Rover R6X: Another missed opportunity
AR6 was dropped from the company's future plans in early 1987, only to be replaced by the Metro based R6. The Canley styling team felt that a more stylish solution could be reached: the R6X was the proposition:
The original R6X double-sided clay model - the three door version shows definite style... David Saddington was responsible for the style, which according to Roy Axe was, "...the strict evolution of the Rover image." (Picture kindly supplied by Roy Axe)
s can be read elsewhere, cost constraints killed the interesting AR6 Metro-replacement project, just as it was on the cusp of production. The lower cost alternative was to build a car based on the then current Metro, yet housing the PSA gearbox and K-Series engine. The underlying excellence of the K-Series engine, in particular, meant that there was going to be a car of great depth and ability emerging from Rover, but this would be largely masked by the "facelift" styling.
Some of the stylists at Canley felt so strongly about this, that they proposed a new style, which would closely tie in with the R6's cost-constrained underpinnings. Director of Design, Roy Axe, reflected these stong feelings: "This project was again born of frustration at the system that was developing at Rover... the R6X was a design office proposal again." In effect, product planners did not identify the need for the R6X - the designers did.
Expanding upon this, stylist David Saddington explained how this process was the logical continuation of the "facelift Metro" scheme: "few of us firmly believed that given the level of engineering change inherent in R6, that for a few dollars more - a new body and interior (R6X) would give the platform a longer lease of life and higher volumes."
Given that management were heavily behind the R6 concept, it was logical that the R6X would need to be a stylish and convincing supermini: "With this argument looming between 6 and 6X, it was clear that we needed a good show to win the day. What better way than to build a 'runner' that would show all of the benefits in our proposal?" The difficulty lay in budget. It would cost money to prepare a running prototype.
Roy Axe, however, devised a lower cost method of getting the required results: "...we had to have something more convincing. I had taken on the role of Design and Advanced Engineering, which was hoped to be a way through the constant cry that engineering had no resources for anything other than to keep the relationship with Honda going..." With Axe installed in this role, he could take a wider view of the design process: "Though I did not have the resource to develop a full car in house, I knew someone who did. I had known the late Sergio Coggiola for some considerable time, and was very familiar with his capabilities. There were some very capable engineers in my team and I felt that we could design the vehicle on minimum budget, and have Coggiola build a prototype to this design in very quick time."
(Picture kindly supplied by Maurice Verboven)
Saddington explained the process behind the creation of this interesting running prototype: "Working from points data from the Canley clay model, and lots of good engineering info from Derek Anderson and John Button, Coggiola first produced a full-size plaster replica of our clay. They then produced this running prototype in record time, by joining their steel fabrication to an R6 prototype platform that we gave them."
However, in the lead up to the BAe takeover of the Rover Group, there was no way that management wanted to sanction any unneccessary spending; Rover needed to look like a lean ship. Saddington felt that even though the car was going to review, they Canley designers were fighting a losing battle: "In project terms, we lost out to the bean counters who showed we did not have the money to launch our concept, and if memory serves, we were already fighting a lost battle by the time the prototype returned to England. The company could only afford R6." Admittedly, the R6 was a revelation compared with the original Metro - and in so many areas - so, management could rightly point to their favoured car and ask the question: why spend more?
Why indeed...
This R6X prototype was a runner, and its designer, David Saddington took great pleasure from following it around the Gaydon test track, taking it in from the stylist's perspective. (Picture kindly supplied by Kevin Davis) The rear three-quarter view demonstrates the neat treatment of the back lights; five door scheme also looks very neat and contemporary, but it is a surprise to see that the D-Post has not been treated to the same black-out treatment as the B/C-Post. (Pictures kindly supplied by Roy Axe)
Perhaps the money should have been sanctioned - either way, it wasn't immediately; in fact, the general concensus within the styling team was that it was doomed, given the lack of management enthusiasm for the project. Certainly from the two pictures that have escaped into the public domain, the car had undoubted style - and in a fashion conscious market, that would have undoubtedly assisted sales. Roy Axe felt it had a bright future and David Saddington echoed that view:
"The vehicle was a revelation. I have to say that a large portion of this came from the fundamental excellence of R6, but our design added clear votes on how that platform could go further; and with the all new style, it could easily carry the Rover badge. Apart from anything else, with a great interior from Graham Lewis and Jeremy Newman, the car just looked so right! Driving around the test track at Gaydon, and even more excitingly, driving behind our creation and seeing it moving on the road (imagining millions of them being sold of course!), is one of my happiest memories from this job."
Although the R6X was not cancelled, as such, the review process was a laborious process; one which became bogged down in the approval process: "With deadlines pressing, the best we gained was a strategic decision that we would launch R6 as a stop-gap, and immediately start work on doing R6X 'properly'." This idea had legs; after all, the Metro was ageing badly, and although the A-Series powered car remained reasonably popular, sales were slipping away, and its main rival on the marketplace, the Ford Fiesta, had begun to leave it behind.
However, the plan was thrown into something resembling disarray thanks - again - to finance. The R6 project's costs escallated (thanks in no small part to the array of underbody changes) to a level resembling those of the original R6X predictions. If this was not bad enough, the R6X was going through something of a metamorphosis - Saddington felt that it became something of a "committee car", thanks to all the changes that it was undergoing: "...the rush job to productionise R6X, [it] got out of shape, and by the time it was eventually cancelled I was supervising one of those dreaded committee cars; it had gained a chrome grille, four inches in the wheelbase, and loads of cost and timing issues that eventually killed it. Sad to say, but I wasn't too upset to see the committee car go."
Thankfully, the 1990 Metro/100 did sell well, although the Rover marketing boys burned much midnight oil trying to devise a campaign that persuaded the public that it was an entirely new car underneath.
According to Saddington, R6X did not die; it was kicked around between management and the stylists before it died: "As interest diminished in the R6X project we applied a bit of lateral thinking. Given that the style of R6X had been so well received, we looked at applying the design to a cut-down R8 platform - R7. It looked great, a bit like a GT Estate car. Went nowhere, but eased our way into the SK3/R3..."
The sad thing is that the R6X concept was eminently saleable... the only thing that stopped the 1990 Metro/100 enjoying a longer and more successful lifespan was the styling, which was badly compromised by the fact that it looked like a facelift of a 1980 car. In fact, the R6 was much more than that - it's just that many buyers were unaware of the fact. Given that original styling scheme, it would have undoubtedly been a much greater success; certainly, it wouldn't have needed a facelift so soon after its launch. Still, much in the way of money saving went on within the Rover Group at the time (at the behest of its parent company, no doubt), so it should come as no surprise that such a shocking, short-termist policy was followed.
How different things might have been in subsequent years...
Sadly, even the models and protoypes did not even survive. According to Saddington, "...the original clay, fibreglass, and the 'Coggi-car' all languished in our store at Canley until we moved to Gaydon in '95. At that point only the runner was given to Heritage. As far as I know the vehicle has now been destroyed (I was given the chassis plates as a memento)."
How sad.
The Coggiola team photographed with their car... (Picture kindly supplied by Roy Axe)
With thanks to David Saddington and Roy Axe.
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