British Leyland Motor Corporation
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The British Leyland Motor Corporation ("BLMC"), was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in Britain in 1968. Ultimately it would become nationalized as British Leyland then known just as BL.
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History
BLMC, later to become just "BL" was created from the merger of British Motor Holdings and Leyland Motor Corporation, to combine most of the remaining British car manufacturing companies. These two companies were the results of mergers themselves. The corporation 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 company became an infamous monument to the industrial turmoil that plagued Britain in the 1970s. At its peak, BL owned nearly 40 different manufacturing plants across the country. Rivalry between the individual marques which had previously been competitors prior to the merger resulted in a product range which was incoherent and full of duplication. This, combined with serious industrial relations problems (principally, the company's relations with hard-line Socialist Trade Unions of the time), and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth whose bankruptcy in 1975 was inevitable.
Many of the brands were divested over time and continue to exist to this day, although the British Leyland name came to an end in 1982. From Austin to Morris the most direct heir of the company was the MG Rover Group which collapsed in April 2005.
British Leyland also produced commercial vehicles, light vans and agricultural tractors.
Timelines
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 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 as 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 also in 1993, is taken over by US giant PACCAR in 1998 and integrated with Foden.
- 1986 Leyland Bus floated off; bought by Volvo 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 Mini, Triumph, and Riley trademarks retained by BMW, but BMW's other interests sold off
- 2000 Remainder of company now independent as the MG Rover Group
- 2005 MG Rover goes to into receivership 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)
- 1958 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 XJ6
Badge-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
See Also
- List of British companies
- For history and models after 1986 see MG Rover Group
Other nationalized British Companies
External Links
- 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 BSAde:British Leyland Motor Corporation