<P> In 2008, Ford Motor Company sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors . Included in the deal were the rights to three other British brands: Jaguar's own Daimler marque, as well as two dormant brands Lanchester and Rover . BMW and Ford had previously retained ownership of the Rover brand to protect the integrity of the Land Rover brand, with which' Rover' might be confused in the US 4x4 market; the Rover brand was originally used under licence by MG Rover until it collapsed in 2005, at which point it was re-acquired by the then Ford Motor Company owned Land Rover Limited . This sale also included the dormant Rover brand . As of August 2012, most Land Rovers in production are powered by Ford engines . Under the terms of the acquisition, Tata has the right to buy engines from Ford until 2019 . In 2011, Tata confirmed plans that it is investing $559 million to build an engine assembly plant in the British West Midlands . However, it was only stated that the plant will produce four - cylinder engines . The eight - cylinder engines used in Land Rovers were not mentioned . </P> <Ul> <Li> 1947: Rover's chief designer Maurice Wilks and his associates create a prototype using Jeep chassis and components </Li> <Li> 1948: The first Land Rover was officially launched 30 April 1948, at the Amsterdam Motor Show </Li> <Li> 1958: Series II launched </Li> <Li> 1961: Series IIA began production </Li> <Li> 1967: Rover becomes part of Leyland Motors Ltd, later British Leyland (BL) as Rover Triumph </Li> <Li> 1970: Introduction of the Range Rover </Li> <Li> 1971: Series III launched </Li> <Li> 1974: Land Rover abandons US market facing competitive pressure from Japanese 4x4 brands </Li> <Li> 1975: BL collapses and is nationalised, publication of the Ryder Report recommends that Land Rover be split from Rover and be treated as a separate company within BL and becomes part of the new commercial vehicle division called the Land Rover Leyland Group </Li> <Li> 1976: One - millionth Land Rover leaves the production line </Li> <Li> 1978: Land Rover Limited formed as a separate subsidiary of British Leyland </Li> <Li> 1980: Rover car production ends at Solihull with the transfer of SD1 production to Cowley, Oxford; Solihull is now exclusively for Land Rover manufacture . 5 - door Range Rover introduced . </Li> <Li> 1983: Land Rover 90 (Ninety) / 110 (One - Ten) / 127 (renamed Defender in 1990) introduced </Li> <Li> 1986: BL plc becomes Rover Group plc; Project Llama started </Li> <Li> 1987: Range Rover is finally introduced to the US market, following many years of demand being filled by grey market sales </Li> <Li> 1988: Rover Group is privatised and becomes part of British Aerospace, and is now known simply as Rover </Li> <Li> 1989: Introduction of Discovery </Li> <Li> 1994: Rover Group is taken over by BMW . Introduction of second - generation Range Rover . (The original Range Rover was continued under the name' Range Rover Classic' until 1995) </Li> <Li> 1997: Land Rover introduces the Special Edition Discovery XD with AA yellow paint, subdued wheels, SD type roof racks, and a few other off - road upgrades directly from the factory . Produced only for the North American market, the Special Vehicles Division of Land Rover created only 250 of these bright yellow SUVs . </Li> <Li> 1997: Introduction of Freelander </Li> <Li> 1998: Introduction of second generation of Discovery </Li> <Li> 2000: BMW breaks up the Rover Group and sells Land Rover to Ford for £ 1.8 billion </Li> <Li> 2002: Introduction of third - generation Range Rover </Li> <Li> 2004: Introduction of third - generation Discovery / LR3 </Li> <Li> 2005: Introduction of Range Rover Sport </Li> <Li> 2005: Adoption of Jaguar AJ - V8 engine to replace the BMW M62 V8 in the Range Rover </Li> <Li> 2005: Land Rover' founder' Rover, collapses under the ownership of MG Rover Group </Li> <Li> 2006: Announcement of a new 2.4 - litre diesel engine, 6 - speed gearbox, dash and forward - facing rear seats for Defender . Introduction of second generation of Freelander (Freelander 2). Ford acquires the Rover trademark from BMW, who previously licensed its use to MG Rover Group </Li> <Li> 8 May 2007: 4,000,000 th Land Rover rolls off the production line, a Discovery 3 (LR3), donated to The Born Free Foundation </Li> <Li> 12 June 2007: Announcement from the Ford Motor Company that it plans to sell Land Rover and also Jaguar Cars </Li> <Li> August 2007: Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra as well as financial sponsors Cerberus Capital Management, TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management expressed their interest in purchasing Jaguar Cars and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company . </Li> <Li> 26 March 2008: Ford agreed to sell their Jaguar Land Rover operations to Tata Motors . </Li> <Li> 2 June 2008: Tata Motors finalised their purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford . </Li> <Li> 2010: Introduction of fourth - generation Discovery / LR4 </Li> <Li> 2011: The Range Rover Evoque introduced </Li> <Li> 2012: Fourth - generation Range Rover was exhibited at the 2012 Paris Motor Show </Li> <Li> 2014: The New Discovery Range was unveiled at the 2014 New York Motor Show </Li> </Ul> <Li> 1947: Rover's chief designer Maurice Wilks and his associates create a prototype using Jeep chassis and components </Li> <Li> 1948: The first Land Rover was officially launched 30 April 1948, at the Amsterdam Motor Show </Li>

When was the land rover first unveiled to the public