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It is 40 years since the first Range Rover rolled off Land Rover's production line in Solihull. The Range Rover has become a motoring icon, being the first vehicle to successfully combine the comfort and performance of an upmarket saloon with the go-anywhere ability of a traditional off-roader.

There was some initial scepticism within Land Rover about the need for such a vehicle but the fact the original design stayed in production for 25 years, notching up over 300,000 sales, dispels any doubt.

The Range Rover was - and still is - as popular with rock stars as it is with rock-climbers, from footballers to farmers.

Initially the Range Rover was only available with a four-speed manual transmission and two doors. It took 11 years for the first four-door model to arrive in 1981, while an automatic transmission was made available a year later. The current model is the third-generation Rangie and is proving as popular as ever.

Land Rover is looking to the future with grand plans to introduce its first two-wheel drive model next year. This new compact Range Rover - which debuted as the LRX concept - will emit less than 130g/km of CO2, making it the lightest, most fuel efficient Range Rover ever built.

This will later be joined by a diesel hybrid variant, which is expected to return less than 100g/km of CO2, have a top speed of 120mph and be able to drive 20 miles using electric power only.

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