Land Rover Logo Meaning – Truly Above and Beyond

Land Rover is a UK-based manufacturer of luxury four-wheel-drive vehicles. It started life with the now defunct Rover company and has been part of Leyland Motor Corporation, British Leyland, BMW, and Ford. Currently, it operates as a division of Indian automotive giant Tata Motors. Even more interesting is the Land Rover logo meaning and the history of transfers. Read on for more.

Land Rover Logo PNG

Land Rover Information

Land Rover Logo History: From Rover and Jeep

Land Rover was launched in 1948 by the Rover Company and remained a model in the carmaker’s line-up. It was only in 1978 that it developed into a brand encompassing a range of four-wheel-drive models.

The Wilks brothers were brought in from Hillman Motor Car Company in 1929 and 1930 as a measure to restructure and recover the ailing Rover Company which had been producing cars since 1901.

During World War II, Maurice Wilks was involved in a gas turbine engine for aircraft. It was eventually passed to Rolls Royce but Maurice kept tinkering with the design and also launched a gas turbine-powered car – the first of its kind.

The idea of Land Rover was born at Maurice’s farm in Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey during the post-war years. In 1947, Maurice was joined by his brother Spencer who was the managing director of Rover Company at the time and both brothers came up with the idea of developing a utility four-wheel-drive vehicle for farmers.

Maurice was already using an army surplus Willys Jeep for farm work and it became the basis for further development. By 1947, the team had developed a prototype, named Center Steer (yes, it had the steering wheel in the middle!!!), and the vehicle was eventually launched in 1948. Needless to say, the model was a runaway hit and the rest is history.

Land Rover Logo Meaning and History

The Land Rover emblem isn’t exactly a piece of art and it was never supposed to be one. Since Land Rover was a utilitarian product, its badge simply carried the name LAND ROVER in italics font on a black oval nameplate. The words appeared in two lines and were joined (or rather struck through) by a line making a Z-shaped pattern. The line represented the difficult terrain that the vehicle was capable of navigating and was an early hint to what would evolve into the ‘Above and Beyond’ philosophy in later years.  

Seen this way, the Land Rover logo has lent quite a straight meaning and purpose to the brand and has played an important role in projecting Land Rover as a no-nonsense, utilitarian tool which can be put to a wide range of uses. The oval casting also carried SOLIHULL, WARWICKSHIRE, and ENGLAND in the empty space, referring to the place of production. An extra plate below mentioned FOUR WHEEL DRIVE STATION WAGON.

This badge continued for a long time and it was only in 1971 that the company went for a new representation which was rectangular and contained LAND-ROVER with a hyphen. It was clearly not a very good sign for an iconic brand and thus, the company went back to the original oval when it introduced the Defender models in 1984. The secondary plate simply stated if the model was a DEFENDER 90 or DEFENDER 110.

The next big change came in 1989 when the company opted for a more traditional logo. The new oval-shaped Land Rover logo was created with a vivid green background and carried the brand name in off-white color. The Z-shaped strike-through line was reduced to what looks like a set of single quotation marks. All other text inscriptions were dropped and the oval was surrounded by a white border.

There is an unconfirmed story that the symbol is inspired by an oval-shaped oil drop that the logo designer noticed while having lunch. However, this may just be, well a story. Another theory behind the choice of green color is that it represented a move closer to nature.

While there may be nothing remarkable about the Land Rover emblem, it is visually distinct as well as elegant and has gained wide acceptance among car users.