A-Z of Marques: Land Rover

The marque: Britain's first off-roader.

The history: The Second World War spawned the US Army's four-wheel-drive Jeep. Over at Rover, this inspired the Wilks brothers and Spen King, the company's creative minds, to devise their own interpretation. It was rather revolutionary with its driving seat in the middle of a row of three. Through three evolutions the Land Rover flew the British 4x4 flag, and then Rover had another brainwave: the Range Rover. Launched in 1970, it set the template for the sports-utility vehicle. It grew into a luxury 4x4, moving upmarket to make room for the Discovery beneath it in 1989.

This was based on the softer-riding Range Rover chassis as, from the early 1980s, was the Land Rover itself -- now given a model name, Defender. A deeply bland Range Rover arrived in 1993, and the Freelander in 1997. By this time the whole Rover Group was owned by BMW. Then BMW got rid of the group and Ford picked up the Land Rover pieces.

Defining model: Defender. The Land Rover.

They say: The best 4x4.

We say: The best-looking and most credible, too.