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, Stec ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England.

History

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 Lan ...

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

(BL) in 1981, creating a new single brand for BL's light commercial vehicle range, which had previously been sold under the Leyland and Austin-Morris brands - (although car derived vans such as those based on the Morris Ital and

Austin Metro The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced from 1980 to 1998, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by the Rover Group. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro (styled AUSTIN miniMETRO). The Mini Metro was inte ...

continued to be sold under either the Austin or Morris brands). Essentially Freight Rovers were face-lifted,

badge engineered In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. T ...

1st gen Leyland Sherpas. Under later company organisation changes, Freight Rover became part of the

Leyland Trucks Leyland Trucks is a medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturer based in Leyland, Lancashire, United Kingdom. It can trace its origins back to the original Leyland Motors, which was founded in 1896, and subsequently evolved into British Leyland ...

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 (compris ...

(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. DAF originally stood for ''van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek''. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabin (lorry), Cabs and axle assembly line, assemblies ...

to form DAF NV (Which in the UK traded as

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

), which was later floated on the Dutch stock market. The new company has three plants; two truck plants

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

and Leyland, and a van plant in

. Following the collapse of DAF NV in 1993, the van plant 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 buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

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 GAZ. Due to the 2008 financial crisis ...

, was established.

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