Morris Motor Company

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Morris Motor Company

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Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque.

History

Early history

The Morris Motor Company was started in 1910 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car. A factory was opened in 1913 in a former Oxford Military College at Cowley, Oxford, United Kingdom, and the company's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose" was introduced. Nearly all the major components were bought-in, with only final assembly being undertaken in the Morris works. In 1914 a coupé and van were added to the line-up but the chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make a much-needed 4-seat version of the car. White and Poppe, who made the engine, wanted more money than Morris was prepared to pay for a larger version, so the company turned to Continental of Detroit, Michigan, United States for supplies of a 1548 cc unit. Gearboxes and axles were also sourced in the US. In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car, the 2-seat and 4-seat Morris Cowley was introduced.

Inter War years

After the war the Continental engine was no longer available, so Morris arranged for the French company Hotchkiss to make a near-copy in their Coventry factory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-market Morris Oxford cars. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris Motor Company continued to grow and increase its share of the British market and, in 1924, overtook Ford to become the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market. They had a policy of buying up suppliers with, for example, Hotchkiss in Coventry becoming the Morris Engines branch in 1923. In 1924 the head of the Morris sales agency in Oxford, Cecil Kimber, started building sporting versions of Morris cars, called "MG" — after the agency, Morris Garages. The MG factory was in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

The small car market was entered in 1928, with the Morris Minor, using an 847 cc engine from the Wolseley Motor Company, a company which became part of Morris Motors Company in 1927. This helped the company through the economic depression of the time. The Minor was replaced at the 1934 London Motor Show by the Morris Eight, a direct response to the Ford Model Y and heavily based on it. In 1932 Morris appointed Leonard Lord as Managing Director and he swept through the works, updating the production methods and introducing a proper moving assembly line, but Morris and Lord fell out, and Lord left in 1936 — threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick". Also in 1936 William Morris sold Morris Commercial Cars Limited, his commercial vehicle enterprise, to Morris Motors. In 1938 William Morris became Viscount Nuffield, and the same year he merged the Morris Motor Company (incorporating Wolseley) and MG with newly acquired Riley to form a new company: the Nuffield Organisation.

In 1926 The Pressed Steel Company Limited was founded as a joint venture between William Morris, the Budd Corporation (of USA) and an American bank. Its factory was located over the road from the Morris factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers.

Second World War

In the summer of 1938 the Nuffield Organisation agreed to build equip and manage a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich, which was built specifically to manufacture Supermarine Spitfires. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production of jerry cans, producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the rest of the war and following the ending of hostilities. The Cowley plant was turned over to aircraft repair and production of Tiger Moth pilot trainers, as well as "mine sinkers" based on a design produced at the same plant during the First World War.

Post World War II production

Production restarted after World War II, with the pre-war Eight and Ten designs. In 1948 the "Eight" was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, the Morris Minor designed by Alec Issigonis (who later went on to design the Mini) and reusing the small car name from 1928. The "Ten" was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford, styled like a larger version of the Minor. A later Morris Oxford (the 1956 Morris Oxford III) was the basis for the design of India's famous Hindustan Ambassador which continues in production to the present day.

BMC

In 1952, the Nuffield Organisation merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation. Badge-engineering was important to the new company and for many years the several marques would be seen on several families of similar vehicles.

British Leyland

In 1968, in further rationalisations of the British motor industry, BMC became part of the newly-formed British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and subsequently, in 1975, the nationalised British Leyland Limited (BL).

The Morris marque continued to be used until the early 1980s on cars such as the Morris Marina. The Morris Ital (essentially a facelifted Marina) was the last Morris-badged passenger car, with production ending in the summer of 1984. The last Morris of all was a van variant of the Austin Metro.

In the early 1980s, the former Morris plant at Cowley and its sister site the former Pressed Steel plant, were turned over to the production of Austin and Rover badged vehicles. They continued to be used by BL's Austin Rover Group and its successor the Rover Group, which was eventually bought by BMW, and then by a management consortium, leading to the creation of MG Rover. None of the former Morris buildings now exist, British Aerospace sold the site in 1992, it was than demolished and replaced with the Oxford Business Park. The adjacent former Pressed Steel Company site (now known as "Plant Oxford") is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble the new MINI.

The rights to the Morris marque are currently owned by Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation.

The history of the company is commemorated in the Morris Motors Museum at the Oxford Bus Museum.

Post-Morris cars to have been built at Cowley include the Austin/MG Maestro, Austin/MG Montego, Rover 600, Rover 800 and (for a short time) the Rover 75.

Badge

The Morris badge shows an ox crossing a river — a reference to the company's home town, Oxford.

Car models (excludes light vans)

* 1913–1926 - Morris Oxford (Bullnose)
* 1915–1935 - Morris Cowley
* 1920–1929 - Morris Six
* 1926–1935 - Morris Oxford
* 1928–1932 - Morris Minor
* 1931–1933 - Morris Major
* 1929–1935 - Morris Isis
* 1933–1939 - Morris Twenty-One/Twenty-Five
* 1935–1939 - Morris Twelve
* 1935–1939 - Morris Fourteen
* 1935–1948 - Morris Eight
* 1933–1948 - Morris Ten
* 1948–1952 - Morris Minor MM
* 1952–1956 - Morris Minor
* 1955–1971 - Morris Minor 1000
* 1948–1954 - Morris Oxford MO
* 1948–1953 - Morris Six MS
* 1954–1971 - Morris Oxford II / III / IV / V / VI
* 1954–1959 - Morris Cowley
* 1955–1958 - Morris Isis
* 1957–1960 - Morris Marshal (BMC Australia)
* 1958–1964 - Morris Major (BMC Australia)
* 1959–1969 - Morris Mini Minor
* 1964–1968 - Morris Mini Moke (United Kingdom)
* 1966–1973 - Morris Mini Moke (Australia)
* 1962–1971 - Morris 1100
* 1967–1971 - Morris 1300
* 1969–1972 - Morris 1500 (Australia)
* 1966–1975 - Morris 1800
* 1972–1975 - Morris 2200
* 1969–1972 - Morris Nomad (Australia)
* 1971–1980 - Morris Marina
* 1980–1984 - Morris Ital

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Austin Rover Group

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Austin Rover Group

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Austin Rover Group

The Austin Rover Group (ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was formed in 1981 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). ARG was the end result of a comprehensive restructuring programme intended to rescue BL from almost-certain oblivion, and with the Triumph, Morris, Riley and Wolseley marques now effectively dead, the new, leaner car business was rechristened as the Austin Rover Group and focused primarily on the Austin and Rover marques.

In 1989, ARG was rebranded as Rover Group, the name of its owner. In 2008, Tata Motors purchased the Rover marque, as well as former BL/Rover Group businesses, Land Rover and Jaguar Cars, and the former BL marques Daimler and Lanchester, from the Ford Motor Company. The Austin marque has been retired and the Mini marque is owned by BMW.

History

Following the collapse of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1975 and the stark Ryder Report on the ailing firm, the resulting government bail-out and nationalisation saw the company being renamed to British Leyland (BL).

However, the huge industrial relations problems, ineffectual management and product duplication that had plagued the company up to the nationalisation continued throughout the late 1970s. The problems centred around Longbridge union leader and shop steward Derek Robinson (nicknamed "Red Robbo" by the British press). Robinson had assumed a greater level of control over BL than any of its senior managers, and his network of union leaders in the various BL plants had the power to end production if he had instructed them to do so.

The Labour government of the time ran out of patience with Robinson, and appointed South African-born corporate troubleshooter Sir Michael Edwardes to turn BL around.

His first task was to curb the excessive amount of power that the trade unions had over the company. After discovering Robinson's links with various communist groups, the company amassed sufficient evidence claiming that his actions were intended to deliberately damage both BL itself and the UK economy. As a result of this, he was dismissed in 1979. Secondly, Edwardes began a ruthless programme of factory closures and sell-offs. The biggest casualties of this were the MG assembly plant in Abingdon, and the Triumph plants in Speke and Canley. BL pulled out of entire markets - for example the large Leyland tractors range was sold off wholesale to Marshall. Thirdly, he entered into a collaborative agreement with Honda, which paved the way for the joint development of a range of cars which spearheaded the company's revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Lastly, the number of BL dealerships in the UK was trimmed down drastically.

The new, slimmer British Leyland was organised into a series of groups. Austin Rover handled the mass production of cars, with the lower- to mid-market cars being badged as Austins and the middle- to upper-market cars as Rovers. Light commercial vehicle production (4x4s and vans) was managed by the Land Rover Group, whilst full-size commercial vehicles were built by Leyland Trucks and Leyland Bus.

Sales of Austin Rover products were reasonably strong, though not quite as high as the sales achieved by some of the British Leyland products. The Austin/MG Metro was regularly among the top five selling cars in Britain throughout the 1980s, and in the early part of the decade it was the best selling supermini in the country. The Metro, which was launched in 1980, gave the firm a much-needed competitor in the entry-level hatchback market and filled a gap in the range vacated by a scaling down of Mini and Austin Allegro production.

The Austin/MG Maestro (launched in 1983), was initially very popular, but sales dipped towards the end of the decade and in 1989 it was the 19th best selling car new car in the UK. This was less of a problem thanks to the introduction of the similar-sized Rover 200 in 1984 — the product of a venture with Honda and one of the few strong-selling small family saloons of its era. So in effect, Austin Rover was selling around 100,000 cars of this size every year during the mid to late 1980s, regaining its share of the sector after the scaling-down of Austin Allegro production in its final years.

The Austin/MG Montego went on sale in 1984 and sold fairly well, though it was unable to match the sales success of the sector's established favourites — the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier. The car had been in the pipeline since the late 1970s when the company's main competitors in this sector were the Morris Marina and Austin Maxi, but the Montego actually replaced the Morris Ital that had been launched in 1980 as an updated version of the Marina. The Maxi continued until 1982, when it was discontinued in preparation for the launch of the Maestro and Montego.

Austin Rover's executive car, the Rover 800, was launched in 1986 as the second product of its venture with Honda, being based on the Honda Legend. This car also sold well, being a popular competitor for the likes of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton. It was also sold in America under the Sterling brand, but this project was quickly shelved due to unacceptable product quality issues that led to low sales.

Austin Rover's decision not to replace sports cars like the MG MGB and Triumph TR7 was justified by the fact that such cars were no longer popular in the early 1980s, and many other manufacturers had also stopped - or were about to stop - production of such cars. Buyers were instead being guided to "hot hatchbacks", following a trend set by Volkswagen's Golf GTI in 1976. By 1985, Austin Rover had launched a line-up of performance variants of its Metro, Maestro and Montego hatchbacks. These cars all made use of a revived MG marque. They proved reasonably popular, though few enthusiasts regarded them as true MGs. The Rover Group continued production of these "badge engineered" models until 1991.

Following the renaming of its parent company, BL, in 1986 to the Rover Group, and the subsequent sell-off of its truck and bus businesses, and takeover in 1988 by British Aerospace, and then in 1994 by BMW, the combine now known as Rover Group was eventually sold back into private ownership and became MG Rover, which lasted five years before going bankrupt. MG production was revived in 2007 by new owner Nanjing Automobile, while the Rover marque was purchased by Ford in 2006, only to be transferred to ownership of Indian carmaker Tata in 2008, as Tata also took over Land Rover and Jaguar to form Jaguar Land Rover.

The Land Rover marque was removed from the combine at the time of the 2000 sell-off, becoming part of the Ford Motor Company, while BMW retained the rights to build the new MINI which was launched in 2001.

Austin Rover Group timeline

* 1981: BL Cars Ltd is renamed Austin Rover Group Ltd. Launch of the Triumph Acclaim, successor the Dolomite and restyled version of the Japanese-built Honda Ballade.
* 1982: Launch of Austin Ambassador, a facelifted version of the discontinued Princess.
* 1982: Michael Edwardes steps down as Chairman, and is replaced by Harold Musgrove. MG badge is relaunched, two years after being discontinued, on the MG Metro 1300.
* 1983: Launch of Austin Maestro, which replaces the 10-year-old Allegro. The MG badge is used for the MG Maestro 1600 sports model.
* 1984: Launch of the second Honda-ARG joint venture car, the Mk.1 Rover 200-series. It succeeds the Triumph Acclaim, and in doing so spells the end of the Triumph marque. The MG Maestro 1600 is shelved after one year on sale, and replaced by the more powerful MG Maestro 2.0 EFi.
* 1984: Launch of the Austin Montego as successor to the Morris Ital. This means the end of the Morris marque after 72 years. The MG Maestro 1600 is replaced by the MG Maestro 2.0 EFi, which has a fuel injected 2.0 unit in place of the previous 1.6 twin-carburettor.
* 1985: Production begins at Cowley of the Honda Ballade, which is visually identical to the Rover 200 but uses some of its own engines and has a higher level of specification. The MG version of the Montego goes on sale.
* 1986: Launch of the Rover 800-series, jointly developed with Honda and based on the Honda Legend; Rover SD1 production ceases after 10 years.
* 1986: BL renamed Rover Group PLC.
* 1987: Unipart, ARG's spare parts brand is sold off via management buyout.
* 1987: The Austin marque is shelved, with the Metro, Maestro and Montego ranges now selling under just their model names. The Rover badge is not used on these cars in the UK market.
* 1988: Rover Group PLC sold by British Government to British Aerospace.
* 1989: Austin Rover Group is re-branded Rover Group. Its final launch was the MG Maestro Turbo, powered by a 2.0 turbocharged engine and one of the fastest hatchbacks in the world with a top speed of nearly 130 mph (210 km/h).

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Austin Motor Company

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Austin Motor Company

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Austin Motor Company

The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 an merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987. The trademark is currently owned by Nanjing Automotive.

History

1905 - 1918: Formation and development

Herbert Austin (1866–1941), former manager of the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, and later to be made first Baron Austin of Longbridge, founded The Austin Motor Company in 1905, at Longbridge, which was then in Worcestershire. (Longbridge became part of Birmingham in 1911 when its boundaries were expanded.) The first car was a conventional 5-litre four-cylinder model with chain drive, of which about 200 were made in the first five years. In World War I Austin grew enormously in fulfilling government contracts for everything from artillery to aircraft, and the workforce expanded from around 2,500 to 22,000.

1919 - 1939: Interwar success

After the war Herbert Austin decided on a one-model policy based on the 3620-cc 20-hp engine. Versions included cars, commercials and even a tractor, but sales volumes were never enough to fill the vast factory built during wartime. The company went into receivership in 1921 but rose again after financial restructuring.

Critical to the recovery was the appointment in 1922 of a new finance director, Ernest Payton with the backing of the Midland Bank, and a new works director in charge of car production, Carl Engelbach, at the insistence of the creditors' committee. This triumvirate of Austin, Payton and Engelbach steered the company's fortunes through the inter-war years.

In a quest to expand market share, smaller cars were introduced, the 1661 cc Twelve in 1922 and, later the same year, the Seven, an inexpensive, simple small car and one of the earliest to be directed at a mass market. At one point, the "Baby Austin" was built under licence by the fledgling BMW of Germany (as the Dixi); by the Japanese manufacturer Datsun; as the Bantam in the United States; and as the Rosengart in France. (the American Austin Car Company operated as a largely independent subsidiary from 1929 to 1934, and was revived under the name "American Bantam" from 1937 to 1941).

With the help of the Seven, Austin weathered the worst of the depression and remained profitable through the 1930s, producing a wider range of cars which was steadily updated by the introduction of all-steel bodies, Girling brakes, and synchromesh gearboxes. However, all the engines retained the same side valve conformation. Deputy chairman Ernest Payton became chairman in 1941 on the death of Lord Herbert Austin. In 1938 Leonard Lord joined the company board and became chairman in 1946 on the death of Ernest Payton.

1939 - 1958: The war years and afterwards

During the Second World War Austin continued building cars but also made trucks and aircraft, including the construction of the Lancaster bombers of 617 squadron, better known as the Dambusters.

The postwar car range was announced in 1944 and production of it started in 1945 The immediate postwar range was mainly similar to that of the late 1930s but did include the 16 hp significant for having the company's first overhead valve engine.

In 1952 Austin merged with the Nuffield Organisation (parent company of Morris) to form the British Motor Corporation with Leonard Lord in charge. Austin was the dominant partner and its engines were adopted for most of the cars; various models amongst the marques would soon be badge-engineered versions of each other.

Also in 1952, Austin did a deal with Donald Healey, the renowned automotive engineer. It led to a new marque, Austin Healey, and a range of sports cars.

Legal agreement with Nissan

In 1952 Austin entered into a legal agreement with the Nissan Motor Company of Japan, for that company to assemble 2000 imported Austins from partially assembled sets and to sell them in Japan under the Austin trademark. The agreement called for Nissan to make all Austin parts locally within three years, a goal Nissan met. Nissan produced and marketed Austins for seven years. The agreement also gave Nissan rights to use Austin patents, which Nissan used in developing its own engines for its Datsun line of cars. In 1953 British-built Austins were assembled and sold, but by 1955, the Austin A50 – completely built by Nissan and featuring a slightly larger body with 1489 cc engine – was on the market in Japan. Nissan produced 20,855 Austins from 1953-59.

1959 - 1969: An era of revolution

With the threat to fuel supplies resulting from the 1956 Suez Crisis Lord asked Alec Issigonis to design a small car and the result was the revolutionary Mini, launched in 1959. The Austin version was called the Austin Seven at first. But Morris' Mini Minor name caught the public imagination and the Morris version outsold its Austin twin, so the Austin's name was changed to Mini to follow suit. In 1970, British Leyland dropped the separate Austin and Morris branding of the Mini. From then, it was simply "Mini", under the Austin Morris division of BLMC.

The principle of a transverse engine with gearbox in the sump and driving the front wheels was carried on to larger cars with the 1100 of 1963, (although the Morris-badged version was launched 13 months earlier than the Austin, in August 1962), the 1800 of 1964 and the Maxi of 1969. This meant that BMC had spent 10 years developing a new range of front-drive, transverse-engined models, while most competitors had only just started to make such changes.

The big exception to this was the Austin 3-litre. Launched in 1968, it was a rear-wheel drive large car, but it shared the central section of the 1800. It was a sales disaster, with fewer than 10,000 examples being made.

But BMC was the first British manufacturer to move into front-wheel drive so comprehensively. Ford did not launch its first front-drive model until 1976, while Vauxhall's first front-drive model was launched in 1979 and Chrysler UK's first such car was launched in 1975. Front-wheel drive was popular elsewhere in Europe, however, with Renault, Citroen and Simca all using the system at the same time or before BMC.

In 1966, BMC and Pressed Steel merged with Jaguar and became British Motor Holdings. In 1968, BMH merged with Leyland Motors and Austin became a part of the big British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) combine.

1970 - 1979: An era of turbulence

By 1970, Austin was part of the British Leyland combine which produced some of the most maligned cars ever to roll off British production lines. Austin's most notorious model of this era was the 1973 Allegro, successor to the 1100/1300 ranges, which was criticised for its bulbous styling, doubtful build quality, indifferent reliability and rust-proneness. It was still a strong seller in Britain, though not quite as successful as its predecessor.

The wedge-shaped 18/22 series was launched as an Austin, a Morris and a more upmarket Wolseley in 1975. But within six months, it was rechristened the Princess and wore none of the previous marque badges, becoming a kind of brand in its own right, under the Austin Morris division of British Leyland which had been virtually nationalised in 1975.

The Princess wasn't quite as notorious as the Allegro, and in fact earned some praise thanks to its practical wedge shape, spacious interior and decent ride and handling, but build quality was suspect and the curious lack of a hatchback (which would have ideally suited its body shape) cost it valuable sales. It was upgraded at the end of 1981 to become the Ambassador (and gaining a hatchback) but by this time there was little that could be done to disguise the age of the design, and it was too late to make much of an impact on sales.

By the end of the 1970s, the future of Austin and the rest of British Leyland (now known as BL) was looking bleak.

1980 - 1989: The Austin Rover era

The Austin Metro - launched in October 1980 - was heralded as the saviour of Austin Motor Company and the whole BL combine. 21 years after the launch of the Mini, it gave BL a much-needed modern supermini to compete with the recently-launched likes of the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Chevette and Renault 5. It was an instant hit with buyers and was one of the most popular British cars of the 1980s. It was intended as a replacement for the Austin Mini but, in fact, the Mini outlived the Metro by two years.

In 1982, most of the car division of the by now somewhat shrunken British Leyland (BL) company was rebranded as the Austin Rover Group, with Austin acting as the "budget" and mainstream brand to Rover's more luxurious models. The MG badge was revived for sporty versions of the Austin models, with the MG Metro 1300 being the first of these.

Austin revitalised its entry into the small family car market in March 1983 on the launch of its all-new Maestro, a spacious five-door hatchback which replaced both the elderly Allegro and Maxi and was popular in the early years of its production life, though sales had started to dip dramatically by the end of the decade.

April 1984 saw the introduction of the Maestro-derived Montego saloon, successor to the Morris Ital. The new car received praise for its interior space and comfort, but early build quality problems took time to overcome. The spacious estate version - launched in early 1985 - was one of the most popular load carriers of its era.

In 1986 Austin Rover's holding company BL plc became Rover Group plc and was privatised by selling it to British Aerospace (BAe).

Plans to replace the Metro with a radical new model, based on the ECV3 research vehicle and aiming for 100mpg, led to the Austin AR6 of 1984-1986, with several prototypes tested. The desire to lose the Austin name and take Rover 'upmarket' led to this project's demise in early 1987.

In 1987, the Austin badge was discontinued and Austin Rover became simply the Rover Group. The Austin cars continued to be manufactured, although they ceased to be Austins. They became "marque-less" in their home market with bonnet badges the same shape as the Rover longship badge but without "Rover" written on them. Instead any badging just showed the model of the car- a Montego of this era, for instance, would have a grille badge simply saying 'Montego', whilst the rear badges just said 'Montego' and the engine size/trim level. The Metro was facelifted in 1990 and got the new K-series engine. It then became the "Rover Metro", while the Maestro and Montego continued in production until 1994 and never wore a Rover badge on their bonnets in Britain. They were, however, sometimes referred to as "Rovers" in the press and elsewhere.

Possible revival

The rights to the Austin name passed to British Aerospace and then to BMW when each bought the Rover Group. The rights were subsequently sold to MG Rover, created when BMW sold the business. Following MG Rover's collapse and sale, Nanjing Automobile Group owns the Austin name and Austin's historic assembly plant in Longbridge. At the Nanjing International Exhibition in May 2006, Nanjing announced it might use the Austin name on some of the revived MG Rover models, at least in the Chinese market. However, Nanjing is for the moment concentrating on reviving the MG brand. The MG brand is traditionally used for sports cars and Nanjing has no rights to the Rover name, so a revival of the Austin name would seem a logical brand for selling more standard cars. It might also be argued that a British name would be more respected in the European market than a Chinese name.

Plant

Austin's original plant was in Rotherham, however Herbert Austin relocated to an abandoned paint works at Longbridge, Birmingham. Due to its strategic advantages over Morris' Cowley plant, Longbridge became British Leyland's main factory. Following the Austin marque's discontinuance in 1989, Rover and MG continued to use the plant. The collapse of MG Rover meant it was not used from 2005 until MG production restarted in 2008.

Models

Cars

Small cars
o 1910–11 Austin 7 hp
o 1922–39 Austin 7
o 1959-2000 Seven (Mini), as BMC
o 1980–90 Metro, as Austin Rover


Small family cars
o 1911–15 Austin 10
o 1932–47 Austin 10 hp
o 1939–47 Austin 8 hp
o 1951–56 A30
o 1956–59 A35
o 1956–62 A35 Countryman
o 1954-61 Nash Metropolitan/Austin Metropolitan
o 1958–61 A40 Farina Mk I
o 1961–67 A40 Farina Mk II
o 1963–74 1100
o 1967–74 1300
o 1973–83 Allegro


Large family cars
o 1906–07 Austin 25/30
o 1907–10 Austin 18/24
o 1908–11 Austin 40 hp
o 1908–10 Austin 60 hp
o 1913–14 Austin 15/20
o 1914–16 Austin 30 hp
o 1919–30 Austin Twenty
o 1922–40 Austin "Heavy" 12
o 1927–35 16/18 hp
o 1927–39 Austin 20/6
o 1931–36 Austin "Light" 12/6
o 1933–39 Austin "Light" 12/4
o 1937–39 Austin 14 hp
o 1938–39 Austin 18 hp
o 1939–47 Austin 12
o 1945–49 Austin 16 hp
o 1947–52 A40 Devon/Dorset
o 1948–50 A70 Hampshire
o 1950–54 A70 Hereford
o 1952–54 A40 Somerset
o 1954–58 A40/A50/A55 Cambridge
o 1954–59 A90/A95/A105 Westminster
o 1956–59 A95 Westminster Station wagon.
o 1956–59 A105 Westminster
o 1959–61 A55 Cambridge
o 1959–61 A99 Westminster
o 1961–69 A60 Cambridge
o 1961–68 A110 Westminster
o 1964–75 1800/2200
o 1967–71 3-Litre
o 1969–81 Maxi 1500
o 1975–84 18-22/Princess/Ambassador
o 1983–94 Maestro
o 1984–94 Montego



Limousines
o 1939 Austin 28 hp
o 1947–54 A110/A125 Sheerline
o 1946–56 A120 Princess
o 1947–56 A135 Princess
o 1956–59 Princess IV
o 1958–59 A105 Westminster Vanden Plas



Sports cars
o 1920-23 Austin 20 Sports Tourer
o 1948–50 A90 Atlantic Convertible
o 1949–52 A90 Atlantic Saloon
o 1950–53 A40 Sports
o 1953–56 Austin-Healey 100
o 1958–70 Austin-Healey Sprite
o 1959–67 Austin-Healey 3000
o 1971 Austin Sprite
* Australian Austin cars
o 1962-66 Austin Freeway
o 1970–73 Austin Kimberley
o 1958-62 Austin Lancer
o 1970–73 Austin Tasman

Military vehicles

* WWI Austin Armoured Car
* WWII Austin Ten Utility Truck
* WWII Austin K2
* WWII Austin K4
* 1958-67 Austin Gipsy
* Austin Champ
* c. 1968 Austin Ant

Taxis

* 1929-34 High Lot
* 1934-39 Lowloader
* 1948-58 FX3
* 1958- FX4—London Taxi

Ambulances

* LD3
* WWII Austin K2

Commercial vehicles

* Austin also made commercial vehicles, one of which was the FG, previously the Morris FG. The FG was the workhorse that kept Britain running in the 1960s. These Austin FGs and later the Leyland FGs all had petrol or diesel longstroke engines, producing good torque, but very little in the way of speed (40 mph was a good speed out of these vehicles). Leyland were to take over the FG, but before they did, in 1964, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) commissioned six rolling chassis FGs to be coach built by a Middlesex company, Palmer Coachbuilders. These six vehicles, registration 660 GYE to 666 GYE, were outdoor broadcast scenery vehicles.

Aircraft

During World War I Austin built aircraft under licence, including the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a, but also produced a number of its own designs. None of these progressed past the prototype stage. They included:

* Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 (fighter)
* Austin A.F.T.3 (fighter)
* Austin Greyhound (fighter)
* Austin Kestrel (two-seat biplane)
* Austin Osprey (fighter)
* Austin Whippet (post-war civil aircraft)

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British Motor Holdings

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British Motor Holdings

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British Motor Holdings

British Motor Holdings Ltd (BMH) was a British motor company created in an attempt to halt the decline in Britain's manufacturing base in the 1960s.

History

The Wilson Labour Government (1964–1970) came to power at a time when British manufacturing industry was in decline and decided that the remedy was to promote more mergers, particularly in the motor industry. Chrysler was already buying into the Rootes Group, Leyland Motors had acquired Standard Triumph and Rover and had become a major automotive force. The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was suffering a dramatic drop in its share of the home market, and in 1966 it succumbed to the pressures, and along with Pressed Steel (a car body manufacturer), merged with Jaguar Cars to form British Motor Holdings. The entity formally came into existence on 14th December 1966.

From the perspective of Jaguar, the merger came about because Sir William Lyons, the managing director and founder of Jaguar Cars Ltd, was nearing retirement, and did not have a viable succession plan within the company. His only son John Lyons had been killed in a car accident in 1955, and his other board members were of a similar age to himself. Another factor was that bodyshells for Jaguar production were fabricated by Pressed Steel, a supplier critical to Jaguar Cars and now controlled by BMC.

From the perspective of the BMC , Jaguar Cars was attractive for a merger because it had had success in the US market, and was thereby hugely profitable at a time when BMC lacked the funds to invest sufficiently in modern production facilities or new models.

The marques

BMH thus inherited a plethora of British automotive marques:

From Jaguar Cars came

• Jaguar
• Daimler
• Coventry Climax
• Guy

From BMC came

• Austin
• Morris
• MG
• Riley
• Wolseley
• Vanden Plas
• BMC

Merge with the Leyland Motor Corporation

By 1968, BMH's short life came to an end. As it still struggled to make significant profit, it merged with the prosperous Leyland Motor Corporation to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC).

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Related : British Motor Corporation

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