Rover Vitesse
| Rover SD1 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer |
British Leyland (Rover marque) |
| Also called | Standard 2000 |
| Production | 1976–86 303,345 produced |
| Assembly |
Castle Bromwich, England Cowley, Oxford, England Solihull, West Midlands, England Chennai, India New Zealand |
| Designer | David Bache & Spen King |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Executive car (E) |
| Body style | 5-door hatchback/fastback |
| Layout | Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 1,994 cc (121.7 cu in) O-Series I4 2,350 cc (143 cu in) Leyland PE166 I6 2,597 cc (158.5 cu in) Leyland PE166 I6 3,528 cc (215.3 cu in) Rover V8 |
| Transmission | 3-speed automatic 5-speed manual |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor |
Rover P6 Triumph 2000 |
| Successor | Rover 800 |
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produced through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986, when it was replaced by the Rover 800. The SD1 was marketed under various names. In 1977 it won the European Car of the Year title.
In "SD1", the "SD" refers to "Specialist Division" and "1" is the first car to come from the in-house design team.
The SD1 can be considered as the last British Rover, being the final Rover-badged vehicle to be produced at Solihull, as well as being the last to be designed largely by ex-Rover Company engineers. Future Rovers would be built at the former British Motor Corporation factories at Longbridge and Cowley; and were to rely largely on Honda engineering.
In 1971, Rover, at that time a part of the British Leyland (BL) group, began developing a new car to replace both the Rover P6 and the Triumph 2000/2500. The designers of both Triumph and Rover submitted plans for the new car, of which the latter was chosen. David Bache was to head the design team, inspired by exotic machinery such as the Ferrari Daytona and the late 1960s design study by Pininfarina for the BMC 1800, which also guided the design of the Citroën CX. Spen King was responsible for the engineering. The two had previously collaborated on the Range Rover. The project was first code-named RT1 (for Rover Triumph Number 1) but then soon changed to SD1 (for Specialist Division Number 1) as Rover and Triumph were put in the new "Specialist Division" of British Leyland.
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