Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India based Tata Motors.[3] JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil, China, India, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. The Land Rover name was created in 1948 by the Rover Company for a utilitarian 4WD off-road vehicle. Currently, the Land Rover range consists solely of upmarket and luxury sport utility vehicles.
Land Rover was granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1951.[4][5] In 2001, it received a Queen's Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade.[6] Over time, Land Rover grew into its own brand, and for a while also a company, encompassing a consistently growing range of four-wheel drive, off-road capable models. Starting with the much more upmarket 1970 Range Rover, and subsequent introductions of the mid-range Discovery and entry-level Freelander line, in 1989 and 1997, as well as the 1990 Land Rover Defender refresh, the marque today includes two models of Discovery, four distinct models of Range Rover, and after a three-year hiatus, a second generation of Defenders have gone into production for the 2020 model year – in short or long wheelbase, as before.
For half a century, from the original 1948 model, to 1997, when the Freelander was introduced, Land Rovers and Range Rovers exclusively relied on their trademark boxed-section vehicle frames. Land Rover used boxed frames in a direct product bloodline until the termination of the original Defender in 2016. Their last body-on-frame model was replaced by a monocoque with the third generation Discovery in 2017. Since then, all Land Rovers and Range Rovers have a unified body and frame structure.
Since 2010, Land Rover has introduced two-wheel drive variants, both of the Freelander, and of the Evoque, after having built exclusively 4WD cars for 62 years.[7] The 2WD Freelander has been succeeded by a 2WD Discovery Sport, available in some markets.[8]
History
Originally, these vehicles were simply called the 'Land Rover' – an off-road capable car model of the Rover Company. As 'Land Rover' became established as a brand, the 'Series' indication later became a retronym model name.[9] The Range Rover was introduced in 1970, and the company became a British Leyland subsidiary in 1978. In 1983 and 1984, the long and the short wheelbase Land Rovers were given official names – the One Ten, and the Ninety respectively. Together they were badged the Defender models in 1990, after the 1989 introduction of the new Discovery model.
Rover era
The design for the original vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks. Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, Anglesey, worked in conjunction with his brother Spencer who was the managing director of Rover.
Manufacturing
Jaguar Land Rover manufactures Land Rover cars in plants in five countries.[38] In the United Kingdom the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar are built at their Solihull plant near Birmingham and the Discovery Sport and Evoque are built at their Halewood plant near Liverpool. In October 2018 JLR opened a new plant in Nitra, Slovakia to build the Discovery,[38] and are now also building the 2020 Defender there.[39] In Brazil the company builds both the Discovery Sport and Evoque in their plant in Itatiaia which was opened in June 2016.[38] JLR has been building cars since 2011 in Pune,
Global sales
Global and regional unit sales
Worldwide sales of Land Rover tripled from model year 2008/'09 to 2014/'15 (from almost 130,000 to some 385,000 units), to peak at a further 10% higher in '15/'16 and '16/'17, and have since slid by some 100,000 (to 320,000 units) in 2018/'19.[43] In spite of the facts, that Australia and New Zealand were important Land Rover markets in the 20th century, and sales in the Asia Pacific region have quadrupled from 2008/'09 to 2014/'15, Land Rover have stopped publishing sales of that region separately – instead including them in "Rest of World" starting 2015/'16.
Overall, Europe is the firm's primary market, consistently yielding 40% to 50% of global units sold. Generally, half of that is down to the home (UK) market. Sales in the U.K. and the U.S. have generally kept equal pace, but since 2012 China has taken the lead as Land Rover's biggest single country market, except for 2018/'19.[43]
Per calendar year: [44]
Per model year:
Models
Historic
- Series I, II, IIA and III
- Freelander (sold in some markets as LR2)
Current
- Defender
- Discovery
- Discovery Sport
- Range Rover
- Range Rover Sport
- Range Rover Velar
Concepts
Range Stormer – Land Rover's first concept vehicle, unveiled at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, later became the Range Rover Sport. (Gritzinger, 2004).
Land Rover LRX – Land Rover's second concept vehicle, first unveiled at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Originally a vehicle with ERAD technology, the production version did not include this. The car was then launched in 2011 as the Range Rover Evoque, and was the first Range Rover branded product to be offered with front wheel drive, and no low ratio transfer box.
Land Rover DC100 – Land Rover's third concept vehicle, first unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, designed to be a replacement for the Land Rover Defender, though it is unlikely that the Defender's replacement will be exactly the same as the DC100 concept.
Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept – Land Rover's fourth concept vehicle, first unveiled at the 2014, was designed to be a replacement for the Land Rover Discovery, This concept features Transparent Bonnet, Suicide doors, and Laser assisted lamps (there is a very little chance this will be included in any future production vehicles).
Military
Electric vehicles
Integrated Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) technology, dubbed e-terrain technology,[49] will allow the vehicle to move off without starting the engine as well as supplying extra power over tough terrain.[49] Land Rover's Diesel ERAD Hybrid was developed as part of a multimillion-pound project supported by the UK Government's Energy Saving Trust, under the low carbon research and development programme. ERAD programme is one of a broad range of sustainability-focused engineering programmes that Land Rover is pursuing, brought together by the company under the collective name "e TERRAIN Technologies".[50]
Land Rover presented at the 2008 London Motor Show its new ERAD diesel–electric hybrid in a pair of Freelander 2 (LR2) prototypes. The new hybrid system is being designed as a scalable and modular system that could be applied across a variety of Land Rover models and powertrains.[51]
Abilities
Power take-off (PTO) was integral to the Land Rover concept from 1948, enabling farm machinery and many other items to be run with the vehicle stationary. Maurice Wilks' original instruction was "...to have power take-offs everywhere!" The 1949 report by British National Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Scottish Machinery Testing Station contained this description: "the power take-off is driven through a Hardy Spicer propeller shaft from the main gearbox output and two interchangeable pinions giving two ratios.
The PTO gearbox casing is bolted to the rear chassis cross-member and an 8 x belt pulley driven from the PTO shaft through two bevel gears can be bolted to the PTO gearbox casing." PTOs remained regular options on Series I, II and III Land Rovers up to the demise of the Series Land Rover in 1985. An agricultural PTO on a Defender is possible as a special order.
Land Rovers (the Series/Defender models) are available in a variety of body styles, from a simple canvas-topped pick-up truck to a twelve-seat fully trimmed station wagon. Both Land Rover and out-of-house contractors have offered conversions and adaptations to the basic vehicle, such as fire engines, excavators, 'cherry picker' hydraulic platforms, ambulances, snowploughs, and six-wheel-drive versions, as well as one-off special builds including amphibious Land Rovers and vehicles fitted with tracks instead of wheels.
Military use
Various Land Rover models have been used in a military capacity, most notably by the British Army and
Driver training
Land Rover Experience was established in 1990, and consists of a network of centres throughout the world, set up to help customers get the most out of their vehicles' on and off-road capability. The flagship centres are Land Rover's bases at Solihull, Eastnor, Gaydon and Halewood. Courses offered include off-road driving, winching and trailer handling, along with a variety of corporate and individual 'Adventure Days'. The factory centres at Solihull and Halewood have manufacturing tours, while Gaydon has an engineering tour.
Safety
Model-by-model road accident statistics from the UK Department for Transport published in 2006 showed that the Land Rover Defender was one of the safest cars on British roads as measured by chance of death in two-car injury accidents.[59] The figures, which were based on data collected by police forces following accidents between 2000 and 2004 in Great Britain, showed that Defender drivers had a 1% chance of being killed or seriously injured and a 33% chance of sustaining any kind of injury. Other four-wheel-drive vehicles scored equally highly, and collectively these vehicles were much safer for their passengers than those in other classes such as passenger cars and MPVs. These figures reflect the fact that drivers of large mass vehicles are likely to be safer, often at the expense of other drivers if they collide with smaller cars.
Clubs
The original Land Rover Owners Club was set up by the Rover Company in 1954. The company published the Land Rover Owners Club Review magazine for members from 1957 to 1968 when the club became the Rover Owners Association. This original association fell away when the company merged with British Leyland.
There are many Land Rover clubs throughout the UK and internationally. Land Rover clubs break down into a number of groups of varying interests.
Single Marque Clubs – Bring together owners of a specific model or series of vehicle such as the Land Rover Series One Club,[60] or the Discovery Owners Club.[61] Single marque clubs have a global membership.
Special Vehicle Clubs – At various times Land Rover have produced vehicles for specific events or on a specific theme, most notable are the Camel Trophy and G4 Challenge vehicles which have been sold on to the general public, and a range of Defenders that were loosely based on the custom vehicles produced for the Tomb Raider motion picture.
Regional Clubs in the UK break down into two groups, competitive and non-competitive. The non-competitive clubs activities generally relate to social events, off-road driving or green laning on un-surfaced public highways or 'pay and play' days at off-road centres. Competitive clubs are a phenomenon almost exclusively found within the UK, who as well as the non-competitive activities detailed above run competitive events such as Tyro, Road Taxed Vehicle (RTV) and Cross Country Vehicle (CCV) trials, winch and recovery challenges or speed events such as Competitive Safaries.
Brand extensions
Bicycles
In 1995, Land Rover endorsed the production of a hand-made bicycle using its logo. The bicycle, called the Land Rover APB and manufactured by Pashley Cycles of Stratford-upon-Avon,[70] was the collapsible version of Pashley Cycles' Moulton APB (All Purpose Bicycle) model, with leading link front suspension and adjustable damping and stroke. Two more models immediately followed: the Land Rover XCB V-20, aimed primarily at younger riders (children); and the Land Rover XCB D-26, also available as the M26 with hydraulic rim brakes, front suspension and suspension seat pillar.
In June 2004, Land Rover released a comprehensive 25 model range of bicycles. The three main ranges are the "Defender", the "Discovery", and the "Freelander", each with different attributes. The "Discovery" is an all-rounder bicycle suited to a variety of terrains, "Defender" is most suited to rugged terrain and off-road pursuits, whereas the "Freelander" is designed for an urban lifestyle. All bikes are made from lightweight aluminium.
In 2010 the range was relaunched in conjunction with British manufacturer 2x2.[71]
External links
References
- Trade mark number UK00000663199 Crown (UK Government), retrieved 22 January 2023^
- Graham Robson. The Rover company Patrick Stephens, 1981^
- Subsidiaries, JVs and Associates: Jaguar Land Rover Tata Motors, retrieved 14 February 2012^