April 30th is a special day for the Land Rover brand. On April 30 day 70 years ago, the very first Land Rover was revealed at the 1948 Amsterdam auto show. Since then, a total of 7,357,676 Land Rovers have been built, as of April 30,2018. To mark the occasion, Land Rover held a special live broadcast on YouTube celebrating seven decades of the SUV.
Viewers were treated to scenes of adventure, tough work, and humanitarian aid—all things Land Rover has been apart of over 70 years. Additionally, the brand showcased some of its most memorable models as it told the story of how Land Rover came to exist after World War II. The broadcast also included special insight from engineers, designers, Camel Trophy drivers, restorers, and explorers to help tell the Land Rover story. Watch the video above.
Land Rover didn't just do a simple online broadcast, however. Earlier this year, the brand revealed plans for a production run of V-8 powered Defender Works models with 400 horsepower. Furthermore, restoration is underway on a pre-production 1948 Land Rover model. In fact, it's one of the three SUVs from the 1948 Amsterdam auto show, though it went missing for two decades.
Land Rover Classic will undertake Defender V-8 production as well as restoration of that significant vintage model. The company will build just 150 Defender models to celebrate its 70th anniversary.
In addition to the video, Land Rover provided the following timeline of highlights from its 70-year history.
70 YEARS OF LAND ROVER TIMELINE
1948 Land Rover Series I launched at the Amsterdam motor show
1953 Long Wheelbase version of the Series I introduced
1956 Oxford and Cambridge teams complete on London to Singapore expedition in Series I
1958 Land Rover Series II unveiled with more refined design
1970 Original two-door Range Rover (the Classic) goes on sale
1971 Land Rover Series III launched
1972 Range Rover crosses Darien Gap on 18,000-mile Trans-America expedition
1976 1,000,000th Land Rover built
1979 A Range Rover wins the inaugural Paris-Dakar rally (and again in 1981)
1981 Land Rover begins legendary partnership with Camel Trophy
1981 Four-door Range Rover released
1989 Land Rover Discovery, the third Land Rover model, goes on sale
1990 Original "Landie" relaunched and renamed Defender
1994 Second-generation Range Rover launched
1997 All-new Freelander unveiled with innovative new technology: Hill Descent Control
2001 Third-generation Range Rover with all-round independent air suspension revealed
2003 Inaugural G4 challenge sees 16 teams traverse USA, South Africa, and Australia
2004 Range Stormer Concept previews performance Range Rover and three-door body
2004 Discovery 3/LR3, the third-generation Discovery, launched at New York auto show
2005 Range Rover Sport unveiled
2006 Freelander 2/LR2 launched. The first Land Rover to be manufactured at Halewood
2008 LRX concept car previews design language of a new luxury compact SUV
2009 Fourth generation of the Land Rover Discovery introduced
2010 Range Rover Evoque makes global debut
2012 Fourth-generation Range Rover introduced—the first all-aluminum SUV
2013 New generation of Range Rover Sport unveiled at New York auto show
2014 Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) division officially launched
2014 Range Rover Sport SVR debuts, the fastest, most agile, most powerful Land Rover
2014 Discovery Vision Concept previews design vision for new family of Discovery vehicles
2014 Launch of Discovery Sport, a new premium compact SUV with 5+2 seating
2015 Trio of end-of-line Defender editions revealed with biggest sand drawing in UK
2015 Exclusive Range Rover SVAutobiography long wheelbase launched in New York
2015 Evoque Convertible becomes world’s first luxury compact SUV convertible
2015 One-of-a-kind Land Rover "Defender 2,000,000" sells for £400,000 (about $625,000) at charity auction
2016 Last Defender rolls off the production line
2016 All-new Discovery with world-first remote Intelligent Seat Fold technology launched
2017 Land Rover launches the fourth Range Rover, the Velar
2018 Limited Edition Range Rover SV Coupe debuts at Geneva motor show