Pressed Steel Company
The Pressed Steel Company (PSC) was a British car body manufacturer based in Cowley near Oxford. It was founded in 1926 as a joint venture between the industrialist William Morris, the Budd Corporation and an American bank. The former plant in Swindon is now owned by the BMW subsidiary Swindon Pressings Limited .
Automobile manufacturing
William Morris recognized the potential of pressed car bodies developed by Budd in the USA. The new company initially supplied the Morris Motor Company (MMC), near which production had been set up. In 1935, after the departure of Budd, the company became independent and now also produced for other car manufacturers.
By the late 1950s, most of the UK's major manufacturers were Pressed Steel customers, including Rolls-Royce , Rootes and Standard Triumph . In 1956 PSC built a new plant in Swindon and 1961 in Linwood , Scotland , to manufacture bodies for the new Hillman Imp and the Volvo P1800 sports coupe .
In 1966 PSC merged with Jaguar Cars and the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to form the new British Motor Holdings (BMH). In 1968, BMH and Leyland Motors merged to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). At that time PSC was already the world's largest independent body manufacturer and also supplied non-UK companies with bodies and special machinery, including Volvo , Alfa Romeo and Hindustan Motors .
Under BLMC, PSC merged with the body manufacture of the former BMC subsidiary Fisher & Ludlow. Together they formed the Pressed Steel Fisher .
In 1994 BMW took over the Rover Group and thereby became the owner of the press shop in Swindon. Although BMW sold off most of Rover in 2000, it kept that manufacturing facility and established the subsidiary Swindon Pressings Limited (SPL). SPL now produces most of the body parts for the MINI , which is manufactured by the group subsidiary BMW Works Oxford in Cowley, the former Morris plant.
Railway industry
In 1947 PSC acquired a wagon construction factory in Linwood, Scotland. Numerous passenger train cars were produced for British Railways around 1960 . In addition, diesel and electric multiple units as well as dining cars were built. After completing the modernization program of the railway, hardly any orders could be obtained.
Aircraft industry
In 1960 PSC founded British Executive and General Aviation Limited (BEAGLE), an aircraft manufacturer with branches in Shoreham-by-Sea and Rearsby . In 1966 the company was sold to the British government.