25 automotive innovators

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19. Range Rover (1970)​

The Range Rover didn’t set out to be a luxury SUV. What Land Rover wanted was to create a more rounded machine than the Series models, that could be used on the farm and motorway with equal ease.
It achieved this, and then some, with ease by using supple, long-travel coil-spring suspension and the powerful Rover 3.5-litre V8 engine.
The Range Rover enjoyed near-100mph performance, yet it could deal with all of the agricultural duties, too. In time, more luxury kit was offered as standard or options as the Range Rover steadily moved further upmarket and created the SUV sector we know today.

 

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20. Volkswagen Golf GTI (1975)​

There are several others that have a legitimate claim to starting the hot-hatch phenomenon, but Volkswagen’s Golf GTI is the first car buyers really coalesced around.
Its innovation was to take a practical small car and give it a dose of sports-car performance, without compromising on either side of the equation.
As traditional sports cars waned in buyers’ minds, the Golf GTI was the perfect next step. Its Bosch fuel injection was unusual at the time and delivered good power and reliability, while nimble and predictable handling only added to the GTI’s broad appeal that defined a whole new class of car.

 

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21. Saab 99 turbo (1978)​

The word ‘turbo’ was still not widely understood when Saab launched its 99 turbo in 1978.
By attaching this forced-induction system to the 99, it created a car with terrific performance thanks to 143bhp, yet it retained all the comfort and refinement of the standard car.
While not the first to fit a turbocharger to a production car, Saab popularised the technology and went on to offer it in a wide range of its cars.
There was some lag with the way the turbo delivered its power, but 120mph and 0-60mph in 8.9 secs were too good to ignore.

 

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22. Audi quattro (1980)​

Audi built the quattro to go rallying. It happened on the idea of four-wheel drive by chance after winter testing and spotting how well a military truck coped with the slippery conditions.
Harnessing this innovative traction aid, along with a turbocharged five-cylinder engine developing 197bhp, it had a car capable of beating the world’s best on rally stages.
It took a while for the quattro to become a world force in rallying, but it soon compelled all other manufacturers to follow suit. The innovative design is also responsible for so many of the modern performance cars on sale today that use all-wheel drive.

 

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23. Renault Espace (1984)​

There were already MPVs around, especially in the US, but the Renault Espace was far and away the most advanced machine of its type.
Built by Matra for Renault, it used plastic body panels over a lightweight steel spaceframe to clothe its monobox design that maximised interior space.
It was inside where the Espace truly shone, offering practical seating for up to seven people. Not only that, you could vary the layout to suit, because all five rear seats could be individually folded or removed, and there was a completely flat floor for ultimate load carrying.

 

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24. Mercedes-Benz S-Class (1991)​

‘Flagship’ is a term that applies to the Mercedes S-Class more appropriately than most – and the 140-series launched in 1991 thoroughly deserved this title.
It featured a host of new ideas, as well as bringing together others seen in a variety of cars, but all in one model.
As a result, this S-Class came with double-glazed door windows, an adaptive damping system to stabilise the car in emergency driving moves, and it was the first Mercedes with GPS satellite navigation as an option later in its production.
All of these features seemed like a glimpse of the future, and so it proved. This was also true of innovations such as automatic wipers and Xenon headlights, as well as side airbags with occupant sensors.

 

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25. McLaren F1 (1992)​

Gordon Murray took the notion of a supercar to its ultimate conclusion when he designed the McLaren F1. In some ways, it shunned contemporary technology, because it did without turbochargers as Murray wanted the purest driving experience possible.
What made the F1 so innovative then and now is that every detail was considered through the lens of delivering the best to its driver.
Such attention resulted in a car that weighed just 1137kg, when a Jaguar XJ220 of the same period was some 333kg heftier.
With 618bhp from the BMW-built 6.0-litre V12, the McLaren could hit 240mph, which wasn’t bettered until the Bugatti Veyron was launched in 2005.