Land Rover
Land Rover is a brand of the British automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover specializing in four-wheel-drive, off-road vehicles. Tata Motors of India has owned JLR, based in Coventry, since 2008. After Jeep, Land Rover is the oldest four-wheel-drive, off-road car brand.
The Rover Company used the Land Rover name originally for one specific model Rover launched in 1948. Over the years it developed into a brand for a range of off-road models, the Defender, Discovery, Freelander, Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, and Range Rover Sport. Land Rover sold 194,000 vehicles worldwide in 2009.
The Land Rover company has existed since 1978, when the British Leyland Motor Corporation absorbed the Rover Company into its Rover-Triumph division following Leyland’s takeover of Rover in 1967. The commercial success of the original Land Rover and then the Range Rover in the 1970s in contrast to Leyland’s business troubles encouraged establishment of a separate Land Rover company under British Aerospace ownership after the government privatized Leyland. In 1994, BMW acquired the Rover Group, and in 2000 sold Land Rover to Ford, which in 2006 purchased the Rover brand from BMW and reunited the Rover and Land Rover brands. Two years later, in June 2008, Ford sold both Land Rover and Jaguar Cars to Tata Motors.
During its Ford ownership, Land Rover was associated again with Jaguar for the first time since the Leyland era. In many countries they shared common sales and distribution networks and dealerships, and some models shared component production facilities. In March 2008, Ford announced that it would sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors.
Land Rover officially entered the American automotive market in 1987 when the Range Rover made its debut followed in 1989 by the Discovery, the first all-new Land Rover in 19 years. In the 1990s, the popularity of the sport utility vehicle automotive market segment placed the brand in a favorable position. In response, Land Rovers became more luxurious, particularly after BMW bought and privatized the company in 1995.
The Land Rover family of vehicles has continued to grow. In 1995, Land Rover production surpassed 100,000 vehicles in one year for the first time. The best seller was the Discovery, and in 1997 came the Freelander, a completely new concept for Land Rover with unibody construction, independent suspension, transverse engines, and hill descent control for optimal maneuverability on steep inclines by automatic braking to control vehicle speed.
Current Land Rovers are successors to the sturdy vehicles of history and international fame. Some are mainly utilitarian, like the LR2 and LR4; others are more similar to sport utility vehicles like the Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, and Range Rover Sport, a new model Jaguar Land Rover calls the “fastest, most agile, and responsive Land Rover ever.” As with all Land Rovers, the Sports are fully capable off the road with four-wheel drive, a locking center differential, and the Terrain Response® 2 system, with which drivers now can let their vehicles sense and adjust to grass/gravel/snow, sand, mud/ruts, and rock crawl terrain conditions automatically. These settings adjust responses of the engine, transmission, and other mechanical components for best traction and drivability.
View the Land Rover website: www.landrover.com
