Modern day car manufacturers are part of joint ventures and large corporations that own multiple car companies across the globe. This means that engine sharing happens across car companies much more often than you may think.

Competitive rivals seem to have made way for an industry that shares everything. Umbrella firms continuously bring in more and more companies and as a result, parts and development costs are shared.

Engine sharing is particularly common, here are some examples where the source of your car’s engine may surprise you:

Land Rover Defender

BMW’s ownership of the Rover Group resulted in all sorts of engine sharing. If you pop the bonnet of a petrol-powered South Africa-spec Land Rover Defender built between 1997-2001, you will see an M52 BMW straight-six engine – it even has ‘BMW’ on the cover.

Ford Focus ST

The Mk2 ST may sound interesting, but it’s design was not off the Ford factory floor. Ignore the ‘Duratec’ branding pasted across it as it is actually the 2.5-litre inline-five Volvo engine.

Ford Galaxy

Another of the Ford range to make the list is the first-generation Galaxy. The MPV was available with a 2.8-litre VR6 engine, which does raise eyebrows, until you remember that the family-focused vehicle was actually a made in conjuncture with VW Group, who also made the Seat Alhambra and the VW Sharan, all built on the same platform in the same Portuguese factory.

Jaguar F-Type R

It’s heart-breaking to think that our favourite Jaguar engines, like the 3.0-litre supercharged V6, the 5.0-litre V8 and the supercharged V8s used in the F-Type, Range Rover Sport SVR and more, aren’t made by Jaguar at all. In fact, they are made by Ford at the firm’s Bridgend factory.

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