Land RoverLand Rover is a British all-terrain vehicle and Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) manufacturer, based in Solihull, England. Originally the term Land Rover referred to one specific vehicle, a pioneering civilian all-terrain utility vehicle launched on April 30, 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show, but was later used as a brand for several distinct models, all four-wheel drive. Starting out as an internal division of Rover, Land Rover has designed and manufactured a range of four-wheel drive vehicles under a succession of owners, including British Leyland, British Aerospace and BMW. Today, the marque is part of the Premier Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company, and one of the best internationally known and longest lived nameplates of rugged SUVs -- the only brand which is older is the U.S. Jeep, originally trademarked by Willys Overland Corporation.
Land Rovers are manufactured primarily at the Solihull plant, near the major manufacturing centre of Birmingham, England. Production of the "Freelander" has moved recently to the Jaguar car factory at Halewood near Liverpool. The former BL/Rover Group technical centre at Gaydon in Warwickshire is home to the Land Rover R&D headquarters.
Land Rovers have competed in the Paris Dakar Rally as well as being the vehicle used for the Camel Trophy as part of a sponsorship deal. Now, Land Rover has its own G4 challenge.
Land Rover is so successful that it has outlived its founder Rover, which collapsed in 2005.
History
Land Rover celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998, and now, as we near 2004, we wanted to glance in the rear view mirror to look back in Land Rover history at its most significant moments.
It was 1948 when the 80" made its world debut at the Amsterdam Motor Show; a bulletproof piece of hardware that could go anywhere and be hosed off when it came back. But the Post-War years had created the need to make the vehicle more useful as an agricultural workhorse, so in 1954 the 86" and later, the 107" were created to fill this niche.
A decade after its introduction, the Series I design fell to the Series II - a vast improvement over the original in size, comfort, style and performance. By 1959, a quarter-million Land Rovers were on the road. By 1966, it was a half million. Rovers were taking on the world's most treacherous and unforgiving territories...and winning. Then, in 1970, Land Rover engineers created a paradigm shift in the concept of the off-road vehicle. The Range Rover debuts! It was designed for serious off-road use (and it too could be hosed clean inside & out), but it added an element of luxury for the country gentlemen it sought to attract. It was an idea ahead of its time.
The 70's inspired a number of innovations. In 1971, the Series III debuted, and a year later, the 101" followed. Originally designed as a gun tractor for the British Army, it found modern favor as gargantuan, overbuilt long-range camper.
In 1976, Land Rover sales hit the 1 million mark; not exactly Ford and Chevy numbers, but a testament to the fierce loyalty the Land Rover inspires in its legion of fans worldwide.
By 1988, the Range Rover had come off the back roads of the estates and summer "cottages" of the wealthy and joined the mainstream. Luxury features abounded, and its style was so unique it became the first (and only) vehicle ever displayed at the Louvre in Paris as an example of modern sculpture. Such beauty and on-and-off-road performance in one vehicle? Unheard of! Now, of course, there are at least 65 marques calling themselves SUV's, many of which have little or no off-road heritage at all!
The idea of the Range Rover took off, and 1989 sales exceeded '88 sales by 41% (which is why so many of you drive '89's!). Finding its success and appeal so overwhelming, Four Wheeler magazine awards the Range Rover its coveted "Four Wheeler of the Year" award.
Despite its success, Range Rover was still a landed gentry vehicle. Rover engineers searched for a design to fit the needs of the family, and created the Discovery, with more room and less expensive luxury features. In 1990, Discovery won Off Road & 4 Wheel Drive magazine's 4x4 of the year before it was officially launched! (They used a Tdi and tested it in Scotland.) Still more awards followed. In 1994 the Defender won Four Wheeler of the Year by Four Wheeler magazine, and a year later, the Discovery won Four Wheeler's Four Wheeler of the Year award. (See a pattern here?)
1996 saw the last Range Rover Classic (#317,615) roll off the assembly line. The Vogue SE was loaded; a heady compilation of over 10,000 parts. The beautiful new 4.0 takes its place, where it remains the unquestioned king of the SUV hill.
Following the trend towards small, sporty SUV's, the engineers once again got together to create the Freelander, which debuted officially in 1997. The following year, the Freelander wins 4x4 of the Year by Off Road & 4 Wheel Drive magazine, and goes on to become the best-selling SUV in all of Europe!
In 2000, Range Rover enthusiasts gathered at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, England to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Range Rover. 605 Range Rovers attended, from prototype "Velar" models to the rare 6x6 stretched versions. A fitting tribute to the one, the only, the original and still champion Range Rover.
Challenge of Japanese makes
Since the 1970s, in remote areas of Africa, South America, Asia and the Australian Outback, the somewhat similar Toyota Land Cruiser and Mitsubishi Shogun (also known as Pajero and Montero in other markets) have overtaken the Land Rover as the utility 4x4 of choice, partly because of the better support network and reputation for reliability. In Australia at least, pricing is now actually comparable or in favour of the Land Rover, due to the shorter supply chain. Another reason seems to be the 'leadfoot' factor - the workhorse Toyota models tend to have larger engines than the comparable Land Rover models.
In Britain, the Land Rover fell from favour with the farming community with the arrival of less expensive Japanese alternatives, with Daihatsu Fourtracks, Isuzu Troopers and Mitsubishi Shoguns becoming a common sight on farms around the country, until rust eventually ended their working lives. However, with subtle improvements to the Defender in the early 1990s, and with the introduction of better, more reliable engines in the form of the TDi (especially the 200TDi) and the five-cylinder TD5, many farms once again have a Land Rover Defender in their yard.
Luxury
The Range Rover has helped define the Land Rover brand over the last decade and a half, at least as much as the traditional Series and later Defender vehicles originally did. Hoping to capitalize on the growth of the SUV category in the 1990's, Range Rover introduced an array of products, such as the Discovery/LR3, Freelander and Range Rover Sport.
However, by the late 1990s Land Rover were concerned that the brand had become fragmented in the eyes of customers who saw a collection of products which had little relation to each other. In order to capitalize on the booming upmarket and luxury segment of the SUV category at the time, a re-think led to a departure from the traditional, hardcore 'mud and guts' advertising to more aspirational and luxury orientated marketing.
This product strategy has kept Land Rover in business, as it attracted the most lucrative consumers: those who would never take their vehicles off a paved road, and were more interested in leather seats than rock-crawling suspensions. In 2005 it was the most profitable part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG) brand portfolio. In cities like Seattle, large Land Rover dealers now occupy sites that once sold Ford, Mercury, or Nissan lines.
Land Rover's profits should continue to rise with the introduction of the new, more luxurious Freelander at the end of 2006 and the new Defender in the summer of 2007. In the U.S. the new Freelander, to be known as the LR2, will emerge in spring 2007.
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