Land Rover history

First it was part of Rover which was then absorbed into BMC, British Leyland, Austin Rover and then sold to BMW Who then sold it to Ford.

don't know exact dates, but rover and landrover remained the one, seperate entity up until some time during the series 3 run, mid 70's i believe, when rover was brought under the british leyland thingy which included basically all british car companies. triumph, mg, the whole kit and kaboodle. during the 90's some time, BMW took it over and more recently ford took it in 2000 i beleive. i think there was something else in between leyland and BMW, but i'm not too sure. i have probably missed a lot, but that's my understanding of the history.

British Leyland was sold to BAe (British Areospace) who renamed it Austin Rover. It was they that sold it on to BMW - despite many years of cooperation with Honda who were, as I recall, a bit miffed.

Regards Steve G

Started as part of Rover, changed name to BMC in the 60s, became British Leyland in the 70s, became Austin Rover in the 80s, became Rover group in the early 90s was sold to BAe who in turn sold it to BMW who have now sold it to Ford.

Knowing Ford and their penchant for market segregation we'll soon have an Aston Martin Rangerover and a Jaguar Discovery. The Freelander is already the Ford Maverick (replacing the Nissan Terrano) so it's not impossible.

Where they hell would they fit the Defender? If it wasn't for the fact they sold Fordson to Fiat that would probably have been the ideal place. Iveco maybe?

P.

Two words. Rootes Group. Hillman/Singer/Sunbeam/Talbot

Vickers Engineering Rolls Royce, Bentley

Independants TVR, Morgan, Jensen, Lotus, Reliant, Caterham, Aston Martin, Bond, Bristol, AC

Whereas B(L)MC was IIRC Austin, Rover, Riley, Wolsely, Healy, MG, Jaguar, Morris, Vanden Plas, Triumph, Standard, Leyland - Land Rover not being a standalone brand.

So, although BMC owned most of the volume, arguably more marques weren't BMC than were.

P.

Nop. Iveco bought the Ford truck operation. Not the other way round. They are/were still marketed as Fords in certain markets only.

Rover of course traces its heritage all the way back to the bicycle and James Starley who I think invented differential gears.

And of course is a popular name for dogs.

impossible.

No no NO! The Freelander is the Freelander. The Mazda Tribute is the new Ford Maverick.

Huw

Thet were indeed - but as they only had a 10% holding in Rover there was not a lot they could do. About two years or so after the sale, when BMW were "suddenly discovering all Rovers problems", Honda's Chairman very pointedly stated that Honda learned more from Rover than vice versa...... It was certainly interesting having dealings with Rover staff pre and post the BMW take over.

Richard

It's still Ford, but "Transit" is the name that comes to mind.

mmmm, tricky one. but i reckon that BMC would have easily been the biggest group.; MG, Jaguar, Rover, Triumph. i would say that BMC was very large. bit subjective though. obviously you know more than me though. i am an australian, and live in australia remember.

cheers.

sam