Land Rover History

Maurice Wilks designed the first ever Land Rover for the Rover company in 1948. It is believed that he was inspired by an American Jeep which he had used at his Welsh holiday home. The first Land Rover was in fact built using a Jeep chassis. It was nicknamed Centre Steer and it was manufactured by Rover.

One of the most distinctive features of the Land Rover was the distinctive lightweight, rustproof allow used for the construction of their bodies. This alloy is a combination of magnesium and aluminum which has the proprietary name Birmabright. It was actually developed in order to cope with the shortage of steel in the post war period and the abundance of aluminum which was available in the same period from wartime aircraft. The new Land Rover alloy proved to be very resistant to corrosion, which helped to build Land Rover's reputation for durability and longevity. Another result of the post-war situation was the original Land Rover color, which stemmed from the use of surplus green paint that had been intended for use on aircraft cockpits. The earliest models therefore came in various shades of green.

The early Land Rover vehicles were tested at Long Bennington and they were designed to be serviced in the field. This has changed, to a certain extent, over time, although the British Army still favors the models which have simpler mechanics. Land Rover has also produced models with more complicated mechanical and electrical parts.

Land Rover, as part of Rover Triumph, was purchased by Leyland Motors in 1967. The Leyland Motors company later became known as British Leyland. The Range Rover was introduced in 1970.

In 1975, British Leyland collapsed and was nationalized. The publication of the Ryder Report was very influential for the future of Land Rover. The report recommended that Land Rover should be separated from the Rover brand. It became part of the Land Rover Leyland Group division, which was to be operated separately from Rover. In 1978, Land Rover became its own subsidiary of British Leyland.

British Leyland became the Rover Group in 1986. The company was privatized in 1988. At the same time, it was incorporated into British Aerospace and it was generally known as Rover after this time. BMW took control of the Rover Group in 1994, but the Rover Group was broken up in 2000, due to financial problems. The MG and Rover brands were sold to the Phoenix Consortium. BMW retained the Mini brand. Land Rover was sold to Ford. Land Rover became closely associated with Jaguar while both brands were owned by Ford. The Rover brand was reacquired by Ford in 2005, from the MG Rover company. This was largely in order to avoid any confusion between the two similarly named brands, Land Rover and Rover.

Ford announced its intention to sell both Land Rover and Jaguar in 2007, but the sale was not completed until 2008. A number of companies expressed an interest in the sale, but the eventual buyer was Tata Motors. Tata bought the rights to both Land Rover and Jaguar, as well as the Daimler brand and the Rover and Lanchester brands.