On the 8th October 1963, Rover’s managing director William Martin-Hurst told the press: ‘Into this car we have put all our engineering know-how and skills.’ The P6 represented an investment of £10,600,000, including a new factory built at Solihull, a sum which used around 80% of the company’s capital employed at that time. It also created a new form of executive motoring.
Rover initially considered a replacement for the cheaper P4 models in September 1956, while the upmarket 105R /105S were to be succeeded by the 3-Litre P5 due to be introduced in 1958. David Bache was responsible for the styling, and he aimed for ‘a simple classical form, devoid of all superfluous ornament.’ Management rejected an early plan for a Citroën DS-style front and also ruled out the ideas of Hydropneumatic suspension, a flat-four engine and even a gas turbine unit on the grounds of cost. To evaluate the P6, Rover made several prototypes using the Talago badge to deter any curious member of the public or inquisitive motoring writers.
At that press launch on 8th October 1963, the assembled journalists were presented with a box of Rover 2000 branded cigarettes. The public launch followed eight days later at the London Motor Show, where the four P6s on display caused a sensation. Some visitors remarked on the bodywork, with its detachable panels on a structural base unit. In contrast, others commented on the new 1978cc four-cylinder overhead-cam engine, the allsynchromesh gearbox and the all-disc brakes. The suspension was a further departure from the Rover norm with double wishbones at the front and the top links at 90 degrees to their lower counterpart. At the rear was a de Dion sliding tube
