Land Rover to celebrate its 70th birthday with special web broadcast

Land Rover is celebrating its 70th birthday today because 30 April is exactly 70 years to the day that its first car made its debut at the 1948 Amsterdam motor show.

70 years of Land Rover
Tonight at 8pm BST (May 1, 12.30am IST), the Coventry-based car maker will launch a live online broadcast from the Land Rover Classic Workshop that will feature originals such as ‘HUE’, the first prototype Land Rover, and the first two-door Range Rover, as well as current models including the Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Velar.

Land Rover’s 70th-year celebrations began three months ago when it revealed plans to “sympathetically renovate” one of three pre-production cars from that Amsterdam unveiling. The completely unrestored example was rediscovered last year.

Since that car was first shown in 1948, Land Rover has sold more than 7 million cars.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth said: “Land Rover was born with the launch of a single vehicle. Today, our family of SUVs is testament to the pioneering spirit of innovation that has characterised Land Rover for seven decades.

“Our family of Defender, Discovery and Range Rover models provides unrivalled capability, versatility and luxury, giving us the perfect foundation for another 70 years of success.”

70 YEARS OF LAND ROVER TIMELINE

1948    Land Rover Series I launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show
1953     Long Wheelbase version of the Series I is introduced
1956     Oxford and Cambridge teams complete on London to Singapore expedition in Series I
1958     Land Rover Series II unveiled with more refined design
1970     Original two-door Range Rover (the Classic) goes on sale
1971     Land Rover Series III launched
1972     Range Rover crosses Darien Gap on 28 968 km Trans-America expedition
1976     1,000,000th Land Rover built
1979     A Range Rover wins the inaugural Paris-Dakar rally (and again in 1981)
1981     Land Rover begins legendary partnership with Camel Trophy
1981     Four-door Range Rover released
1989     Land Rover Discovery, the third Land Rover model, goes on sale
1990     Original ‘Landie’ relaunched and renamed Defender
1994     Second generation Range Rover launched
1997     All-new Freelander is unveiled with innovative new technology: Hill Descent Control
2001     Third-generation Range Rover with all-round independent air suspension revealed
2003     Inaugural G4 challenge sees 16 teams traverse USA, South Africa and Australia
2004     Range Stormer Concept previews performance Range Rover and three-door body
2004     Discovery 3/LR3, the third-generation Discovery, launched at New York Motor Show
2005     All-new Range Rover Sport unveiled                 
2006     Freelander 2/LR2 launched. The first Land Rover to be manufactured at Halewood
2008     LRX concept car previews design language of a new luxury compact SUV
2009     Fourth generation of the Land Rover Discovery introduced
2010     Range Rover Evoque, the world’s first luxury compact SUV, makes global debut
2012     Fourth-generation Range Rover introduced – the first all-aluminium SUV
2013     New generation of Range Rover Sport unveiled at New York Motor Show
2014     Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division is officially launched
2014     Range Rover Sport SVR debuts, the fastest, most agile, most powerful Land Rover
2014     Discovery Vision Concept previews design vision for new family of Discovery vehicles
2014     Launch of Discovery Sport, a new premium compact SUV with 5+2 seating
2015     Trio of end-of-line Defender editions revealed with biggest sand drawing in UK
2015     Exclusive Range Rover SVAutobiography long wheelbase launched in New York
2015     Evoque Convertible becomes world’s first luxury compact SUV convertible
2015     One-of-a-kind Land Rover 'Defender 2 000 000' sells for £ 400 000 at charity auction
2016     Last Defender rolls off the production line
2016     All-new Discovery with world-first remote Intelligent Seat Fold technology launched
2017     Land Rover launches the fourth Range Rover, the Velar
2018     Limited Edition Range Rover SV Coupé debuts at Geneva Motor Show