The Land Rover brand has been present on Zimbabwe’s roads as a four-wheel drive associated with security forces, since time immemorial. It is based on the Jeep, itself also steeped in heavy military history.

The Defender 110 is probably the most famous, used by the Zimbabwe Police over the years. Before that, the Series 2 and 3 had for a long time traversed rural areas with the white officers; the District Administrator, agronomist, or other Rhodesian Officer on their rural chase for order and taxes. Due to its robustness and very capable off road technology on the rugged communal roads, it was the ideal 4x4. During the war, the Land Rover also became even more visible in the rural areas, as the Rhodesian police made frequent visits to the rural areas in search of the terrorist. It was also equally at home on many a commercial farm, where it would go where there were no roads, or create its own roads.

The Land Rover, born in 1948, is an aluminium light body with coil springs at the back, rather than the common leaf spring for most trucks. Various engines have been used, both petrol and diesel. The brand is reputed for simplicity, practicality, and longevity.

Over the years, the brand has moved up the luxury ladder. This led to the birth of a supposedly sub-brand/model, the premium luxury SUV Range Rover, launched in 1970. Range Rover spawned its own models, among them the mid range SUV Discovery (1989).

The Land Rover series was renamed Defender in 1990. The entry level Land Rover is the Freelander, introduced in 1997. It is quiet common on Zimbabwe’s roads, mainly brought in as a grey import from the UK.

Today, the brand’s models are a far cry from the early military style models, but the original Land Rover has stood its ground, maintaining its unique positioning as one of the best 4x4 vehicles, in its simple but very practical form. Owning and driving the latest Range Rover, a Velar, Evoque, or Autobiography, is the ultimate statement of wealth and success, for those willing to flaunt it.

The brand today is part of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors since 2008, after changing hands from British Leyland, to BMW, to Ford, and now Tata Motors.