Land Rover 101 Fc

[Tracee Hsiang]

LandRover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors.[3] JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil, China, India, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. The Land Rover name was created in 1948 by the Rover Company for a utilitarian 4WD off-road vehicle. Currently, the Land Rover range consists solely of upmarket and luxury sport utility vehicles.

For half a century, from the original 1948 model, to 1997, when the Freelander was introduced, Land Rovers and Range Rovers exclusively relied on their trademark boxed-section vehicle frames. Land Rover used boxed frames in a direct product bloodline until the termination of the original Defender in 2016. Their last body-on-frame model was replaced by a monocoque with the third generation Discovery in 2017. Since then, all Land Rovers and Range Rovers have a unified body and frame structure.

Since 2010, Land Rover has introduced two-wheel drive variants, both of the Freelander, and of the Evoque, after having built exclusively 4WD cars for 62 years.[7] The 2WD Freelander has been succeeded by a 2WD Discovery Sport, available in some markets.[8]

The design for the original vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks. Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, Anglesey, worked in conjunction with his brother Spencer who was the managing director of Rover.[10] The design may have been influenced by the Jeep[11] and the prototype, later nicknamed Centre Steer, was built on a Jeep chassis and axles.[12] The early choice of colour was dictated by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so early vehicles only came in various shades of light green. Starting with the series I Land Rover, all models in this era featured sturdy box-section ladder-frame chassis.[13] Early vehicles like the Series I were field-tested at Long Bennington and designed to be field-serviced.

Land Rover as a company has existed since 1978. Prior to this, it was a product line of the Rover Company, which was absorbed into the Rover-Triumph division of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BL) following Leyland Motor Corporation's takeover of Rover in 1967. The ongoing commercial success of the original Land Rover series models and the Range Rover in the 1970s, in the midst of BL's well-documented business troubles, prompted the establishment of a separate Land Rover company under the BL umbrella, remaining part of the subsequent Rover Group in 1988 under the ownership of British Aerospace, after British Leyland was broken up and privatised.

After the introduction of the all-new Range Rover in 2001, Ford moved Land Rover further away from its traditional boxed ladder-frames, by introducing a new generation Discovery featuring "Integrated Body Frame", in 2004. From then on, only the Defender continued on Land Rover's traditional since 1948 underpinnings. Use of the Rover V8 engine in Land Rovers also ended with the replacement of the mk. II Discovery.

On 1 January 2013, the group, which had been operating as two separate companies (Jaguar Cars Limited and Land Rover), although on an integrated basis, underwent a fundamental restructuring. The parent company was renamed to Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, Jaguar Cars Limited was renamed to Jaguar Land Rover Limited and the assets (excluding certain Chinese interests) of Land Rover were transferred to it. The consequence was that Jaguar Land Rover Limited became responsible in the UK for the design, manufacture and marketing of both Jaguar and Land Rover branded products, and Land Rover and Jaguar Cars ceased to be separate vehicle producing entities.[25]

Jaguar Land Rover manufactures Land Rover cars in plants in five countries.[38] In the United Kingdom the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Velar are built at their Solihull plant near Birmingham and the Discovery Sport and Evoque are built at their Halewood plant near Liverpool. In October 2018 JLR opened a new plant in Nitra, Slovakia to build the Discovery,[38] and are now also building the 2020 Defender there.[39] In Brazil the company builds both the Discovery Sport and Evoque in their plant in Itatiaia which was opened in June 2016.[38] JLR has been building cars since 2011 in Pune, India and currently builds the Discovery Sport and Evoque there.[38] Under a 50/50 joint venture with Chery at Changshu in China Discovery Sports and Evoques are also built.[38]

Historically Land Rovers were manufactured primarily at the Solihull plant until production of the Freelander was moved to the Halewood plant. The Freelander was also assembled in CKD form at Land Rover's facility in Pune, India.[40] As of 2015, the company continued to expand by building locally in India as well as increasing the number of models made at JLR's Chikhali facility near Pune to include the Discovery Sport and Evoque.[41]

Overall, Europe is the firm's primary market, consistently yielding 40% to 50% of global units sold. Generally, half of that is down to the home (UK) market. Sales in the U.K. and the U.S. have generally kept equal pace, but since 2012 China has taken the lead as Land Rover's biggest single country market, except for 2018/'19.[43]

Integrated Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) technology, dubbed e-terrain technology,[49] will allow the vehicle to move off without starting the engine as well as supplying extra power over tough terrain.[49] Land Rover's Diesel ERAD Hybrid was developed as part of a multimillion-pound project supported by the UK Government's Energy Saving Trust, under the low carbon research and development programme. ERAD programme is one of a broad range of sustainability-focused engineering programmes that Land Rover is pursuing, brought together by the company under the collective name "e TERRAIN Technologies".[50]

Land Rover unveiled the LRX hybrid concept at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, for it to be going into production.[52] An ERAD will enable the car to run on electric power at speeds below 20 mph (32 km/h).[53]

In September 2011, the Range Rover Evoque was launched, though it was based on the LRX hybrid concept presented at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, it did not include the ERAD system, included in the original concept.

In February 2013, Land Rover unveiled[54][55] at the 83rd Geneva Motor Show an All-Terrain Electric Defender that produces zero emissions. The electric vehicle was developed for research purposes following successful trials of the Defender-based electric vehicle, Leopard 1. The vehicle is capable of producing 70 kW and 330 Nm of torque and has a range of 80 kilometres or in low speed off-road use it can last for up to eight hours before recharging.

Power take-off (PTO) was integral to the Land Rover concept from 1948, enabling farm machinery and many other items to be run with the vehicle stationary. Maurice Wilks' original instruction was "...to have power take-offs everywhere!" The 1949 report by British National Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Scottish Machinery Testing Station contained this description: "the power take-off is driven through a Hardy Spicer propeller shaft from the main gearbox output and two interchangeable pinions giving two ratios.

The PTO gearbox casing is bolted to the rear chassis cross-member and an 8 by 8 inches (200 mm 200 mm) belt pulley driven from the PTO shaft through two bevel gears can be bolted to the PTO gearbox casing." PTOs remained regular options on Series I, II and III Land Rovers up to the demise of the Series Land Rover in 1985. An agricultural PTO on a Defender is possible as a special order.

Land Rovers (the Series/Defender models) are available in a variety of body styles, from a simple canvas-topped pick-up truck to a twelve-seat fully trimmed station wagon. Both Land Rover and out-of-house contractors have offered conversions and adaptations to the basic vehicle, such as fire engines, excavators, 'cherry picker' hydraulic platforms, ambulances, snowploughs, and six-wheel-drive versions, as well as one-off special builds including amphibious Land Rovers and vehicles fitted with tracks instead of wheels.

Various Land Rover models have been used in a military capacity, most notably by the British Army and Australian Army. Modifications may include military "blackout" lights, heavy-duty suspension, uprated brakes, 24 volt electrics, convoy lights, electronic suppression of the ignition system, blackout curtains and mounts for special equipment and small arms. Dedicated military models have been produced such as the 101 Forward Control and the air-portable 1/2 ton Lightweight. Military uses include light utility vehicle; communications platform; weapon platform for recoilless rifles, Anti-tank (e.g. TOW or M40 recoilless rifle) / Surface-to-Air Guided Weapons or machine guns; ambulances and workshops. The Discovery has also been used in small numbers, mostly as liaison vehicles.

Two models that have been designed for military use from the ground up are the 101 Forward Control from the early 1970s and the Lightweight or Airportable from the late 1960s. The latter was intended to be transported under a helicopter. The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service (RAFMRS) teams were early users in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and their convoys of Land Rovers and larger military trucks are a sight often seen in the mountain areas of the United Kingdom. Originally RAFMRS Land Rovers had blue bodies and bright yellow tops, to be better seen from above. In 1981, the colour scheme was changed to green with yellow stripes. More recently, vehicles have been painted white, and are issued with fittings similar to civilian UK Mountain Rescue teams.

An adaptation of Land Rovers to military purposes is the "Pink Panther" models. Approximately 100 Series IIA models were adapted to reconnaissance use by British special operations forces the SAS. For desert use they were often painted pink, hence the name. The vehicles were fitted with among other gear a sun compass, machine guns, larger fuel tanks and smoke dischargers. Similar adaptations were later made to Series IIIs and 90/110/Defenders.[56]

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