Range Rover L322

History

The L322 was conceived in the late 1990s as project 'L30' while Land Rover belonged to BMW, and it shows: the first monocoque Range Rover was engineered alongside the E38 7 Series, with fully independent air suspension replacing beam axles and BMW electronics and drivetrains throughout. BMW sold Land Rover to Ford in 2000, two years before production began, with the sale contract keeping BMW involved through the launch - so the car reached showrooms in early 2002 as a Ford-owned product powered by BMW's M62 4.4-litre petrol V8 and M57 3.0-litre diesel straight-six.

Design chief Don Wyatt's team gave the L322 a monumental, yacht-inspired interior and exterior details that consciously restated Range Rover hallmarks - the floating roof, castellated clamshell bonnet and split tailgate. It moved the model decisively into the luxury-car class, and reviews treated it as the world's most complete vehicle: as capable off-road as anything Land Rover had built while cruising like a limousine.

Ford progressively engineered the BMW content out. The 2005 facelift (2006 model year) brought Jaguar's AJ-V8 in 4.4-litre and 400-horsepower supercharged 4.2-litre forms plus new infotainment; 2007 added the Terrain Response system; the TDV8 diesel arrived for 2007 and grew to 4.4 litres by 2011; and the heavily revised 2010 cars introduced 5.0-litre and supercharged 510 PS petrol V8s with a 12-inch digital instrument cluster. Ownership changed again in 2008 when Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover to India's Tata Motors, making the L322 the only Range Rover generation built under three different parent companies.

Production at Solihull ended in 2012 after 293,494 vehicles, and the all-aluminium L405 replaced it that autumn. The L322 remains the definitive 2000s luxury SUV, from airport VIP fleets to the 2002 launch of 'football's favourite car'.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (developed under BMW; produced under Ford 2002-2008, then Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover)

Manufactured

2001-2012 (2002-2012 model years)

Engine type

BMW M62 4.4 V8, then Jaguar 4.4/4.2 SC and 5.0/5.0 SC V8 petrols; BMW M57 3.0 six and 3.6/4.4 TDV8 diesels

Production run

~293,494 vehicles (Wikipedia's compiled figure, 2001-2012)

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

out of production

Catalogue data

Record kind

Base model

Model line

L322

Family

Range Rover L322

Wheels

4

Body style

Range Rover L322

Variants

1

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Range Rover (L322) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Range Rover L322 Paint Colours & Colour Codes ↗ — l322.net (accessed 2026-09-09)
• Range Rover L322 (02-12) paint key ↗ — Rimmer Bros (accessed 2026-09-09)

Development reference notes

• Series I front body review — series1-bronze and Series I configurations · HERITAGE-FLEET-REFERENCES.md

  User photographs `s1.jpeg`, `imagesj.jpeg`, `25109914-1-55.jpg` and `s1_.jpeg` show the early Series I front: a narrow central wire-mesh radiator grille with inboard headlamps, broad flat-sided wings rolling over a long front radius, one small white sidelight per wing, and a bonnet tapering forward with rounded long side pressings. The shared Series I builder uses these proportions for both wheelbases. This is a visual reference interpretation, not a measured CAD scan.

• Series III front review — standard Series III configurations · HERITAGE-FLEET-REFERENCES.md

  User references `hfhimages.jpeg`, `imagesl.jpeg`, and `IMG_1992-jpg.webp` show the tall tapered central plastic grille with shorter side vents, recessed radiator panel, broad wings with rounded leading edges, inboard wing headlamps and white sidelights above amber indicators. The standard Series III bonnet narrows toward the grille. Stage 1 V8 and Santana retain their distinct flush-front grilles. Meteor Works uses a **Series III front**, not the Series IIA front of the army and RAF Marshall ambulances. Its internal `marshal-series3` shell shares the Marshall coachwork but inherits Series III wings, bonnet, grille, headlamps and outer lamps. Meteor adds only its weathered livery, guard and emergency equipment around that standard front, avoiding duplicated headlamp pods. ### Coachwork front-panel corrections - Dobbo and the Marshall family (including Meteor Works and RAF rescue) retain clipped curved side skins through the front wings and doors at their custom body joins. - Queen Elizabeth II’s Series IIA station wagon uses the Series III-style wing-mounted headlights, bonnet and broad black grille shown in the supplied reference. No numberplate is modelled. Reference: `/Users/jo