LAND ROVER

Conceived in 1947 by Maurice Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Anglesey — apparently sketched in the sand — and developed with his brother Spencer Wilks, the company's managing director. The first Series I Land Rover was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show on 30 April 1948 as a utility vehicle for farms and the post-war agricultural market. Land Rover became a pillar of British industry through the Series II/III, the Range Rover (1970), the Discovery (1989), the Freelander (1997) and the Defender, with continuous Solihull production from 1948 until the original Defender ended in 2016 after nearly 70 years on the line. The brand passed through Rover Group, BMW and Ford before BMW sold it (with Jaguar) to Tata Motors in 2008, forming Jaguar Land Rover (rebranded simply JLR in 2023). Under JLR the modern Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar and Defender families now position the brand at the upper end of luxury SUVs while retaining its working-vehicle heritage.