Range Rover today celebrates 50 years of pioneering innovation and unparalleled all-terrain capability with the introduction of the new Range Rover Fifty.

The original luxury SUV has defined the market since 17 June 1970 and five decades on, the Range Rover has evolved to become a family of desirable and capable luxury vehicles. Its compelling blend of design, refinement and engineering innovation has ensured its place as the benchmark for all luxury SUVs, says the company.

Over its 50-year lifespan, the Range Rover has achieved many world firsts and completed numerous impressive feats. It was the first SUV to feature a permanent 4WD system when it was launched, and in 1989 was the world's first 4x4 to be fitted with ABS anti-lock brakes. Later in 1992, it became the world's first 4x4 to be fitted with electronic traction control (ETC) and automatic electronic air suspension – ensuring the refined driving feel Range Rover is so famous for, both on and off-road. In 2012, the latest generation Range Rover became the world’s first SUV to feature an all-aluminium lightweight construction, making it lighter, stronger and more efficient, it says.

It has crossed the notoriously impassable ‘Darien Gap,’ was the first vehicle to ever be displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and has even won the Paris-Dakar rally – twice.

“No other vehicle combines the levels of luxury, comfort and sophistication with off-road capability and on-road performance like Range Rover,” says a statement.

With its clamshell bonnet, distinctive floating roof, split tailgate and trademark front fender vents, the Range Rover of today can still trace its roots back to the 1970 original. In its golden anniversary year, it is now the most efficient, connected, luxurious and capable yet.

To celebrate 50 years of a motoring icon, the limited-run Range Rover Fifty will be restricted to just 1,970 vehicles globally, in recognition of the year the original Range Rover was launched.

Building on the luxuriously appointed Autobiography, the Range Rover Fifty features a number of bespoke exterior accents in Auric Atlas as well as two unique 22-inch wheel designs. The badging features a ‘Fifty’ script created personally by Prof Gerry McGovern OBE, Land Rover’s Chief Creative Officer, which will appear on the exterior of the vehicle and throughout the interior on the unique “1 of 1970” centre console commissioning plaque, headrests, dashboard and illuminated treadplates.

Prof Gerry McGovern OBE, Land Rover Chief Creative Officer, said: “In the world of luxury vehicles, the Range Rover has always stood apart as peerless and enduring. Its unique and pioneering sensibilities together with an unrivalled engineering approach have been the intrinsic values which our customers have admired since the first of the breed was revealed in 1970.”

The Range Rover Fifty will be available in both standard and long-wheelbase body designs with customers able to choose from four carefully curated exterior colours; Carpathian Grey, Rosello Red, Aruba, and Santorini Black. In extremely limited numbers, Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations is also offering the Range Rover Fifty in one of three Heritage exterior solid paints reproduced from the original Range Rover paint palette; Tuscan Blue, Bahama Gold and Davos White. A range of powertrain options will be available: petrol, diesel and even a plug-in hybrid P400e version.

“Now in its fourth generation with over a million sold in its lifetime, the Range Rover is the ultimate expression of luxury. It’s unmistakable, sophisticated design and class-leading all-terrain capability have ensured the Range Rover is as peerless and relevant today as it was in 1970,” the statement says.