Land Rover has been very warmly received by the market. Starting with 3 thousand cars in the first year of production, the company increased its output to 8,000 in 1949 and doubled it in 1950. In subsequent years, production capacity was increasing steadily, reaching 30,000 cars in 1958, and 50,000 – in 1968. The car, created in fact only to make use of idle plants, overshadowed production of passenger cars which used to be the main Rover products.
In March 16, 1987 Range Rover become available to American market. Standard configuration included air conditioner, cruise control, ZF 4-speed automatic transmission, as well as electric moon roof. One could order optional crystal wine glass set and wooden picnic trays for all three passengers and waterproof cover for expensive leather backseat.
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.