Land Rover Freelander.

Market research by the Rover Group in the late 1980s suggested that Land Rover could enter the compact SUV markett. In the early 1990s, the Rover Group had a restricted product development budget and looked for a partner to develop the project, which was codenamed CB40 (after Canley Building 40, where the concept was initially developed). Rover's then partner Honda declined and chose to develop its own CR-V model that was launched in 1997.

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Rover decided to go it alone with the CB40, using existing parts and components. The floorpan was based on the Austin Maestro, and minor components such as interior door handles were Maestro items. When BMW took over Rover Group in 1994, the CB40 project received the capital it needed to proceed. In December 2007, Autocar reported that early development designs and sketches of the Freelander featured Hyundai badging, suggesting that a tie up between both manufacturers was being proposed. The design of the Freelander was by Gerry McGovern, who went on become the head of design at Land Rover in 2007.

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Land Rover initially intended to subcontract the manufacture of the Freelander to Valmet in Finland, however BMW terminated this agreement upon acquiring the Rover Group, and instead funded production facilities at Solihull, finally making use of the old Rover SD1 assembly hall which had been mothballed in the early 1980s, when Rover car production was moved to Cowley.

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The Freelander was launched in October 1997. It became Europe's best selling four wheel drive model until 2002.

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Source: wikipedia.org