Rolls-Royce Meteor possibility of a Universal tank, able to undertake both high-armour (Infantry tank) and high-mobility (Cruiser tank) roles. Ultimately, this resulted in the Centurion tank and evolved into the main battle tank concept. The Meteor was used in the following vehicles: Rolls-Royce Meteor The Rolls-Royce Meteor and later the Rover Meteor was a British tank engine developed in the Second World War. It was used in British tanks up to 1964. It was developed from the Rolls-Royce Merlin aero-engine by W. A. Robotham and his chassis design and development division at Clan Foundry, Belper, as they were not involved in aero-engine
Rolls-Royce Motors of the RB211 jet engine. In 1973, the British government sold the Rolls-Royce car business to allow nationalised parent Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited to concentrate on jet engine manufacture. In 1980, Rolls-Royce Motors was acquired by Vickers. In 1998, Vickers plc decided to sell Rolls-Royce Motors. The leading contender seemed to be BMW, who already supplied internal combustion engines and other components for Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars. Their final offer of £340m was outbid by Volkswagen Group, who offered £430m. As part of the deal, Volkswagen Group acquired the historic Crewe factory, plus the rights to the "Spirit of Ecstasy" mascot