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5
Thus, Honda gained access to the lucrative Euro-
pean market, while Rover gained access to success-
ful Honda technology.
For this reason, most Rover cars of the era were
based around existing Honda vehicles and many
used a combination of Honda and Rover technol-
ogy. One of the Honda-Rover joint projects was
a small SUV, to be built using a combination of
Honda and Rover parts.
In 1988, the Rover Group was privatised and
sold off to British Aerospace. However, by 1991
British Aerospace was in financial trouble as well.
The Rover Group was still bleeding money, so
British Aerospace sold the Rover Group to BMW
without consulting Honda.
Stunned at this sudden reversal, Honda with-
drew from its arrangement with the Rover Group
and retreated back to Japan.
Safe at home, Honda proceeded with its own
version of the planned SUV – based on the Honda
Civic – and later released it as the original Honda
CR-V.
Rover – known within BMW as ‘The English
Patient’ – was left to continue with its SUV proj-
ect, which became the Freelander.
