Freight Rover was a British commercial vehicle manufacturer based in the

Washwood Heath Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stechfo ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England.

History

1988 Freight Rover Sherpa 350 (15619068397) (cropped)

Freight Rover was created as a division of the

Land Rover Group Land Rover Group (LRG) was a division of British Leyland (BL) and later the Rover Group that was in existence between 1981 and 1987. LRG brought British Leyland's light commercial vehicle production under one management, consisting of the Land ...

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly ...

(BL) in 1981, creating a new single brand for BL's panel van business. Essentially Freight Rovers were face-lifted,

badge engineered In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a ma ...

1st gen Leyland Sherpas. Under later company organisation changes, Freight Rover became part of the Leyland Trucks division of BL. In 1987, the Leyland Trucks division of, what was by then, the

Rover Group The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986 (formerly British Leyland), which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business (comprisi ...

(following the renaming of BL in 1986), merged with the Dutch truck company

DAF Trucks DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF ...

to form

DAF NV DAF NV (originally DAF BV) was a holding company formed in April 1987, when DAF Trucks and the Leyland Trucks division of the Rover Group merged. In February 1993, it was placed in receivership. History DAF BV was formed on 6 April 1987, when t ...

, which was later floated on the Dutch stock market. The British arm of the new company traded as

Leyland DAF Leyland DAF was a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Leyland, United Kingdom, and a subsidiary of DAF NV. In February 1993, Leyland DAF was placed into receivership. History Leyland DAF was formed in February 1987, when the ...

, with two main sites in the UK: the truck plant in Leyland and the vans plant in

. Following the collapse of DAF NV in 1993, the van business was the subject of a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

and a new independent van company,

LDV Group LDV Group Limited, formerly Leyland DAF Vans, was a British van manufacturer based in Washwood Heath, Birmingham. Historically part of Rover Group and Leyland DAF, it was later a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian GAZ Group. Owing to the gl ...

, was established.State aid NN/41/2009 - Rescue Aid for LDV Group Limited

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

7 August 2009

Vehicles

* Sherpa/200 Series * 300 Series

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Freight Rover vehicles British Leyland Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Manufacturing companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct truck manufacturers of the United Kingdom Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1981 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1987 1981 establishments in England 1987 disestablishments in England 1987 mergers and acquisitions British companies established in 1981 British companies disestablished in 1987