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About Land Rover Cars

The original Land Rover was developed in 1948 on the island of Anglesey in Wales by Maurice Wilks on his farm in Newborough, he was the chief designer of Rover. It is thought Wilks was inspired one summer by the American World War II Jeep that he used at his holiday home located in Wales. The first Land Rover with a 'centre steer' used a Jeep chassis. The main distinctive feature was their bodies which were constructed of a lightweight rustproof proprietary alloy of aluminium and magnesium called Birmabright. This unique material was used after the war as there were steel shortages but there was an ample supply of aircraft aluminium. The corrosion resistance was one of the key factors that established the Land Rover to build up a reputation for longevity in the toughest conditions put in front of it. Land Rover has then advertised that up to 75% of all vehicles ever built are still in use today.

An initial colour choice was set by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so the early vehicles were limited to certain shades of light green. All Land Rover models until recently had featured a sturdy box section ladder-frame chassis. The original launch price in the UK was £450. In the first year of production, 3048 vehicles were produced. This continued to rise and by 1950 production had risen to 16,000.

The first Land Rover Series I, where field-tested at Long Bennington. Series II was produced in 1958 and Series III in 1971 with the nearly identical design where these were rarely challenged in the offroad field. Land Rover introduced a second model which was added to the range: Range Rover. This was the world's first luxury 4x4. It was powered by a Rover V8, driven through by a 4WD system and rode on its unique all-independent suspensions. It retained the strong off-road ability of traditional Land Rover while offering superior driving comfort and a luxury interior. It changed the traditional perception of 4x4s.

The British Army maintains the use of 2.5-litre four-cylinder 300TDi-engine versions are preferred to the electronically controlled 2.5-litre five-cylinder TD5 to retain some servicing simplicity. This engine has continued in use on some export markets using units built at a Ford plant in Brazil, where Land Rovers were built under license. This engine was also used in Ford pick-up trucks built locally. Production of the TDi engine ended in the UK in 2006. During its ownership by Ford, Land Rover was once again linked with Jaguar, where these two companies had been under the same umbrella in the British Leyland era. In many countries, they shared a sales and distribution network, and some models shared components and production facilities also. By 1989, the large gap between Range Rover and Defender (now the new name of the original Land Rover) had been filled with the Discovery, which was less luxurious but more affordable than Range Rover.

As a brand Rover, Land Rover became a separate division when it went under the management of BMW during 1994-2000. It was then sold to Ford. In 2008, Ford was hit by financial trouble and sold both companies to Tata Group.