Land Rover is a British car manufacturer headquartered in Gaydon, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel drive vehicles. It is owned by Tata Motors, forming part of its Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary.^[2] It is the second-oldest four-wheel drive car brand in the world (after Jeep).^[3]

Land Rover originated as one specific vehicle, the Land Rover Series, a pioneering civilian all-terrain utility vehicle launched by Rover Company in 1948, but has developed into a brand encompassing a range of four-wheel drive models, including the Defender, Discovery, Freelander and Range Rover. Land Rovers are assembled in Halewood, UK and Solihull, UK, with research and development primarily taking place in Gaydon. Land Rover sold 194,000 vehicles worldwide in 2011.^[4]

Land Rover has had a number of owners during its history. In 1967 Rover Company became part of Leyland Motor Corporation and in 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation itself merged with British Motor Holdings to form British Leyland. In the 1980s British Leyland was broken-up and in 1988 Rover Group, including Land Rover, was acquired by British Aerospace. In 1994 Rover Group was acquired by BMW. In 2000 Rover Group was broken-up by BMW and Land Rover was sold to Ford Motor Company, becoming part of its Premier Automotive Group. In June 2011 Ford sold both Land Rover and Jaguar Cars to Tata Motors.

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