Leyland-era prototypes
Once Rover became part of the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1966, their independence was lost forever.
That did not stop the desire to produce interesting and exciting cars; witness the SD1: an executive car, that stylistically moved the company forwards into the seventies and beyond.
Safety first: the SSV/SRV cars
Following the massive move to passive safety in the USA, the European manufacturers quickly realised that in order to remain in US market, they would need to comply with upcoming legislation.
Enter...
Land-Rover SD5
The SD5 was a project to produce a suitably updated Land Rover for BL to sell through the 1970s and into the 1980s. In the end, it was shelved because of budgetary and production constraints...
Rover-Triumph SD2
The SD2 came about following the creation of the British Leyland Specialist Division from the component companies of Jaguar, Rover and Triumph. As the name implies, the SD2 was the second in the series of Rover/Triumph cars - this time created to reside in the 1500-2000cc class, and replace the Dolomite in doing so.
TM1 project document
Following the Ryder Report and the bankrupcy of BLMC in 1975, the joint ADO77 and SD2 projects were cancelled as separate entities - to be replaced by TM1. Excerpts of the original project document can be found here...
BL Technology: the ECV programme
R&D finally became a serious business at BL at the end of the 1970s – the ECV cars were the result of this ongoing research.
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