The Rover Company is a former British car manufacturing company founded as Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry Coventry (pronounced /ˈkɒvəntri/ or /ˈkʌvəntri/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although Leicester in 1878. After developing the template for the modern bicycle A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist or a bicyclist with its Rover Safety Bicycle of 1885, the company moved into the automotive industry The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2009, more than 60 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide. It started building motorcycles and Rover cars, using their established marque A marque is a brand name, especially in the automobile industry. For example, Chevrolet and Buick are marques of their maker, General Motors (GM). A company may have many marques; GM has used more than a dozen in the North American market alone with the iconic Viking Longship, from 1904 onwards. Land Rover Land Rover is currently a luxury-type four-wheel drive, all-terrain vehicle manufacturer, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. It operates as the Jaguar Land Rover business unit by Tata Motors of India vehicles were added from 1947 onwards, with all production based in Solihull Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England, with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles (14.5 km) southeast of Birmingham city centre. It is the largest town in, and administrative centre of, the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull which itself has a population of 200,400 after moving to these premises after World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·.
Despite a state-controlled absorption by the Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC) in 1967 and subsequent mergers, nationalisation and de-mergers, the Rover marque retained its identity first as an independent subsidiary division of LMC, and then through variously named groups of British Leyland British Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd . It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd (later BL plc) in 1978. It incorporated much of the British owned motor vehicle through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
The Rover marque became the primary brand of the then newly renamed Rover Group Rover Group plc was the name that was given by the British government, in 1986, to the state-owned vehicle manufacturer British Leyland or BL in 1988 as it passed first through the hands of British Aerospace British Aerospace was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. In 1999 it purchased Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc to form BAE Systems and then into the ownership of BMW Group Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), (literally English: Bavarian Motor Works) is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands. BMW is known for its. Technological know-how gained from Honda Honda Motor Company, Ltd. listen (help·info) (TYO: 7267) is a Japanese multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and financial investment during the BMW ownership led to a revival of the Rover marque during the 1990s in its core midsize segment.[1]
In 2000, BMW sold the Rover and related MG car activities of the Rover Group to the Phoenix Consortium Phoenix Venture Holdings , also known as the Phoenix Consortium, is a British company formed by four businessmen (John Towers, Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson, and John Edwards). Following BMW's break-up of the Rover Group a financially complex deal involving a £500 million "dowry payment" from BMW, resulted in PVH purchasing Rover in May 2, who established the MG Rover Group MG Rover was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consortium in 2000 at Longbridge The Longbridge plant is an industrial site situated in the Longbridge area of Birmingham, England. Opened in 1905, Longbridge was once the largest manufacturing plant in the world. During the 20th Century the site employed many thousands of people, central to the economy of the local area. Longbridge has produced a wide variety of products,. BMW retained ownership of the Rover marque, allowing MG Rover to use it under licence. In April 2005, Rover branded cars ceased to be produced when the MG Rover Group became insolvent A business may be 'cash flow insolvent' but 'balance sheet solvent' if it holds illiquid assets, particularly against short term debt that it cannot immediately realise if called upon to do so. Conversely, a business can have negative net assets showing on its balance sheet but still be cash flow solvent if ongoing revenue is able to meet debt.
BMW sold the Rover marque to Ford The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars in Sweden, and a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford' in 2006 for approximately £6 million, heralding an option of first refusal to buy it as a result of its purchase of Land Rover Land Rover is currently a luxury-type four-wheel drive, all-terrain vehicle manufacturer, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. It operates as the Jaguar Land Rover business unit by Tata Motors of India. Ford thus reunited the original Rover Company marques, primarily for brand-protective reasons, in preparation for divesting its Premier Automotive Group The Premier Automotive Group , is a group within the Ford Motor Company which was formed in 1999 to oversee the business operations of Ford's high-end automotive marques subsidiary.[2]
In March 2008, Ford reached agreement with Tata Motors Tata Motors Ltd is a multinational corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. Part of the Tata Group, it was formerly known as TELCO (TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company). Tata Motors has a consolidated revenue of USD 16 billion after the acquisition of British automotive brands Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008 of India to include the Rover marque as part of the sale of their Jaguar Jaguar Cars Ltd., better known simply as Jaguar, is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Coventry, England. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors Ltd. and is operated as part of the Jaguar Land Rover business Land Rover Land Rover is currently a luxury-type four-wheel drive, all-terrain vehicle manufacturer, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England. It operates as the Jaguar Land Rover business unit by Tata Motors of India operations to them, alongside related Daimler The Daimler Motor Company was a British motor vehicle manufacturing company, founded in 1896, and based in Coventry. The company became a subsidiary of BSA in 1910, and was acquired by Jaguar Cars in 1960 and Lanchester Lanchester Motor Company was a car manufacturer based at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street Birmingham, Great Britain. It operated from 1895–1955. The company having merged with Daimler and thence becoming part of Jaguar, the rights to the Lanchester marque now lie with Tata Motors of India, which purchased Jaguar from the Ford Motor Company in marques. Legally the Rover marque is the property of Land Rover under the terms of Ford's purchase of the name in 2006.[3]
With no Rover cars currently in production, the marque is considered dormant.
History
Before cars
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The first Rover was a tricycle A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for recreation, shopping, and exercise. In Asia and manufactured by Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry Coventry (pronounced /ˈkɒvəntri/ or /ˈkʌvəntri/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although Leicester, England, in 1883. The company was founded by John Kemp Starley John Kemp Starley was an English inventor and industrialist who is widely considered[by whom?] to be the inventor of the modern bicycle, and also originator of the name Rover and William Sutton in 1878. Starley had previously worked with his uncle, James Starley (father of the cycle trade), who began by manufacturing sewing machines and switched to bicycles A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist or a bicyclist in 1869.
In the early 1880s, the cycles available were the relatively dangerous penny-farthings Penny-farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, and ordinary are all terms used to describe a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel that was popular after the boneshaker, until the development of the safety bicycle, in the 1880s. They were the first machines to be called 'bicycles' and high-wheel tricycles. J.K. Starley made history in 1885 by producing the Rover Safety Bicycle A safety bicycle is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing or ordinary and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bikes of this style were known as safety bicycles because they were noted for, and marketed as, being safer than the high wheelers they were replacing. Even—a rear-wheel-drive, chain A bicycle chain is a roller chain that transfers power from the pedals to the drive-wheel of a bicycle, thus propelling it. Most bicycle chains are made from plain carbon or alloy steel, but some are chrome-plated or stainless steel to prevent rust, or simply for aesthetics-driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high-wheel designs. Cycling Magazine said the Rover had "set the pattern to the world"; the phrase was used in their advertising for many years. Starley's Rover is usually described by historians as the first recognisably modern bicycle A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a pedal-driven, human-powered, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist or a bicyclist.
The words for "bicycle" in Polish Polish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner throughout most of Poland (Rower) and Belarusian The Belarusian language, or the Belarusan is, along with Russian, the language of the Belarusians and is spoken in Belarus and abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Prior to Belarus gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1992, the language was called known in English as Byelorussian or Belorussian, transliterating the Russian (Rovar, Ро́вар) are derived from the name of this company.
In 1889, the company became J.K. Starley & Co. Ltd., and in the late 1890s, the Rover Cycle Company Ltd.
Rover motorcycles
Main article: Rover (motorcycles)In 1899 John Starley imported some of the early Peugeot Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe motorcycles from France in for experimental development. His first project was to fit an engine to one of his Rover bicycles. Starley died early in October 1901 aged 46 and the business was taken over by entrepreneur H. J. Lawson.[4]
1912 Rover 3-speedThe company developed and produced the Rover Imperial motorcycle in November 1902. This was a 3.5 hp diamond-framed motorcycle with the engine in the centre and 'springer' front forks which was ahead of its time.[5] This first Rover motorcycle had innovative features such as a spray carburettor, bottom-bracket engine and mechanically operated valves. With a strong frame with double front down tubes and a good quality finish, over a thousand Rover motorcycles were sold in 1904. The following year, however, Rover stopped motorcycle production to concentrate on their 'safety bicycle' but in 1910 designer John Greenwood was commissioned to develop a new 3.5 hp 500cc engine with spring-loaded tappets, a Bosch magneto and an innovative inverted tooth drive chain. It had a Brown and Barlow carburettor and Druid spring forks. This new model was launched at the 1910 Olympia show and over 500 were sold.[6]
In 1913 a 'TT' model was launched with a shorter wheelbase and sports handlebars.[6] The 'works team' of Dudley Noble and Chris Newsome had some success and won the works team award.[5]
1920 Rover 500ccRover supplied 499cc single cylinder motorcycles to the Russian Army The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is the Ministry of Defense subordinated military of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR under Russian Federation control during the First World War World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were.[5] The company began to focus on car production at the end of the war, but Rover still produced motorcycles with 248cc and 348cc Rover overhead valve engines and with J.A.P. engines, including a 676cc V-Twin A V-twin engine, is a two cylinder internal combustion engine where the cylinders are arranged in a V configuration.[7] In 1924 Rover introduced a new lightweight 250cc motorcycle with unit construction of engine and gearbox.[6] This had lights front and rear as well as a new design of internal expanding brakes.[5]
Poor sales of their motorcycles caused Rover to end motorcycle production and concentrate solely on the production of motor cars.[6] Between 1903 and 1924 Rover had produced more than 10,000 motorcycles.[7]
Early Rover cars
Rover, 1905. The Rover Six in a 1910 advertisement—£155. Rover Tourer, 1926. 1936 Rover 10.In 1888, Starley made an electric car, but it never was put into production.
Three years after Starley's death in 1901, and H. J. Lawson's subsequent takeover, the Rover company began producing automobiles with the two-seater Rover Eight to the designs of Edmund Lewis, who came from Lawson's Daimler The Daimler Motor Company was a British motor vehicle manufacturing company, founded in 1896, and based in Coventry. The company became a subsidiary of BSA in 1910, and was acquired by Jaguar Cars in 1960. Lewis left the company to join Deasy in late 1905. He was eventually replaced by Owen Clegg, who joined from Wolseley The Wolseley Motor Company was a British automobile manufacturer founded in 1901. After 1935 it was incorporated into larger companies but the Wolseley name remained as an upmarket marque until 1975 in 1910 and set about reforming the product range. Short-lived experiments with sleeve valve engines were abandoned, and the 12hp model was introduced in 1912. This car was so successful that all other cars were dropped, and for a while, Rover pursued a "one model" policy. Clegg left to join the French company Darracq in 1912.
During the First World War World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were, they made motorcycles A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions, lorries to Maudslay designs, and, not having a suitable one of their own, cars to a Sunbeam design. The business was not very successful during the 1920s and did not pay a dividend from 1923 until the mid 1930s. In 1929, there was a change of management, with Spencer Wilks coming in from Hillman Hillman is a British automobile marque created by the Hillman Motor Car Company, founded in 1907. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles. Although the Hillman company was acquired by Humber in 1929, Hillman was used as the primary marque of the Rootes Group from 1931, as general manager. He set about reorganising the company and moving it upmarket to cater for people who wanted something "superior" to Fords The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars in Sweden, and a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford' and Austins The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The trademark is currently owned by Nanjing Automitive. He was joined by his brother Maurice (who had also been at Hillman) as chief engineer in 1930. Spencer Wilks stayed with the company until 1962, and his brother until 1963.
Building on successes such as beating the Blue Train for the first time in 1930 in the Blue Train Races, the Wilks Brothers established Rover as a company with several European royal, aristocratic, and governmental warrants Royal Warrants of Appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier. In the United Kingdom, grants are currently made by three members of the, and upper-middle-class and star clients.[8]
Second World War and gas turbines
In the late 1930s, in anticipation of the potential hostilities that would become the Second World War Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·, the British government started a rearmament programme, and as part of this, "shadow factories" were built. These were paid for by the government but staffed and run by private companies. Two were run by Rover: one, at Acocks Green, Birmingham, started operation in 1937, and a second, larger one, at Solihull Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England, with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles (14.5 km) southeast of Birmingham city centre. It is the largest town in, and administrative centre of, the larger Metropolitan Borough of Solihull which itself has a population of 200,400, started in 1940. Both were employed making aero engines and airframes. The original main works at Helen Street, Coventry, was severely damaged by bombing in 1940 and 1941 and never regained full production.
In early 1940, Rover was approached by the government to support Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force (RAF) officer. Frank Whittle invented the jet engine in 1932, but does concede that Germany's Dr. Hans von Ohain independently also "invented" the jet engine years later. Whittle is hailed as a father of jet propulsion in developing the gas turbine engine. Whittle's company, Power Jets, had no production facilities; however, the intention was for Rover to take the design and develop it for mass production. Whittle himself was not pleased by this and did not like the design changes made without his approval, but the first test engines to the W2B design were built in an unused cotton mill in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, in October 1941. Rolls-Royce took an interest in the new technology, and an agreement was reached in 1942 in which they would take over the engines and Barnoldswick works—and in exchange, Rover would get the contract for making Meteor tank engines, which actually continued until 1964.
After the Second World War Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·, the company abandoned Helen Street and bought the two shadow factories. Acocks Green carried on for a while, making Meteor engines for tanks, and Solihull became the new centre for vehicles, with production resuming in 1947; it would become the home of the Land Rover.
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seattle_rover
ue, 24 Nov 2009 08:12:05 GM
However Land . Rover. during inspection told me it needs a new motor because of the misfire on 6 and the resultant coolant pressure build up. I am looking for anything that gives me hope to keep the . car. . I have only had it 4 days, ...
