Land Rover history had begun in post WW II Britany. The very first Land Rover was built in 1947 by two brothers, Maurice and Spencer Wilks. Maurice was chief designer of a Rover, British car manufacturing company and Spencer was its Managing Director. Brothers got inspiration from military 4×4 Willys Jeep.
In 1950 AWC system was improved: gearbox received additional lever in order to switch transmission between rear wheel drive and all-wheel drive modes. Customers could choose wheelbase length and body configuration. Land Rover became synonym or reliability and superb off-road capabilities.
In the mid-80s Land Rover engineers and designers were working on vehicle, intended for a family car market segment. It was decided to use a Range Rover wheel base with a simpler and less expensive body. The result of hard work on the project was the Land Rover Discovery, presented on 16 September 1989 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Discovery was for Land Rover’s pioneer project for a new market segment of all-wheel drive cars.