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The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturer based in Solihull, Warwickshire, renowned for its quality and prestige. Its first post-war model, reviewed by Road & Track in 1952, was praised as finer than any car except a Rolls-Royce.
In 1948, Rover introduced the Land Rover series, followed by the Range Rover in 1970, which became the brand's most successful and profitable product. Eventually, Land Rover evolved into a separate company and brand. In 1967, Rover was acquired by Leyland Motors, which had already purchased Standard-Triumph seven years earlier. Initially, Rover retained some autonomy within Leyland, but by 1978—when Leyland became British Leyland (BL)—the conglomerate faced severe financial difficulties and was nationalized by the British government. Most of Rover's assets were transferred to a new BL subsidiary, Land Rover Ltd, while the Rover name continued to be used on other BL models, many of which relied heavily on Honda engineering.
Nevertheless, Rover became the most prominent brand within BL, and in 1986 gave its name to the entire group as the Rover Group, which included MG, Mini, and Land Rover until BMW broke up the group in 2000. Today, the Rover trademark is owned by Jaguar Land Rover (a subsidiary of Tata Motors), which still operates from the historic Solihull plant.
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