Land Rover in the context of "Rover Company"

Solihull (/ˈsɒlihʌl, ˈsoʊl-, ˌsoʊliˈhʌl/ SO(H)L-ee-hul, SOH-lee-HUL) is a large market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Forest of Arden area. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census, and its wider borough had a population of 216,240. The town is located 7.5 miles (12 km) southeast of Birmingham, 13.5 miles (21.7 km) west of Coventry and 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Redditch.

Solihull itself is mostly urban; however, the larger borough is rural in character, with many outlying villages, and three quarters of the borough designated as green belt. The town and its borough was part of Warwickshire for most of its history. It has roots dating back to the 1st century BC, and was further formally established during the medieval era. Today the town is famed as, amongst other things, the birthplace of the Land Rover car marque, home of Solihull Moors FC and the training facilities for the British Equestrian teams.

The Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford, sometimes abbreviated as FoMoCo) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and luxury cars under its Lincoln brand. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the single-letter ticker symbol F and is controlled by the Ford family. They have minority ownership but a plurality of the voting power.

Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. By 1914, these methods were known around the world as Fordism. Ford's former British subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000, respectively, were sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In the third quarter of 2010, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed upscale cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938.

The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including: Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini and Lotus. Specialised sports car companies include: Ariel, BAC, Morgan, Caterham, AC Cars, Gordan Murray, TVR, Noble, Radical, Ginetta, Ultima Sports, Westfield, Lister, Arash and David Brown. Volume British car brands with a major presence in the UK include: MG Cars, Mini and Vauxhall. British commercial vehicle brands active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Dennis Eagle, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks, TEVVA and the London Electric Vehicle Company.

In 2018 the UK automotive manufacturing sector had a turnover of £82 billion, generated £18.6 billion in value to the UK economy and produced around 1.5 million passenger vehicles and 85,000 commercial vehicles. In that year around 168,000 people were directly employed in automotive manufacturing in the UK, with a further 823,000 people employed in automotive supply, retail and servicing.

Jaguar (UK: /ˈdʒæɡjuər/, US: /ˈdʒæɡwɑːr/) is the sports car and luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars until its operations were fully merged with those of Land Rover to form Jaguar Land Rover on 1 January 2013.

Jaguar's business was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing bodies for passenger cars. Under the ownership of SS Cars, the business extended to complete cars made in association with Standard Motor Company, many bearing Jaguar as a model name. The company's name was changed from SS Cars to Jaguar Cars in 1945. A merger with the British Motor Corporation followed in 1966, the resulting enlarged company now being renamed as British Motor Holdings (BMH), which in 1968 merged with Leyland Motor Corporation and became British Leyland, itself to be nationalised in 1975.

Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUVs and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, United Kingdom. The principal activity of Jaguar Land Rover is the design, development, manufacture and sale of vehicles bearing the Jaguar and Land Rover marques. The company is the largest automotive employer in the UK with 33,000 employees as of September 2025.

Both marques have long histories prior to their merger – Jaguar going back to the 1930s and Land Rover to the 1940s – first coming together in 1968 as part of the British Leyland conglomerate, later again independent of each other, and then as subsidiaries of BMW (in the case of Land Rover), and Ford Motor Company (Jaguar). In 2000, Rover Group was broken up by BMW and Land Rover was sold on to Ford Motor Company, becoming part of its Premier Automotive Group.

The Range Rover is a 4x4, mid-size off-road vehicle series produced from 1970 to 1996 – initially by the Rover (later Land Rover) division of British Leyland, and latterly by the Rover Group.

The first generation of vehicles produced under the Range Rover name, it was built as a two-door model for its first 11 years, until a four-door also became available in 1981. The Range Rover then successfully moved upmarket during the 1980s, and remarkably debuted in the U.S. as a 17-year old model at the 1987 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Land Rover Discovery is a series of five or seven-seater family SUVs, produced under the Land Rover marque, from the British manufacturer Land Rover, and later Jaguar Land Rover. The series is currently in its fifth iteration (or generation, according to the manufacturer), the first of which was introduced in 1989, making the Discovery the first new model series since the launch of the 1970 Range Rover – on which it was based – and only the third new product line since the conception of the Land Rover (vehicle and brand) by Rover in 1948. The model is sometimes called influential, as one of the first to market a true off-road capable family car.

Although the Range Rover had originally been designed as an everyday four wheel drive car that could be used as both a utility vehicle and a family car, it had progressively moved upmarket through its life to evolve into a luxury vehicle sold at a much higher price point. The Discovery was intended to fulfill the role the Range Rover originally was intended for; a segment which was now dominated by Japanese rivals such as the Nissan Patrol, Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Land Cruiser. Although positioned below the Range Rover in the company's line-up, the vehicle was both longer and higher, offered more room in the back, and optionally also more seats. Space utilization became more sophisticated in later generations, but the series keeps offering seats for seven occupants. Despite originally being sold as an affordable alternative to the Range Rover, the Discovery has also progressively moved upmarket through its successive generations to become a bonafide luxury SUV.

The Land Rover Freelander is a series of four-wheel-drive vehicles that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the Freelander 2. The Freelander was sold in both two-wheel and four-wheel drive versions. The name 'Freelander' is derived from the combination of 'Freedom' and 'Lander'.

After having built exclusively body-on-frame 4WD vehicles for half a century, the first generation Freelander was the brand's first model to use monocoque (unibody) structures, and was offered in three- and five-door body options, including a semi soft-top. The second generation (2007–2015) dropped all two-door options, leaving only a five-door estate car-like body, and – after 62 years – became the brand's first ever to offer a two-wheel drive option (as of 2010).