The new designs proving that bigger is now better when it comes to choosing a car.

If 40 years ago you had gazed into your automotive crystal ball and imagined all the things that would be desirable today, you may not have guessed that luxury sports utility vehicles (SUVs) would have become the lifeblood of our most treasured car manufacturers. In the 1970s, the Range Rover was the unchallenged overlord, and arguably the creator of this subsection of the car world. Save for a few other players in the market, such as the Mercedes G-Wagen and the hardy Toyota Land Cruiser, these were uncommon cars suited to farmers-done-good, various heads of state and the odd international despot. The Shah of Iran had a hand in commissioning the G-Wagen, a car that straddled the line between tough military vehicle and opulent piece of urban exhibitionism. The Pope had his own customised SUV, the famous Popemobile, which resembled nothing so much as a mobile display case. But these were not thought of as everyday cars.

Back then, even as ardent a luxury 4x4 advocate as Mr Charles King, the chief engineer of the original Range Rover, said: “To use the 4x4 for the school run, or even in cities or towns at all, is completely stupid.” If you were a high-flying executive in the 1980s with your bonus freshly cleared in the bank account, your daily drive would more likely have involved a Mercedes S-Class saloon for the weekday commute and a fire-engine-red Porsche 911 Turbo to remind you that you still had it at the weekend.

Then something began to change. And for the technical observer, it made no rational sense. The world was rocketing ahead with mobile phones and the internet, yet for some reason, the driving human had decided it wanted bigger, heavier, more cumbersome vehicles. Mr Enzo Ferrari may have claimed that “the client is not always right”, but the people had spoken. That left the car companies with a problem. How did they please the masses, but stop their designers tearing their hair out at this retrograde step? The answer was, of course, engineering… and a little pinch of the nose when it came to stepping outside their brand identity.

The watershed moment came when Porsche blinked first and decided to build an SUV in 2002. The howls of derision from its sporting rivals must have been deafening when the grand Teutonic sports car brand rolled out a great big pig of a car. It was dumpy and smashed. Its grill had been squared in with the ugly stick. This was surely an insane misjudgment that could send the company down the drain. “Can you believe Porsche is putting its badge on this car? Believe it! Traditionalists are horrified,” ran the Fortune magazine headline at the time. But – wonder of wonders – the Cayenne sold like hot cakes smothered in truffle oil. SUVs now account for well over half of all Porsche cars sold worldwide. Choking on their hubris, the extant sport-luxury companies bereft of an SUV in their line-up promptly whipped their designers back to their clay models and said, “Build it bigger, build it stronger and don’t worry too much what it looks like.” The truth was not why get into building an SUV, but build SUVs or bust.

There was method to this seeming madness. Land Rover had always known that when a driver sat in a Range Rover there was an imperial feeling in rising above the traffic. And the royals have always been a good advert for the luxury end of 4x4 travel – think Prince Philip driving his Range Rover on the wild hills of Balmoral. Even recently, the 96-year-old patriarch made worldwide news driving the Obamas across a golf course in the same car with no shortage of regal majesty. And SUV-love is obviously in the (exceptionally coveted) genes. When Prince William introduced his heir, Prince George, he was cossetted in the rear of his father’s immaculate black special-edition Range Rover. Cue high-fives in the Land Rover PR HQ.

The luxury SUV landscape is now abundant with choice. Porsche has not one but two SUVs in the range, Bentley has the Bentayga and Lamborghini the Urus. Resurgent Alfa Romeo’s splendidly light and responsive Stelvio Quadrifoglio is showing even the sportier brands a clean pair of heels. And eagerly anticipated this year are the stately Rolls-Royce Cullinan and the Aston Martin DBX, first forays into the sector from two of Britain’s most famous brands. Even that colossus of supercar fantasy Ferrari has recently announced it will now be making its own SUV. After saying, “You’d have to shoot me first,” when asked about the prospect a couple of years ago, CEO Mr Sergio Marchionne has come around to the idea and announced last month that Ferrari will be building a sports utility vehicle, albeit one firmly in Ferrari DNA – an “FUV” as he labelled it. “It will look like a Ferrari utility vehicle needs to look like,” he said. “But it has to drive like a Ferrari.” Old man Enzo could well be turning in his grave, but the brand simply can’t afford to ignore this market.

Mr Ian Callum, the designer who has created such delights as the Aston Martin DB7, should know a thing or two about desirable motors. He is now director of design at Jaguar, and his first stab at an SUV, the F-Pace, scooped a number of awards, including 2017 World Car of the Year. He believes there is a “maturity and sophistication to driving them now” that didn’t exist in the past when SUVs were essentially truck-based. This refinement through engineering has made them much more of a rational purchase. He also believes in what he calls the “Tonka toy effect”. The exaggerated proportions of an SUV compared to a basic car take threat away and make it more appealing to buyers. He admits he has grown to like them and that it’s been a “journey of discovery”, using the “same principles as creating a beautiful sports car but applying them in a different way for a new design challenge”.

The SUV, then, is here to stay. People want an armchair and a home on the move. We want cup holders, multiple USB ports, a place for everyone’s iPads and, crucially, space. Space for occupants, space for the dog and space for the shopping. And even if we aren’t snowboarders, cyclists, surfers or multiple X-gamers, we at least want to make sure we have room for those bits of kit should we decide to change our lifestyle. It’s a matter of perception. With an SUV, you can drive along the tarmac but if the moment takes you, you can turn onto the dirt and head off wherever. This off-road capability also plays into the allure. Mr Gerry McGovern, chief creative officer for Land Rover, likens it to buying a luxury watch. “An everyday Rolex purchaser may never dream of diving to the potential depths that the watch is capable of performing at, but knowing the engineering integrity is there to do the job is attractive.”

Like any new movement, there will be detractors ready to mock. Maybe they simply haven’t experienced wafting along in sporting luxury high above the chaos, on a higher plain of possibility. Maybe they should try it.