The story of Land Rover as an independent marque could be the most bizarre one. It was just the name of a car at first before a spin-off car brand. After that, it was separated from its original parent company and finally merged with another one. Aside from the ownership change, people may also wonder why the name “Land Rover Range Rover” is so rhythmic. Here, I will briefly go through the history of Land Rover and mention the name of important players only.
The first Land Rover was introduced in 1948 as an off-road model of the Rover brand, which is now referred to as “Land Rover Series” or simply “Series” retrospectively. Land Rover Series was a commercial success and was developed all the way to Series III. In 1967, the second product of Rover’s off-road vehicle premiered — the more comfort-oriented Range Rover. The names Land Rover and Range Rover were sold alongside until 1983 when the Land Rover Series was renamed.
The 1970s and 1980s were a chaotic era for the Rover brand. Due to financial problems, Rover was acquired by others and restructured together with the Land Rover and Range Rover models. In 1978, Land Rover became an independent company using the name of its first model. Later in 1983, Land Rover Series was renamed Land Rover Ninety and Land Rover One Ten, denoting the length of the wheelbase.
The second hardcore off-road product — Discovery was introduced in 1989, and the Ninety and One Ten was renamed Defender in 1990. Since then, Defender, Discovery, and Range Rover have become three pillars of Land Rover, with the former two focusing on practicality and Range Rover on high-end comfort.
The chaos of Rover and Land Rover as independent brands kept on. They were both transferred to BMW in 1994, and Land Rover was then sold to Ford in 2000. Land Rover started to share major components with other brands acquired by Ford — such as Jaguar. In 2008, Ford sold Land Rover and Jaguar together to Tata Motors from India, and the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was formed accordingly. Interestingly, what Ford sought to discard was the losing Jaguar brand, but this move could only be possible if the profiting Land Rover was included.
The prospering Land Rover brand has significantly expanded its product range. Besides Defender (already discontinued and the new one is rumored to come), Discovery, and Range Rover, we see Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, and Range Rover Evoque today. The product line is split into the practical Discovery and the luxurious Range Rover. Originally, the Range Rover models all bear the word “Range Rover” on top of the lid, while other models got “Land Rover”. Now, the Discovery models also bear “Discovery” in the front. Platforms are shared between Jaguar and Land Rover. Currently F-Pace shares with RR Velar and E-Pace with RR Evoque.
I find it amazing that a brand-producing SUV only has been so successful since its debut. While many claim that Mercedes-Benz M-Class was the pioneer of LSUV, I regard Range Rover as the leader of the trend personally. Even the famous BMW X5 could not have been rolled off without the aid of Land Rover. Though moving toward ultra-luxury and on-road uses today, Land Rovers always retain their off-road capabilities even if customers do not dare to do so. (The repairing costs after off-roading could be enormous!)
