Rover (marque)

Rover is a British automotive brand that was used for over a century, from 1904 to 2005. It was launched as a bicycle maker called Rover Company in 1878, before starting to manufacture autocars in 1904. The marque used the Viking longship as its logo. The rights to the trademark are currently held by Jaguar Land Rover, which continues to produce Land Rovers, but no Rover automobiles are currently in production and the brand is considered dormant.

Despite being first absorbed by the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC) in 1966 and a subsequent succession of mergers, nationalisation, and demergers, the Rover marque retained its identity – first as an independent subsidiary division of LMC, and subsequently through various groups within British Leyland (BL) through the 1970s and into the 1980s.