After the Discovery, created in the nineties to contrast the large family 4x4s of Japanese production, Land Rover saw, in the same decade, the increasing competition of the first Sport Utiliy Vehicles, such as the 1994 Toyota RAV4. initially designed for a Honda Civic Shuttle or Rover Maestro base, but then developed as a completely new project under the leadership of BMW, owner of Land Rover since 1994. The first generation of the Freelander remained in production until 2006.