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Blippie -> RE: Where do Rovers Come From? (2/20/2008 8:39:01 AM)
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Correct, the original factory is in Solihull, on the outskirts of Birmingham. This is in a part of the UK called "the West Midlands" but many Brits would know it by its local name "The Black Country". (So called because of the coal in the region that made it one of the eipicentres of the Industrial Revolution.)
There is also a factory at Halewood, near Liverpool (where the Beatles came from). This is where the Freelander 2 / LR2 is produced, alongside the Jaguar. The production line actually has the two marques run off the production line together - really interesting to see the two different vehicles next to each other as they are being made!
Land Rover's design HQ is based, alongside Jaguar, at Gaydon in Warwickshire, a short drive from Solihull. Gaydon is a retired nuclear bomber base which used to home Britain's nuclear V-bombers (think of a B-1 bomber designed in the 1950s).
MG Rover, the company that made Rover cars (not the same company as Land Rover since both seperate brands were bought by BMW in 1994) had a plant at Longbridge, also near Birmingham. MG Rover was bought by a Far Eastern company and the whole factory was shipped out.
Land Rover is currently part of Ford's empire and is lumped together with Jaguar. Even after Land Rover was a BMW company it kept using Rover Powertrain components (such as the Freelander petrol engines) and once it had been sold by BMW to Ford, still used BMW engines (in the Range Rover, Discovery/LR3 and Freelander) for some time. The two companies, which are the only two parts of Ford's operation that produce a profit, are in the process of being sold off, and the likely buyer is Tata of India. Funny old world, isn't it?
Cheers
Blippie
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