British Leyland Motor Corporation
British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd. (BLMC) British Leyland Ltd. (BL) BL plc Austin Rover Group Rover Group
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legal form | Limited Company |
founding | 1968 |
Seat | United Kingdom |
Number of employees | 170,000 |
Branch | Motor vehicle manufacturer |
The British Leyland Ltd. (BLMC) and later British Leyland Ltd. (BL) , BL plc , Austin Rover Group and Rover Group , usually called British Leyland , was a listed British conglomerate with a focus on the automotive industry. It emerged in 1968 as the culmination of a wave of mergers between various competing vehicle manufacturers and in 1975 had to be spectacularly saved from collapse through nationalization . The rapid decline of the group is mainly attributed to a number of unfavorable factors in the highly competitive and image-rich passenger car sector.
The company comprised various manufacturers of cars , trucks , tractors , forklifts , military vehicles , various machines and sheet metal parts, refrigerators and printed matter with a total of over 170,000 employees and made up a large part of the British vehicle industry.
In the course of the nationalization, the company received substantial amounts of public funding on several occasions, was renamed and restructured several times and finally gradually sold to various investors in the course of the 1980s . Above all, the passenger car sector was reduced in size.
history
Emergence
The creation of British Leyland was the culmination of a long wave of mergers between British automobile manufacturers. In the first two post-war decades, despite steadily increasing sales figures, these often showed only small profits because their product portfolio consisted of many different models with only ever small quantities, which made the rationalization of production very difficult. At the time, the British government around Harold Wilson in particular had the hope of being able to counteract this negative development through state pressure on the corporations to join together to form larger units in order to achieve higher quantities.
British Leyland was created in January 1968 through the merger of two car companies, namely Leyland Motors Ltd. ("Leyland") with the much larger British Motor Holdings Ltd. ("British", abbreviated BMH). At this point in time, both companies had already gone through a series of acquisitions and mergers. Leyland, originally a very successful manufacturer mainly of commercial vehicles , took over the premium manufacturers Standard-Triumph (1961) and Rover (1967).
British Motor Holdings, originally British Motor Corporation (BMC), was formed in 1952 as a result of the merger of arch-rivals Austin and Morris and was the largest British car manufacturer with around 40% market share. In addition, the group was expanded in 1965 to include Pressed Steel , the largest supplier of body panels and pressed parts to the British automotive industry, and in 1966 to include Jaguar Daimler , a small but highly profitable and internationally successful niche manufacturer.
The road to bankruptcy (1968–1974)
Soon after the merger of the two companies, it turned out that only Leyland and Jaguar were operating profitably, the Austin / Morris division and thus most of the passenger car sector was on the verge of collapse. Factories and vehicle models were completely out of date, and the development of successor models had largely ceased due to a lack of financial resources. In addition, two models that had just started turned out to be major failures.
As a result, some new car models were developed immediately and very hectically. Apart from the fact that these new developments complement the model range but could not replace it, they again turned out to be mistakes. The vehicles were technically immature, very poorly processed and did not meet the customer's taste, which quickly earned the group a bad reputation. The car market share and with it the capacity utilization of the factories decreased rapidly within a few years. At the same time, the government subsidized the construction of further production sites, which led to lower capacity utilization. In addition, the gold standard brought an overvaluation of the British pound with it, which reduced profits from exports.
To make matters worse, the merger brought together a large number of established car brands under one roof, some of which had previously been bitter competitors, so that there was considerable rivalry within the group. Together with the group-wide new developments, an opaque and double-tracked product portfolio was created for the customer. As a result, the attempt to establish the name “British Leyland” as a uniform umbrella brand ultimately failed.
In addition, the group was very confusing and difficult to manage. Apart from the various competing sub-organizations, British Leyland had over 40 different production facilities at peak times, which were spread over the whole of Central England, making production logistically complex and inefficient.
The problems in the car sector, in combination with overwhelmed and completely divided management, considerable bad investments, extremely problematic relationships with the unions and chaotic conditions in production led to the rapid decline of the entire group of companies. At the end of 1974 the group was on the verge of bankruptcy .
Nationalization, restructuring and reprivatisation (1975–1988)
Since the government did not want to risk the uncontrolled collapse of the group with its more than 170,000 employees and the corresponding rise in unemployment , they decided to nationalize it. The company, which was now called British Leyland Ltd (BL) and later BL plc, was to be restructured at the suggestion of a government commission and the car sector through massive investments of over 1.5 billion (according to 2013: 11 billion ) Pounds sterling will be modernized and expanded.
The expansive plans in the car sector soon proved to be completely unrealistic. Instead, the group management under Michael Edwardes (1977–1982) had to take the path of consolidation and contraction. The product range was streamlined and almost all brands were gradually discontinued, until in 1986 only Rover was basically left. In addition, with the support of the Thatcher government , the unions were ousted, large parts of the middle management were replaced and production was concentrated in a few locations. Numerous factories were closed and tens of thousands of workers made redundant. A joint venture with the Japanese car manufacturer Honda also made it possible to catch up with technological deficits and to bring modern and at least relatively attractive vehicle models with high manufacturing quality onto the market relatively quickly.
This process was accompanied by the gradual sale of almost all other business areas. The bus business was sold to Volvo , Jaguar was sold to Ford , truck production to DAF , the van division was spun off under the name LDV , and the military vehicle division ( Alvis Cars ) was transferred to United Scientific Holdings . The sale of the remaining passenger car division to British Aerospace (BAe) in 1988 finally marked the end of the era of BL, now operating as the Rover Group, as a state-owned company.
However, according to observers, the restructuring of the car division was only partially successful, despite all efforts. The factories were still not running at full capacity, which was mainly due to the company's lack of export orientation . The share in the British car market had fallen to 15 percent by 1987, and the lack of expansion of the dealer network, especially in continental Europe , made it impossible to compensate for the lack of sales on the home market with exports, as was the case with other manufacturers.
Participating companies
Here is a list of the companies and brand names that were grouped under British Leyland. The date corresponds to the time the name was first used. This information is often not clearly identifiable. The list is structured according to the current owners of the trademark rights (status 2009).
Trademark rights today: PACCAR Corp.
- 1896 Leyland Motors (commercial vehicles)
Trademark rights today: BMW
- 1898 Riley
- 1923 Triumph Motor Company
- 1959 Mini , the first vehicles appeared as Morris Mini-Minor and Austin Seven, later used as a separate brand in the group
Trademark rights today: Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation
- 1895 Wolseley
- 1905 Austin
- 1912 Morris
- 1913 Vanden Plas (trademark rights outside North America)
- 1923 MG , established by Morris for the brand's sports cars
- 1929 American Austin
- 1952 Austin Healey , established by Austin for the brand's sports cars (rights shared with Healey Automotive Consultants (HAC), who owns the Healey trademark)
- 1975 Princess , own brand for the successor to the Austin / Morris 1800, which initially appeared as the Austin Princess
Trademark rights today: Tata
- 1895 Lanchester Motor Company built the first car from all-British parts
- 1896 Daimler
- 1904 Rover
- 1935 Jaguar
- 1947 Land Rover , established by Rover for the brand's off-road vehicles
Trademark rights today: BAE Systems
- 1919 Alvis
Trademark rights today: BSA Regal Group
- 1924 BSA
Trademark rights today: British Motor Heritage
Trademark rights today: FIAT
- 1931 Innocenti
Mergers
- 1910 Daimler is bought by BSA
- 1931 BSA buys Lanchester. (1956 there is the last Lanchester)
- 1938 Morris, Wolseley and Riley merge to form the Nuffield Organization
- 1944 Standard buys Triumph Cars and becomes Standard Triumph
- 1946 Austin buys Vanden Plas
- 1952 the Nuffield Organization and Austin merge to form British Motor Corporation (BMC)
- 1960 Jaguar buys the car names from BSA, especially Daimler
- 1961 Leyland Motors buys Standard Triumph
- 1965 Rover buys Alvis
- 1966 BMC and Jaguar merge to form British Motor Holdings
- 1967 Leyland takes over Rover
- 1968 Leyland merges with British Motor Holdings to form British Leyland Motor Corporation
- 1975 Due to massive financial problems, the company is nationalized and renamed British Leyland Limited .
British Leyland , associations of automobile brands and owners from 1890 to 1975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
brand | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
jaguar | SS Cars | jaguar | jaguar | BMH | British Leyland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daimler | Daimler | BSA | BSA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lanchester | Lanchester | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mini | BMC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Riley | Riley | Nuffield organization | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MG | Morris Garages (MG) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris | Morris | Morris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley | Wolseley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin | Austin | Austin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vanden Plas | Vanden Plas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
rover | rover | rover | rover | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Land Rover | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alvis | Alvis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
default | default | Standard triumph | Leyland Motors | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
triumph | Dawson | triumph | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leyland | Leyland |
Spin-offs
- 1978 Land Rover is established as an independent company within BL
- 1979 collaboration with Honda
- 1981 Alvis is sold to United Scientific Holdings
- 1982 British Leyland becomes the Austin Rover Group (ARG), but without Jaguar and Daimler under the Jaguar Cars Holdings to be continued
- 1983 Signing of a contract with Honda to develop a joint mid-range car
- 1984 the production of Morris Ital expires, which means the end of the Morris emblem
- 1984 Jaguar splits off (including Daimler and the US rights to Vanden Plas)
- 1986 Austin Rover is renamed the Rover Group , the Austin emblem disappears the following year
- 1987 Leyland Bus splits off and is bought by Volvo in 1988
- 1987 Leyland Trucks and Vans is sold to DAF and the vehicles are now offered as DAF-Leyland. The Vans (vans) are 1993 independent LDV , the truck factory is again independent in the same year and Leyland Trucks, which in 1998 by Paccar adopted and Foden are fused
- 1987 Unipart, BL's spare parts manufacturer is sold through a management buy-out
- In 1988 the Rover Group is privatized and British Aerospace sold
- 1994 the Rover Group is sold to BMW - this ends the cooperation with Honda
- 2000 Under pressure from its shareholders, BMW sells the Rover Group for a symbolic price. Land Rover goes to Ford , Mini stays with BMW, as do the unused brands “Standard”, “Triumph” and “Riley”.
- 2000 the company is now called MG Rover Group
- 2005 MG Rover Group ends automobile production
British Leyland , spin-offs and sales of the brands from 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brand before 1976 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | Automobile brand today | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | ||
jaguar | British Leyland | jaguar | ford | Tata | jaguar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daimler | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lanchester | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vanden Plas (North America) | Execution reference | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Freight Rover (since 1981) | BL (Land Rover Leyland Group) | Rover Group | DAF ( DAF-Leyland ) | LDV | GAS | LDV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leyland | Leyland | Paccar ( DAF ) | DAF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leyland bus | Volvo | Volvo (bus) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Land Rover | Rover Group | British Aerospace | BMW | ford | Tata | Land Rover | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rover (brand) | BL (Austin Rover Group) | BMW | ford | not used | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rover (model rights) | BMW | Phoenix Consortium ( MG Rover Group ) |
SAIC | Roewe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rover (works) | Phoenix Consortium ( MG Rover Group ) |
Nanjing | SAIC | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin-Healey | Austin-Healey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MG | MG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vanden Plas (Europe) | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mini | BMW | Mini (BMW) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Riley | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
triumph | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
default | BMW | British Motor Heritage | not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alvis | British Leyland | United Scientific Holdings | Alvis plc | Alvis Vickers | BAE Systems | not used |
The main models from BL and BMC 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; originally as Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor)
- 1961 Jaguar E-Type (Jaguar)
- 1961 Riley Elf (BMC)
- 1961 Wolseley Hornet (BMC)
- 1962 BMC ADO16 Austin or Morris 1100/1300 (BMC)
- 1962 MGB (BMC)
- 1962 Triumph Spitfire (Leyland Triumph)
- 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 / Sterling (ARG)
Trivia
- Because of the difficulties mentioned and the quality problems, the name British Leyland was often derided as British misery in the German-speaking world .
- CEO Michael Edwardes described his time at British Leyland in a book as an "apocalyptic experience".
literature
- Church, Roy: The rise and decline of the British motor industry . 1st edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995, ISBN 0-521-55770-4 , The vicissitudes and collapse of a 'national champion', pp. 88 ff .
- Cowin, Chris: British Leyland: Chronicle of a Car Crash 1968–1978. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Seattle, WA 2012, ISBN 978-1-4775-6067-9 .
- Daniels, Jeff: British Leyland: the truth about the cars . Osprey Publishing, London 1980, ISBN 0-85045-392-5 .
- Tolliday, Steven: Competition and the Workplace in the British Automobile Industry. 1945-1988 . In: Perkins, Edwin J. (Ed.): Business and Economic History On-Line (BEH On-Line) (= The Proceedings of the Business History Conference ). No. 17 . Proquest, 1988, ISSN 1941-7349 , pp. 63 ff . (British English, online [accessed on April 17, 2013] Brief but very intensive consideration especially on the role of the trade unions and contemporary comparisons with the situation of other European car manufacturers, very good list of sources).
- Wood, Jonathan: Wheels of misfortune: the rise and fall of the British motor industry . Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1988, ISBN 0-283-99527-0 .
Web links
- AROnline: Made in Britain ... Adams, Keith et al., 2013, accessed April 17, 2013 .
- A Brief History of British Leyland. (PDF; 14 kB) South Alabama British Car Club, January 15, 2012, accessed April 17, 2013 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Great Britain / Dept. of Industry / Secretary of State for Industry (Ed.): British Leyland, the next decade: an abridged version of a report presented to the Secretary of State for Industry / by a team of inquiry led by Sir Don Ryder . Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London 1975, ISBN 0-10-023425-9 (This paper later became known as the "Ryder Report". An online version is here .).
- ^ Central Policy Review Staff (Ed.): The future of the British car industry; report by the Central Policy Review Staff . Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London 1975, ISBN 0-11-700566-5 (This paper was created parallel to the Ryder Report and presented the situation much more realistically.).
- ↑ Bulky to the front. Der Spiegel, September 17, 1979, accessed on July 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Together we are weak: The merger to form British Leyland ruined Auto-England in 1968. WAZ NewMedia GmbH & Co. KG (derwesten.de), February 18, 2008, accessed on April 17, 2013 .
- ^ Edwardes, Michael: Back from the brink: an apocalyptic experience . Collins, London 1983, ISBN 0-00-217098-1 (monograph).