British Leyland Motor Corporation
|
British Leyland corporate logo |
The
British Leyland Motor Corporation ("BLMC"), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the
United Kingdom in
1968. Ultimately it would become
nationalised as
British Leyland then known just as
BL.
BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of
British Motor Holdings (BMH) and
Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by the
Wilson Labour Government (1964–1970). The merger combined most of the remaining independent British car manufacturing companies and included car, bus and truck manufacturers and more diverse enterprises including construction equipment, refrigerators, metal casting companies, road surface manufacturers; in all nearly 100 different companies. The new corporation was organised into seven divisions under its new chairman
Sir Donald Stokes (formerly the chairman of LMC).
The company became an infamous monument to the industrial turmoil that plagued Britain in the
1970s. At its peak, BLMC owned nearly 40 different manufacturing plants across the country. Even before the merger BMH had included marques that were in theory competitors though selling basically similar cars. To this was added the competition from other marques Rover against Jaguar at the higher end, Triumph with its family cars and sports cars against Austin Morris. The result was a broad product range which was incoherent and full of duplication. This, combined with serious industrial relations problems (principally, the company's relations with hard-line
trade unions of the time), the
1973 oil crisis, the
three-day week, high inflation and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth whose
bankruptcy in
1975 was inevitable.
Sir Don Ryder was asked to undertake an enquiry into the position of the company, and his report,
The Ryder Report, was presented to the government in April 1975. Following the report's recommendations the organisation was drastically restructured and the
second Wilson Labour Government (1974–1976) took control by creating a new holding company
British Leyland Limited (BL) of which it was the major shareholder. The company was now organised into the following four divisions
[BL Booklet - Graduate opportunities with British Leyland]:
Leyland Cars - the largest car manufacturer in the UK, employing some 128,000 people at 36 locations, and with a production capacity of one million vehicles per year
Leyland Truck and Bus - the largest commercial and passenger vehicle manufacturer in the UK, employing 31,000 people at 12 locations, producing 38,000 trucks, 8,000 buses and 19,000 tractors per year
Leyland Special Products - the miscellaneous collection of other acquired businesses, itself structured into five sub-divisions::*Construction Equipment -
Aveling-Barford,
Aveling-Marshall,
Barfords of Belton and
Goodwin-Barsby:*Refrigeration -
Prestcold:*Materials Handling -
Coventry Climax (incorporating Climax Trucks, Climax Conveyancer and Climax Shawloader) :*Military Vehicles -
Alvis and
Self-Changing Gears:*Print -
Nuffield Press and
Lyne & SonLeyland International - responsible for the export of cars, trucks and buses, and responsible for manufacturing plants in Africa, India and Australia, employing 18,000 people
In 1984
Jaguar Cars became independent once more, through a public sale of its shares. In 1986 BL changed its name to
Rover Group and in 1987 the
Trucks Division merged with the Dutch
DAF company to form DAF NV, trading as
Leyland DAF in the UK and as
DAF in the Netherlands. In 1987 the bus business was spun-off into a new company called
Leyland Bus. This was the result of a
management buyout who decided to sell the company to the
Bus & Truck division of Volvo in 1988.
In 1988 the remaining
Rover Group business was sold by the British Government to
British Aerospace (BAe).
Many of the brands were
divested over time and continue to exist to this day. The heir to most of the volume car business was
MG Rover which collapsed in April
2005.
Note: The car brands of BSA were divested, BSA was not merged into Jaguar.
Merged Companies
The car firms (and car brands) which eventually merged to form the company are as follows.
The dates given are those of the first car of each name, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development.
* 1895
Wolseley Motor Company* 1896
Lanchester Motor Company* 1896
Leyland Motors (commercial vehicles)
* 1896
Daimler* 1898
Riley* 1903
Standard* 1904
Rover* 1905
Austin* 1912
Morris* 1913
Vanden Plas* 1919
Alvis* 1923
MG created by Morris
* 1923
Triumph Motor Company* 1924
BSA used as a car brand
* 1935
Jaguar* 1947
Land Rover created by Rover
* 1952
Austin-Healey created by Austin division of BMC (see below)
* 1959
Mini created by Austin division of BMC (although the name '
Mini' was first used on a variant with Morris badges)
Other Merger Events
Several of these names (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini) are now in other hands. The history of the mergers and other key events is as follows:
* 1910
Daimler purchased by the armaments-and-motorbikes engineering company
BSA * 1931
Lanchester purchased by BSA (last Lanchester 1956)
* 1938
Morris incorporates
Wolseley and
Riley forming the
Nuffield Organisation* 1944
Standard acquire
Triumph, forming
Standard Triumph * 1946
Austin acquire
Vanden Plas* 1952 The Nuffield Organisation and Austin merge to form the
British Motor Corporation (BMC)
* 1960
Jaguar buy the car-making interests of BSA, including Daimler
* 1961
Leyland Motors acquire Standard Triumph
* 1963
Jaguar acquire the engine and fork lift truck manufacturing company
Coventry Climax* 1965
Rover acquire
Alvis* 1966 BMC merge with Jaguar to form
British Motor Holdings (BMH)
* 1967 Leyland absorb Rover
* 1968 Leyland merge with British Motor Holdings to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC)
* 1972 BLMC take control of
Innocenti* 1975 Publication of the Ryder Report, British Leyland effectively nationalised due to financial difficulties, company changes its name to BL Ltd.
* 1977 Michael Edwardes appointed as Chairman by
Labour Government. Begins massive cull of excess BL assets.
History of Divestments
* 1975 Innocenti passed to
Alejandro de Tomaso* 1978 Land Rover separated from Rover to form a separate company, still part of BL
* 1979 Collaboration with
Honda begins, sacking of
Derek Robinson ("Red Robbo")* 1978 Closure of Triumph assembly plant in Speke - production moved to Canley
* 1980 Closure of MG and Triumph assembly plants in Abingdon and Canley
* 1981 Closure of Rover-Triumph plant in Solihull
* 1981 Alvis sold to United Scientific Holdings
* 1982 Michael Edwardes steps down as Chairman, British Leyland renamed
Austin Rover Group (ARG)
* 1984 Morris Ital goes out of production, signalling the end of the Morris badge
* 1984 Jaguar floated off (including Daimler and the US rights to Vanden Plas); bought by
Ford in 1989
* 1986 Austin Rover renamed
Rover Group, Austin badges disappear the following year
* 1986 Leyland Trucks & Vans sold to
DAF. Vans became independent
LDV in 1993, and Trucks became Leyland Trucks. Leyland Trucks was taken over by US giant
PACCAR in 1998 and integrated with
Foden.
* 1986 Leyland Bus floated off; bought by
Volvo in 1988
* 1987 Unipart, BL's spare parts division acquired by management buy-out
* 1988 Rover Group privatised; sold to
British Aerospace* 1994 Rover Group sold to
BMW; collaboration with Honda ends
* 2000 BMW decides to break up and sell the Rover empire; Land Rover sold to Ford
* 2000
BMW MINI, Triumph, and Riley trademarks retained by BMW, but BMW's other interests sold off
* 2000 Remainder of company became independent as the
MG Rover Group* 2005 MG Rover goes into administration with huge debts, and production of all vehicles at the Longbridge plant is suspended.
List of notable BL and BMC and related models (up to 1986)
* 1948
Land Rover (Rover)
* 1948
Morris Minor (Nuffield)
* 1952
Rover 90 (Rover)
* 1952
Morris Oxford (BMC)
* 1954
Austin Cambridge (BMC)
* 1959
Triumph Herald (Standard-Triumph)
* 1959
Mini (BMC; Initially badged as the Austin Se7en and Morris Mini-Minor)
* 1961
Jaguar E-type (Jaguar)
* 1961
Riley Elf (BMC)
* 1961
Wolseley Hornet (BMC)
* 1962
Morris 1100 (BMC)
* 1962
MGB (BMC)
* 1964
Austin 1800/2200 (BMC)
* 1963
Triumph 2000 (Leyland-Triumph)
* 1964
Rover 2000 (Rover)
* 1968
Jaguar XJ6 (BLMC)
* 1969
Austin Maxi (BLMC)
* 1970
Triumph Dolomite (BLMC)
* 1970
Range Rover (BLMC)
* 1971
Morris Marina (BLMC)
* 1971
Triumph Stag (BLMC)
* 1973
Austin Allegro (BLMC)
* 1975
Leyland Princess (BL)
* 1975
Triumph TR7 (BL)
* 1975
Jaguar XJS (BL)
* 1976
Rover SD1 (BL)
* 1980
Austin Metro (BL)
* 1980
Morris Ital (BL)
* 1981
Triumph Acclaim (BL)
* 1982
Austin Ambassador (ARG)
* 1983
Austin Maestro (ARG)
* 1984
Austin Montego (ARG)
* 1984
Rover 200-series (ARG)
* 1986
Rover 800-series/Sterling (ARG)
Competing models
In some cases, British Leyland continued to produce competing models from the merged companies at different sites for many years. However, any benefits from the broader number of models were far outweighed by higher development costs and greatly reduced economies of scale.
*
Morris Minor and
Austin A40/
Austin 1100*
Austin 1300 and
Triumph Herald*
Morris Marina,
Austin Allegro, and
Triumph Dolomite*
Triumph 2000,
Rover 2000, and
Austin Princess*
Triumph Spitfire and
MG Midget*
Triumph TR6/
Triumph TR7 and
MG B*
Rover 3500 and
Jaguar XJ6Badge-engineered models
In contrast to the continued development of competing models, British Leyland continued the practice of
badge engineering of models which had started under BMC; selling essentially the same vehicle under two (or more) different
marques.
*
Riley One-Point-Five/
Wolseley 1500*
MG Magnette ZA/ZB/
Wolseley 4/44*
MG Magnette ZB/
Wolseley 15/50*
Morris Oxford MO/
Wolseley 6/80*
Austin A99 Westminster/
Wolseley 6/99*
Austin A110 Westminster/
Wolseley 6/110*
Austin 1800/
Wolseley 18/85/
Wolseley Six*
Austin A55 Cambridge/
MG Magnette Mk. III/
Morris Oxford V/
Riley 4/68/
Wolseley 15/60*
Austin A60 Cambridge/
MG Magnette Mk. IV/
Morris Oxford VI/
Riley 4/72/
Wolseley 16/60*
Riley Pathfinder/
Riley Two-Point-Six/
Wolseley 6/90*
Mini/
Riley Elf/
Wolseley Hornet*
Austin 1100/
Austin 1300/
Morris 1100/
Morris 1300/
MG 1100/
Riley Kestrel/
Riley 1300/
Vanden Plas Princess/
Wolseley 1100*
Austin-Healey Sprite/
MG Midget* For history and models after 1986 see
MG Rover Group* Other
nationalised industries* Model-by-model history http://austin-rover.co.uk
* http://www.team.net/www/morgan/history/linage.html
* http://www.mgxtreme.co.uk/history/history.php
* http://www.alvis.plc.uk
* http://www.ownajag.com/jaguar-history.html
* http://members.fortunecity.com/routeman68/history.htm - Leyland Truck & Bus
* http://www.dloc.org.uk/ - Daimler, Lanchester and BSA
