Austin Rover Group
|
|
The Austin Rover Group was a British motor manufacturer, which was formed from the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BL), and existed between 1982 and 1987. ARG was the end result of a comprehensive restructuring programme intended to rescue BL from almost-certain oblivion.
The famous "Chevron" logo of ARG
Following the collapse of BL in 1975 and the infamous report on the ailing firm by Don Ryder (the "Ryder Report"), the resulting government bail-out saw the company being renamed BL Cars Ltd. However, the huge industrial relations problems that had plagued the company up to the nationalisation continued to escalate throughout the late 1970s. The problems centered 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 could bring the company to its knees at his whim. The Labour administration of the time ran out of patience, and appointed South African-born corporate troubleshooter Sir Michael Edwardes to turn BL around.
Edwardes' first job 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. Thirdly, he entered into a collaborative agreement with Honda, which paved the way for the jointly developed Rover-badged 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.
With the MG, Triumph, Morris, Riley and Wolseley marques now effectively dead, the new, leaner BL was rechristened Austin Rover Group in 1982. In 1984, Jaguar was de-merged from the company and privatised.
Following the company's takeover by British Aerospace, the company was known simply as the Rover Group from 1988 onwards. It would remain as such until 2000, when the BMW sell-off resulted in the formation of MG Rover.
Austin Rover Group Timeline
- 1982 Renaming of BL Cars Ltd to Austin Rover Group Ltd
- 1982 Launch of Austin Ambassador, Allegro production ceases
- 1982 Michael Edwardes steps down as Chairman, and is replaced by Harold Musgrove
- 1983 Launch of Austin Maestro; Ital production ceases
- 1984 Launch of the second Honda-ARG joint venture car, the Mk.1 Rover 200-series
- 1984 Launch of the Austin Montego
- 1984 De-merger of Jaguar from ARG
- 1986 Launch of the Rover 800-series, jointly developed with Honda
- 1987 Unipart, ARG's spare parts brand is sold off via management buyout
- 1987 Austin badges removed from Metro, Maestro and Montego for the '88 model year
- 1988 ARG sold by Conservative Government to British Aerospace, is renamed Rover Group Ltd.