Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive car

Executive car

Executive car is a British term that refers to a car's size and is used to describe an automobile larger than a large family car. In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organisation founded to test car safety.- History :...

s made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986.

In "SD1", the "SD" refers to "Specialist Division" and "1" is the first car to come from the in-house design team. The range is sometimes wrongly referred to as "SDi" ("i" is commonly used in car nomenclature to identify fuel injection).
In 1971, Rover

Rover (car)

The Rover Company is a former British car manufacturing company founded as Starley & Sutton Co. of Coventry in 1878. After developing the template for the modern bicycle with its Rover Safety Bicycle of 1885, the company moved into the automotive industry...

, at that time a part of the British Leyland (BL) group, began developing a new car to replace the P6

Rover P6

The first P6 used a 2.0 L engine designed specifically for the P6. Although it was announced towards the end of 1963, the car had been in "pilot production" since the beginning of the year, therefore deliveries were able to begin immediately. Original output was in the order of . At the...

 and the Triumph 2000/2500

Triumph 2000

The Triumph 2000 is a mid-sized, rear wheel drive automobile which was produced in Coventry by the Triumph Motor Company between 1963 and 1977. Larger-engined models, known as the Triumph 2.5 PI and Triumph 2500 were also produced.-Engine:...

.