Land Rover Today –
Land Rover is the famous British car maker and headquarters of this company are located in Gaydon, United Kingdom. This automobile manufacturer specializes in four-wheel drive models. Indian company, Tata Motors owned Land Rover and forming parts of its Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary.
In the globe, it is the second oldest brand which is related to four-wheel drive car. Currently, it is assembled vehicles in Solihull and Halewood. This automaker is employing around 13,000 people. It is offering wide range of four-wheel drive automobiles namely, Discovery, Range Rover, Freelander, and Defender.
Ratan Tata is the chairman of this company and Dr. Ralf Speth is the Chief Executive Officer. Almost every year, Land Rover models have participated in the Dakar Rally and won the 4X4 Macmillan UK Challenge. John Edwards is the Global Brand Director of Land Rover.
Land Rover History –
In 1948, the first Land Rover Series I of this brand was introduced at the famous Amsterdam Motor Show and this model was called as the ‘Farmer’s Friend’. This company was started as one specific automobile which was originally called as the Land Rover, introduced by Rover Company in the year 1948.
In 1949, the first Land Rover models are exported to America.
From 1950, the Land Rover models were available with more powerful and larger headlamps and all these models were offered with the hard top.
In 1951, the 2.0-liter larger-bore unit replaced the 1.6-liter engine.
In 1953, for enhancing its load space area, the wheelbase was stretched to 86-inches.
In 1955, a new power unit was launched.
In 1956, the wheelbase of Land Rover models was stretched to 88 and 109 inches to create a space for newly-developed diesel engine.
In 1957, the powerful 2.0-liter diesel engine was launched.
In 1958, the Land Rover Series II was introduced along with more improved styling at the Amsterdam Motor Show and this automaker also unveiled the 2.25-liter petrol engine in this very same year.
In 1959, the 250,000 th Land Rover rolls off the line after 11 years in production.
From 1961, the Land Rover range was called as the Series IIA.
In 1962, the new Station-Wagon with 12-seat was unveiled.
In 1965, this company was completed negotiations with GM to get the rights to the lightweight all-alloy 3.5-liter V8 petrol engine.
In April 1966, production of Land Rover achieved the half million mark.
In 1967, the 2.6-liter six-cylinder engine was made available as a choice on each 109-inch wheelbase model. From this year, the Rover Company became the part of Leyland Motor Corporation.
In 1968, two leading British automobile makers, Triumph and Leyland, including Rover merged with the British Motor Corporation.
In 1969, to follow with regulation of new lighting, the headlights are shifted to the front wings.
In June 1970, this company unveiled the new Range Rover model in two-door format. In this very same year, this model was awarded with gold medal for its efficient coach work. The safety amenities of this Range Rover model were recognized by the Don Safety trophy.
In 1971, the Range Rover was awarded with the RAC Dewar award for its impressive technical accomplishment. During this year, this automaker manufactured the 750,000th Land Rover model. In the moth of September, this company unveiled the Land Rover Series III.
In 1972, the Land Rover 1-ton Forward control was declared and it was designed according to the British Army specifications.
In June 1976, the 88-inch Station Wagon was produced at Solihull which marked the millionth Land Rover built.
In 1978, Michael Edwards, famous industrialist, entered in by the government to handle British Leyland and created Land Rover Limited as a separate operating firm. In the entire history of this automaker, Land Rover was working under independent management with government funding was promised to permit for a doubling of production by the end of 1980.
In 1979, the new generation of the Land Rover was introduced which was powered by the petrol V8 engine.
In 1980, manufacturing process of Rover car stopped at Solihull with the transfer of SD1 production to Cowley, Oxford.
In 1981, the new four door generation of the Range Rover was unveiled.
In 1982, production of Range Rover reached up to 100,000 and in this very same year, this company introduced the option of automatic gearbox to its Range Rover models by using the Chrysler’s three-speed ‘Torqueflite’. With improved-interior comfort, the new variant of Land Rover ‘Country’ Station Wagon was launched and this automaker also unveiled the high capacity pickup, Land Rover 109.
From 1983, Tony Gilroy, new managing director of Land Rover began a special program to focus on the production at its Solihull plant. The Land Rover One Ten was introduced under this brand. The annual production was reached up to 12,000 units.
In 1984, the Ninety model of Land Rover was launched.
From the year 1985, automobile of this brand are being sold in 120 countries.
In 1986, the diesel version of the Range Rover was introduced.
In 1987, the establishment of Range Rover of North America announced the introduction of the automobile in the vehicle market of America.
In 1988, this company enjoyed its 40th anniversary which was set by overall sales of more than 1.6 million automobiles worldwide. In this very same year, the British Aerospace purchased the famous Rover Group.
In September 1989, the first Discover model of Land Rover was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In this same year, Land Rover Canada was established.
In 1990, the four door variant of the Defender was re-launched. From this year, automobile market of North America became the biggest export market for the Range Rover.
In 1992, the second generation of Range Rover was unveiled.
In 1993, the 1.5 millionth Defender model was sold.
In 1994, an all new Range Rover was introduced. From this very same year, the Rover Group with Land Rover was owned by the well known German automaker, BMW.
In 1995, manufacturing of Land Rover automobiles tops 100,000 vehicles per annum at its Solihull production plant. From this very same year, this company endorsed the manufacturing of a hand-made bicycle with its logo.
In September 1997, the Freelander model was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
On 30 April 1998, Land Rover celebrated its 50th anniversary and this automaker introduced the new Discovery Series II.
In 2000, BMW sold the Rover Group along with Land Rover which was being gained by the leading Ford Motor Company for £1.8 billion.
In 2001, Land Rover produced its three-millionth model, the Freelander at Solihull production plant for the US market. The new Range Rover was established and its overall investment cost of £1 billion and hence, it was the biggest project which was carried out by the famous British motor industry.
In 2002, third generation of Range Rover was launched with new front-end features. In the month of May, Production of this Range Rover notches up its 500,000th automobile.
In 2003, this brand was referred as the ‘Greatest Car of All Time’ by audience of the ‘Top Gear’ television series of BBC.
In 2004, the Range Stormer concept model was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show. In the vehicle market of North America, the Discovery 3 model was unveiled as the Land Rover LR3. In June, it launched the comprehensive 25 model range of bicycles.
In 2005, the Range Rover model was revealed the new Sport model under this brand. From this the production of Freelander was dropped.
In 2006, the Land_e was unveiled at the famous Geneva Motor Show. In this year, the Freelander 2 model was also introduced under this brand. This company declared its CO2 offset program.
In 2007, the four-millionth model was manufactured under Land Rover. On 11th June, Ford Motor Company declared that company wants to sell Land Rover. The Defender SVX model was introduced under this brand at the British Red Cross Ball. During this year, the total sales of this automaker was 226, 395 with records being set in the US, UK and other vehicle markets.
In 2008, the Land Rover concept model grabbed the limelight at the International Auto Show of North America in Detroit. In June, Jaguar Land Rover was acquired by Tata Motors for US$2.3 billion and David Smith was appointed as the new chief executive officer of the company. In the Buckingham palace ceremony, it donated 60 Land Rover automobiles. In the month of October, this company launched the 2 TD4_e Freelander model, first SUV of the world with the intelligent start/stop system. Land Rover has presented the new diesel-electric ERAD hybrid at the London Motor Show 2008.
In 2009, this automaker introduced the new Discovery 4/LR4 model. During this year, it sold 194,000 automobiles.
In May 2010, Tata Motors declared that it has plans to build Land Rovers.
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