When British Leyland was formed, it was the 7th largest comapany in the world. As ever, being British, we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and threw it all away, mostly due to political meddling in business affairs (from all sides - Government, managment and unions). There were factories all over the world. Land Rover still has plants in about a dozen countires, mostly assembling CKD kits with local content.
Everyone assumes that they were re-badged Hondas (the re-badging bit is ture for some models - mostly minor interior changes, different engine choices and slight body panel changes were the only diferences). In the case of the Triumph Acclain/Honda Accord, the vehicles were prety much identical bar the badges - all made on the same line at Swindon. In reality, Honda and BL/Rover collaborated on designs - when Honda were grievously dumped (the only ever had a 20% stake in Rover) by the goverment during the sale to British Aerospace (politics again) their chairman stated that Honda had learned more from Rover than vice-versa. The Discovery was just about to go on sale in Japan as the Honda Crossroads, which would have been a real feather in Rover's cap.
Strictly speaking Land Rover Ltd was a seperate company almost to Rovers' end, having their own design facility at Gaydon (used by Rover a lot too, of course!). It had been recognised by Tony Benn when Trade & Industry minister back in the dark daysthat Land Rover was a "special case" and for a time even recieved ring-fenced funding for new models.
LR's sale to Tata of India, as well as being hugely ironic (The Empire Strikes Back?), will be interesting.....
Cheers Richard