Death of the UK Car Industry - Part 2: British Leyland

British car industry died because it's a JUNK!

Old stubborn men that had no clue how to run a company or what the public needed. What a shame.

Driving those Marinas on a beach - that was the end of those cars.

What I’ve always found funny about British vehicles in the USA is the persistent rumor that one should never buy one that was assembled on a Friday.

I’ve owned a few Rover products, and tbh, I’ve come to love all of them. The quirky nature, horrendous Lucas electrics, sometimes laughable build quality are all what made me love them. Call me a masochist, but they were all far more interesting than equivalent vehicles.

I currently have a Discovery with over 200k miles on the odometer. Original engine and transmission. Still runs perfectly. It was made on a Tuesday, so maybe there’s something to the rumor…😂

keep striking that's what you get
ford was creeping in with the best selling cortina
so was datsun
while our rust buckets marina and allegro wasn't selling well

Rootes cars are boring, old fashioned and slow.....

There are many reasons why British manufacturing declined - it had actually been in decline since the late 1800s. Apart from the unions and appalling industrial relations in general, as early as 1900 people like Andrew Carnegie were pointing out that British industry was using equipment and techniques that were 20 years out of date and as a result were being decimated by American and German firms. British industry was badly managed, suffered from chronic underinvestment, and massive complacency because of the captive markets of the Empire. There was also a innate conservatism on all sides of industry, which rejected new industries and methods. The education system was very poor and the much vaunted apprenticeship schemes were teaching outdated techniques with antiquated machinery. The final blow came with the Thatcher government's experiment with monetarism in the early 80s - the high interest rates killed a large part of the good parts of British manufacturing as well as the bad. Denis Healey, Labour chancellor in the 70s, felt that Britain's then entrenched class divisions were a large part of the problem. He noted that foreign management tended to be much more highly trained than their British counterparts and also enjoyed better relations with the workers because they were not part of the British upper classes.

My friends brother bought a new allegro, and later traded it in for the new TR7 bullet………
We never did get to find out what was wrong with him.

My Grandfather retired from AWA in Ashfield Sydney 1972 after making stuff for WW 2 Korea Vietnam wars allied stuff ! Retired 1972 buy A crap heap Leyland Marina???? Greatest piece of crap ever !! He should have got a Datsun120y

Ref: Title.. The Death of private cars in general is happening right now.

It's Amazing that Cowley is still going thanks to Germany knowing how to make great cars

I could read BL factory and ownership stories all day, they are so fascinating, and often hilarious. Ironically, or perhaps not ironically, decades later, many other big names in the global automotive industry are now going down the toilet, including everything amalgamated into Stellantis, Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi; even GM and Ford are not doing well.

Videos like this explain clearly how the unions were far from the only problem at BMC and BLMC: they were just the final nail in the coffin of a very sick company.

Frenchman here and anglophile too. My first car was a Triump Spitfire Mk III (2nd hand purchase) my second was a Triumph Spitfire Mk IV purchased brand new: after 1000 km my rear axle had to be changed, 10 000km later my gearbox had a circlips issue (broke down, repaired incorrectly by the Triumph dealer, broke again, sold it. Then I purchased a Triumph Stag 2nd hand at 10,000 km and almost everything broke on it except the gearbox (rear axle, power steering, motor seized because of over heating). I still have it but every long trip with it is like Russian roulette game. After this I purchased Honda Civics, Accords. My son has a CRV that is now 930,000 km and still reliable (no tow-truck business card collectionj
Long speech to say, I tried real hard to use British cars but I finally gave up and did not tell my friends to buy British.

....narrow-minded, incompetent management - irresponsible unions with their stupid strikes plus lousy, sloppy workmanship...three bullits, that killed the british car industry.

These are brilliant documentaries. Thank you. The age old story of greedy individuals not willing to compromise. When will we learn.

Bl was not bad, we had many cars and all worked good and reliable....rust was also a problem of many other brands, even VW, BMW and Audi...

Shareholders kill profit and investment

My 1st car was a 76 BL Mini clubman. Fun little cars that ran really well in the super cold winters in Saskatchewan. And only having to fill the 5 gal tank once a week was super cheap.

Fiat had similar problems back then. I heard that the Fiat plants in Italy, workers would only fit one bolt to the front seat instead of four, leaving the other three bolts in the foot well. They knew Fiat UK would finish the job for them. Great video. Thanks.

Puzzled by the title - UK car industry has not died. We make as many cars as we did back in the 70s.

Having posted already I've remembered 2 more stories. After the my dad's 1st 59 mini he had a wolsey hornet an elf and mini coopers. He had keep them for 6 months before he could sell them then make money each time trading up each time! Due to a growing family he ended up with a Farina Riley that nearly killed him due to NO nuts holding the leaf springs to the axle! He thought it was very "sloppy" to drive but accepted it wasn't a mini cooper s. His blood ran cold thinking about travelling with family in it. This was found by the dealer at its first service at about 1000 miles. He waited while it was done when a man wearing a brown dust coat came over to speak to him. He was VERY sorry and explained the problem, and made lots of apologies on behalf of the company. Brown coat man started asking where he bought it as it wasn't a local registration and couldn't understand how it wasn't picked up sooner. Dad explained it was a staff purchase and picked it up from the factory and the man who brought the car to him filled the tank instead of the usual 2 gallons as he was "one of them". The brown coat man (workshop foreman) had now been joined by 3 men in suits and they fell about laughing laughing! Puzzled and a bit peed off by all this said " I'm not impressed with you laughing (or something like that! 😊). They explained that they though it was a setup from the company to test them out and see how the delt with it because of the JOH.... Registration (Birmingham). Anyway they said it was one of the better ones! Dad replaced it with a mk3 Zephyr 6 then a zodiac having left bmc sorry if I've rambled on a bit but it still makes me laugh 50 odd years on. Ps dad did by another Leyland car, an SD1 in the 1976/7 (r reg) now that WAS A DISASTER ON Wheels! I could share that story one day😅

My late father was eligible to buy cars through the employee purchase arrangement and had one of very first MINI's. It was truly amazing at the time pasangers couldn't believe the AtoB times.

Hs2 is the new leyland

A classic tale of useless British businessmen AGAIN !

The mini and his so called fuel economy. I had a Mini in the late 70's and early 80s, showing a normal fuel burn of 6-7 liters per 100 Kilometers. Today, my daily driver is a Fiat Cinquecento 170 from 1993, regularly showing 4-5 liters at most. And we are talking the about same engine capacity, but producing 75 hp as opposed to the 34 hp of the Mini. Fuel economy, my shinny metal butt.

No surprise it went under turning out ugly,out dated and unreliable vehicles

Lord Stokes thought it was a good idea to kill off the Mini Cooper in 1971 with his stingy Tory mentality. It’s the story of everything that’s wrong with the UK

Fast forward 50 odd years. And you have Brexit and the same mentality as you did back then… it’s one step forward, 30 steps back.

I know someone who got fired from quality control from bl for finding too many faults.

Stokes, in my mind was always nothing more than the salesman that he was when he accidentally crashed into the car industry. Basically he had no clue whatsoever and did little more than just sell stuff. Besides, slapping a truck label on a car is stupid to begin with. So we have Stokes and the butt kissers in Whitehall, all of which have no idea what they are doing.

Destruction , by design

If it’s not working we will merge with something else that also isn’t working

British Leyland's problems exemplified in the heading photo: the Morris Marina. Underdeveloped prior to launch and incorporating a load of outdated technology, A and B-series engines, front and rear lever-arm shock absorbers. It was never going to compete with a Mk.1 Escort or the newly launched Hillman Avenger. Build quality was absolutely rubbish. Only bought by blinkered, die-hard Morris customers or totally cluelessly buyers.

Didn't Ford help save Jaguar? That says a lot about the UK car industry right there.

He remind came around if it wasn't for the rule breakers in Europe including basically every country in Europe. They say American Rochelle the rope to hang themselves if they can make a buck. The English are a sterling example of being pounded her blind greed.

Turnbull, Hyundai. Alienating a former Friend will always bite you in the rear end within a very short time. Under the line, how many sales from BL has Hyundai cost them. Millions I presume.

Sad. Even when the cars were …. Well …..

Maxis were rubbish. Gears controlled by bowding cables that stretched. Total rubbish. My HA and HC Vauxhall Viva went ok but recon engine a gearbox every 80000 km max. Viva gearboxes had no oil drain plug.

The assembly lines looked antiquated by 1920s standards.

My parents owned a Triumph Toledo in the very late 1970's and early 1980's. Until 1986 i think. In all that time, we only broke down once and that was due to running out of petrol!! We then gave it to my Aunt and she had it for another 3-4 years and she never had any problems with it. Maybe we were lucky!! 😂😂

They obviously forgot that if you make a car that isn't reliable, of decent build quality, drives ok and looks half decent and is favourable in price, you won't sell anything. And vice versa.

No company, no matter what they do or make, can be 'pushed upmarket'. That is a total illusion. The only way to go 'upmarket' is by producing things that actually are upmarket. Renaming a turd will not stop it from being a turd.

Marina + Piano = Perfection.

If you compare what they were selling compared to every other car maker they were woefully inadequate in every way. Lazy workers and head in the clouds or sand management didn't help. Everything was put into Leyland at the cost of Triumph and roots.

When my Dad brought a Nissan Bluebird 1.8 GL Estate (In Canary Yellow ) it was an absolute work horse ,we went everywhere in it London to see the Royal tournament and to Scotland to see the Edinburgh Military tattoo ,Dad said id NEVER BY A BRITISH CAR AGAIN .
However he had to part with it as the sills rotted in and around all the wheel arches ,but the engine was bullet proof, and was a dam good car .