Rover started life as a producer of tricycles back in 1883, a company founded by John Kemp Starley and William Sutton. Starley & Sutton Co as it was then known then went on to produce the famous 'Rover Safety Bicycle', a contemporary alternative to other bikes of the time, with 2 wheels of the same size and driven by a chain to the rear wheel, a familiar setup to everyone today.

The company renamed to the Rover Cycle Company Ltd in the late 1890's before John Kemp Starley passed on in 1901.

1904 is the date that most will recall as this was the year that marked the first Rover car, a 2 seater known as the 'Rover Eight'.

The Rover marque has made many impressions over the years, including gas turbine powered cars, automobiles fit for the Royal familly and Prime Ministers and a V8 engine based on a disgarded design from Buick, that went on to take the world by storm in a multitude of applications and became top of the list for custom car owners everywhere.

'Rover' as a name was also used on their world-famous off road workhorses, the Land Rover, so popular it is now a brand and company in its own right, albeit now owned by Ford. Rover also had a commercial division, known as Freight Rover, the remains of which are now known as LDV.

The decades have not been kind to one of Britain's greats and in 1994 the brand was purchased as part of 'Rover Group' by BMW. Although BMW dismantled the Rover Group we once knew in 2000, the Rover name was kept by them and leased for use to MG-Rover Ltd for a further 5 years. That was, until one very famous day of recent times, where the UK Government declared that MG Rover Ltd had gone into administration, even though MG Rover Ltd claimed to have not.

This landmark announcement caused an immediate rush from all related suppliers demanding their money on the spot instead of waiting for their usual repayment terms. This, combined with excessive media coverage meant Pheonix Venture Holdings Ltd finally went into Administration on April 8th 2005 and ceased production.

Until September 2006, the Rover name was owned by BMW and was up for sale. Earlier reports suggested that Ford were to give the go ahead to Shanghai Automotive, who would purchase the name outright for £11.5mill., however, Ford have decided to take advantage of the opportunity and purchased the Rover brand for a rumoured £6m.

The reason for Ford's interest is their current ownership of Land Rover and the desire to maintain some control of the use of the Rover badge. The assets of the company were split further between Nanjing Automotive (NAC) (factory plant & assets), Shanghai Automotive (SAIC) (IPR), Pheonix Venture Holdings (PVH) and St Mowden Properties (land).