Who killed the British Motor Industry ?

[Social Media]

 

[markclover]

The British killed it by selling the factory and blueprints to China.  That will do it.

[Wobblybob]

The greedy unions and joining the EU killed the British car industry.

[Kwasaki]

Remember the Stag a car in the workshop more than road. 

Remember the Triumph 2000 when it was fuel injected I think and flattening batteries to get it started.

Remember the Allegro got the name Aggro.

My Marina van becoming a Fred Flintstone motor when the floors collapsed in a heap of rust. 

My Dads mini use to fill up with water on the floor when driving along in the rain.

 

To get away from UK but made in England I can thank Ford I guess for getting me to fix cars front to back completely with mechanical failures and bodywork too. ????

 

[MisterTee]

Socialism + unions + workers who don't give a damn.

[IvorBiggun2]

6 minutes ago, Wobblybob said:

The greedy unions

Say no more. I lived in Coventry and in the 50's to the late 60's it was cars cars cars. You name one and it was made in Coventry. Outside my infant school in the 60's was a large grassed open area where a week didn't go by where there wasn't a mass meeting due to a union walk out. In fact the road it sat on was the 'Humber Rd'. The factory was later bought out by Peugeot. Yep those greedy unions destroyed the Coventry car plants.

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, Wobblybob said:

The greedy unions and joining the EU killed the British car industry.

Margaret Thatcher killed all Brit industry.

It was the easiest way to destroy the Unions and the backbone of the Labour Party.

[IvorBiggun2]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Margaret Thatcher killed all Brit industry.

It was the easiest way to destroy the Unions and the backbone of the Labour Party.

Nah the unions killed British industry. 

[Rotweiler]

Unions?  Not really (but did contribute)  Thatcher?  Not really (but she did it no favours).  Really poor quality cars did it, though.  From the late 50's on, names like Lucas and Rover, Triumph and MG etc etc were synonymous with poor quality design, construction and an abysmal lack of quality control - even worse that US car builders in the 60's.

[billd766]

23 minutes ago, Wobblybob said:

The greedy unions and joining the EU killed the British car industry.

Led by red Robbo.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Robinson_(trade_unionist)

 

Robinson was born in Cradley, then in Worcestershire[3][4] and began work in the motor industry as an apprentice at the Austin Motor Company in Longbridge during the Second World War, training as a tool maker.[1][4] He soon became a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1951.[4] He stood as a Communist candidate in four consecutive general elections in Birmingham, Northfield between 1966 and 1974.[2]

British Leyland was the result of a series of mergers between different British motor vehicle manufacturers. By 1975, Robinson was the union convener of the Longbridge plant in Birmingham, having worked his way up from the shop floor to serve as the deputy of the previous convenor, Dick Etheridge, a fellow member of the Communist Party.

 

There is a lot more in the link.

[transam]

I think British Motor Corporation, aka, British Leyland destroyed the UK car industry, they bought up all the brands and then mismanaged the whole industry. Of course the union folk of that era were not a help, but Ford and GM carried on getting bye...

[Wobblybob]

Those of us who are old enough remember British Leyland night shift workers taking their sleeping bags into work with them so they could sleep their shift away.

Union leader Red Robinson led 523 walkouts in a 30 month period. The lunatics had really taken over the asylum. Like the miners unions they thought they could hold our country to ransom, instead they destroyed it.

Maggie had the guts to do something about it, oh how we miss her today.

 

Union convenor Derek Robinson had been dismissed months earlier by British Leyland's chairman Michael Edwardes. Management regarded him as an "insidious influence" and his days at the car firm had been numbered.

A communist, he had led 523 walkouts at the Birmingham car plant during a 30-month period, gaining the nickname Red Robbo from journalists and becoming an increasingly divisive national figure.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-41834559

[Kwasaki]

21 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Margaret Thatcher killed all Brit industry.

It was the easiest way to destroy the Unions and the backbone of the Labour Party.

I with Clarkson, many if not all involved in the UK car industry were to blame. 

Same happened to the motorcycle industry.

[Stocky]

2 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Remember the Allegro got the name Aggro

The 'All Agro'

An truly awful car.

 

1 hour ago, Wobblybob said:

Those of us who are old enough remember British Leyland night shift workers taking their sleeping bags into work with them so they could sleep their shift away.

There was a joke about the definition of a Brummie - someone born within the sound of the Longbridge alarm clocks 

 

The failure to modernise, then the stupidity of nationalising (simply propping up a failing industry), then finally the unions protecting outdated work practices were the final nail in the coffin.

[KhunLA]

Self destructed long time ago, via no QC, and put out some real krap, well, what ever was exported to USA.  Not a single one would be considered a quality, dependable vehicle. 

 

Can't speak for what was sold in UK.  But MG, Triumph, Jaguar, Mini, all mechanical failures in the USA.    Made the Detroit krap look good ???? 

Edited March 19, 2023 by KhunLA

[Kwasaki]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Self destructed long time ago, via no QC, and put out some real krap, well, what ever was exported to USA.  Not a single one would be considered a quality, dependable vehicle. 

 

Can't speak for what was sold in UK.  But MG, Triumph, Jaguar, Mini, all mechanical failures in the USA.    Made the Detroit krap look good ???? 

The XJ6 and XJ12 were sorted in the hands of Ford I remember they sorted the electrical faults out. 

[transam]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Self destructed long time ago, via no QC, and put out some real krap, well, what ever was exported to USA.  Not a single one would be considered a quality, dependable vehicle. 

 

Can't speak for what was sold in UK.  But MG, Triumph, Jaguar, Mini, all mechanical failures in the USA.    Made the Detroit krap look good ???? 

Says the bloke whose motor industry was decimated by the Japanese.....????

Oh, and his brother could not service an MGB............????

[KhunLA]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Says the bloke whose motor industry was decimated by the Japanese.....????

Oh, and his brother could not service an MGB............????

As was the UK's, Euro manufacturers, when Japanese competition hit.   USA manufacturers threw in the towel and just had them make cars for them, and their best sellers at that.  China filling what Japan doesn't make now on the worldwide market, for basically all brands.

 

Good products sell.   Bad product sell, only till people wise up, then go elsewhere.

 

Actually my brother could and did service his MGBs & Triumphs, but just got tired of the constant break downs, stranded & fixing.

 

Whole family is mechanically inclined, and not much I haven't done to an auto myself; swapped engines, trans, rears & even painted one car.  Poverty does that, as silly price mechanics who don't know what they're doing aren't worth paying.

[transam]

1 minute ago, KhunLA said:

As was the UK's, Euro manufacturers, when Japanese competition hit.   USA manufacturers threw in the towel and just had them make cars for them, and their best sellers at that.  China filling what Japan doesn't make now on the worldwide market, for basically all brands.

 

Good products sell.   Bad product sell, only till people wise up, then go elsewhere.

 

Actually my brother could and did service his MGBs & Triumphs, but just got tired of the constant break downs, stranded & fixing.

 

Whole family is mechanically inclined, and not much I haven't done to an auto myself; swapped engines, trans, rears & even painted one car.  Poverty does that, as silly price mechanics who don't know what they're doing aren't worth paying.

Your MGB's had constant breakdowns, perhaps not serviced properly, there was not much to go wrong back then...Hmmmmmmmmm..

[ballpoint]

Complacency of the car companies - "we're the best.  We'll keep making the same models, with the same poor standards".

Ineptitude of a number of governments - yes, Thatcher was a big part, but governments before and after her didn't help.

Greed of the unions - or rather, no desire to work with the factory owners to get through the grim period.

Failure to learn from the British motorcycle industry, which underwent consolidation, followed by bust.  So, what did the car industry do?  Consolidation, followed by bust.  Who could have seen that coming?

[steven100]

I think it's similar to what happened in Australia with Holden cars.  Disposable income gets tighter every year and jobs become redundant so the new car gets put on the backburner.

Also,  competition such as Korea Kia brands and a few others put pressure on Holden sales so eventually the sales numbers are so small that they close shop.    

[LosLobo]

I have owned the following British cars,  an Austin A40, a Trump Herald, a Mini and an Austin 1800.

 

I have worked for Rover.

 

I previously wrongly thought that these represented the best available.

 

The Japanese Car Industry and mainly Toyota, the company that made my last four cars, killed the British Motor Industry.

[transam]

6 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

I have owned the following British cars,  an Austin A40, a Trump Herald, a Mini and an Austin 1800.

 

I have worked for Rover.

 

I previously wrongly thought that these represented the best available.

 

The Japanese Car Industry and mainly Toyota, the company that made my last four cars, killed the British Motor Industry.

But the early Japanese cars were not that appealing either, I worked on those too, back then.........

[In the jungle]

5 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Remember the Stag a car in the workshop more than road. 

Remember the Triumph 2000 when it was fuel injected I think and flattening batteries to get it started.

Remember the Allegro got the name Aggro.

My Marina van becoming a Fred Flintstone motor when the floors collapsed in a heap of rust. 

My Dads mini use to fill up with water on the floor when driving along in the rain.

 

To get away from UK but made in England I can thank Ford I guess for getting me to fix cars front to back completely with mechanical failures and bodywork too. ????

 

It was the Triumph 2.5 that had fuel injection.  Specifically Lucas mechanical fuel injection.  My father had one and I travelled much of Europe in it.

[Social Media]

This is my memory of the Triumph 2.5 PI

 

[LosLobo]

6 minutes ago, transam said:

But the early Japanese cars were not that appealing either, I worked on those too, back then.........

I also had two 70's Datsun 260c sedans which were unreliable but not as bad as my British cars.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

It was the Triumph 2.5 that had fuel injection.  Specifically Lucas mechanical fuel injection.  My father had one and I travelled much of Europe in it.

Triumph PI 2.5 straight 6....Nice car at the time...????

[In the jungle]

1 minute ago, Social Media said:

This is my memory of the Triumph 2.5 PI

 

That is the restyled version.  My father's was a 1969 original body style.

 

Both versions were styled by Michellotti.

[In the jungle]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Triumph PI 2.5 straight 6....Nice car at the time...????

I remember the smell of the leather interior.  Of course it rusted.  They all did.

[transam]

4 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

I also had two 70's Datsun 260c sedans which were unreliable but not as bad as my British cars.

At that time, I had a Ford Granada GXL V6 3.0 auto, followed by a Ford Granada Ghia V6 3.0 Auto....They were fabulous cars.....