanta for high-speed round-one consecutive demonstration of his double ability.
Between 1999 and 2006, BMW built 616,867 X5s of the first generation, more than half for export. The model converted Spartanburg into BMW’s largest work and paved the way for an entire family of X models.
In retrospect, Doolan summarized its effect: “The X5 transformed BMW.
If the early plan had gone differently, BMW’s response to the SUV boom might have been a Range Rover in the exhibition room. Instead, the company built its own – and changed the course of its history.
[Source: BMW USA via Motor1] [Range Rover images by Land Rover Media Center]
