It’s birthday time for the Range Rover and, what better way to celebrate 50 years than by issueing a limited – numbered – edition, the Range Rover Firty.

Originally launched on June 17, 1970 it was the first SUV to feature a permanent 4WD system when it was launched and, in 1989 was the world’s first 4×4 to be fitted with anti-lock brakes. Later in 1992 it became the world’s first 4×4 to be fitted with electronic traction control (ETC) and automatic electronic air suspension. In 2012, the latest generation Range Rover became the world’s first SUV to feature an all-aluminium lightweight construction.

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.

To celebrate 50 years, 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 centre console commissioning plaque, headrests, dashboard and illuminated treadplates.

McGovern says: “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 – and is available to order in South Africa now.