Who Killed the British Motor Industry pt 2

[BayAreaOrBust]

GM and British Leyland have to be two of some of the biggest industrial distaters in history.

[finmarc]

British Leyland even built refrigirators (saw one at a brit soldiers`kitchen)

[BayAreaOrBust]

@finmarc Were they any good? I be not

[finmarc]

@BayAreaOrBust

for they (the brits I mean) drink their beer in warm condition (and so did I when on visit) I cant tell if they were any good

[kernals12]

I'm trying to think which BL brands are proportionate to which GM brands, let's try this

Morris= Chevrolet

Rover= Buick

MG= Pontiac

Austin= Oldsmobile

Jaguar/Daimler= Cadillac

Mini= Saturn

[AgCCannonFodder]

Hmm British Leyland is a good analogy for the European Union

[WAYNE1977100]

Austin Allegro vs Morris Marina which one would i choose as my new car if i was buying one in the 70s. I think i will go for a nice new mk3 Ford Cortina 2000E in Roman Bronze with tobacco vinyl roof and those nice steel sports road wheels.

[mustang6172]

This part gives the appearance that the American makes had the opposite problems of British makes: American cars would be rebadged two or three times with no mechanical difference between a Chevy and a Pontiac, a Ford and a Mercury, or a Dodge and a Plymouth.

[MNExotics]

How come that marina didn't have a piano dropped on it?  I thought that was standard feature.

[SschmierFink]

Damn you, Top Gear! I now recognise a Morris.

Why?

[rudeydudey05]

@sarcasticus786

Wow, your a deluded, nasty bit of work arnt you?

[sarcasticus786]

Conclusion- British arrogance, selfishness, self importance and fierce animalistic territorial behaviour killed the British car Industry. The same attitude that is destroying the country now. Nobody wants to do menial work they see beneath them and foreigners are coming in doing those menial jobs. Then the British have the audacity to hate foreigners. It's about time we pulled our heads out of our arses and start thinking about the country rather than ourselves.

[plaidzinc]

@sarcasticus786 British people dont hate foreigners. I think they hate a sudden, overwhelming influx in the millions. As any country would.

[fjordland]

@plaidzinc: Yes England is a bit too attractive because they don't treat displaced Human Beings like garbage.

It makes the rest of the world look threatening and mean. I don't think people go there for the climate or flash jobs.

[aircombact2001]

OMG and some ppl still say that italian cars are rubbish, how do they dare open their mouth lol

[bogomir67]

Is it just me, or was British Leyland in the UK that, what the communist party was in Russia????

[christianpetty]

Interestingly enough this has occured again - with rivalry occuring internally between Land Rover And Jaguar now ! - A Jaguar factory employee looks down on a Land Rover employee - and the same goes for Land Rovers thoughts of Jaguar too ! - they still will not share information technically. and cause themselves further delays in fixing issues fast - causing customer dissatisfaction. They will not communicate and share info as one company. They will cause there own demise again !!

[ThunderAppeal]

British Leyland what happens when monopoly and lack of business regulation run amok.

[yorrickwi]

and the most loved car of englend s here too the morris marina

[toyotasera55]

I think that many factors contributed overall, as noted in other comments such issues as the Unions, internal rivalry, Political issues,missed chances, laziness/ lack of interest in a car once it left their hands, etc. but I think the demise has to be viewed on two levels, that all those issues from 1930s-60s then 60s-90s were the reasons why MGRover would be in a bad situation by the time BMW came,but then the next level is to look at the 90s-06 years,the mini issue etc. crucial to the collapse

[TheZanipolo]

I think it was a bit of everything, shit management, Communist unions, lack of investment, lack of training - basically all the things that ruined the rest of the economy. I'm very much afraid it's just cultural - it's part of being British.

[KezefAdirion]

@TheZanipolo It can't be just part of being British, it's happening right now here in America. Otherwise I agree.

[nlscb2]

Well, at least we know that companies like GM and Chrysler and unions like the UAW aren't just an American thing.

[kafcan]

Leyland cars certainly have a bad name but not all modern cars are good! Why is it that a Cadillac BLS sells for HALF list price?

[omarspence]

looks like a case of divided we fail

[ebebimik]

they were UNITED which is why they were DIVITED (hated each other) in the end...

[ThePatUltra]

The Allegro being "technically advanced" kind of reminds me of Chevy's Lumina Eurosport. It was also supposed to be "technically advanced". It was a flawed car that would have been best kept as a concept car, nothing more. The Allegro's styling also reminds me of the Chevy Chevette. Then there was the Monza. Its roof was the thickest piece of steel on the whole car, floorboards included, and that wasn't saying much. GM and Mopar need to go ahead and die, make way for cottage industry cars.

[toreto5000]

triumph had very beatiful cars

[GRAHAMAUS]

My uncle worked for Leyland Trucks. Talking to him just after the Princess was launched, I was shocked that he totally dissed the car. I expected him to be proud of his own company's products, even it was awful, so the rivalry/distrust/hatred between the various arms was apparent even then.

[1958plymouth440V8]

Anybody know that little song that begins at about 3:11 to 3:12?

[RevStaplehurst]

That'll be "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge

Ohh the irony!

[Seattlecarnut]

I'll say this for Jeremy Clarkson; he has a sense of humour.

[hamsterdance4lyf08]

I don't understand, when BL formed all the companies could be a huge big happy family.. but instead most of the them hated each other i.e Triumph and Rover.

[ScLeCo]

GM pisses me off, they Fuck up so many great cars and then replace them with shit. Fat upper management just a big fat mess that we have to pay for.

[Ryoku75]

I'm with ya, the new Camaros a mess, the Corvettes Ferrari-fied, Poniacs line-up is a mess, the newer Solistice was ruined, Saturns line-up is quite Wapanese, and to solve their problems they simply fire people while keeping their planes. Its a metter of bad taste, bad managment, and materialism, it'd stink to see the GM name go but the sooner the better so the name isn't ruined any longer. Atleast Chryslers are trying to look different, Fords are getting ugly.

[aquecedoroleo]

did you know that Gm's EV1, electric vehicle, was constructe and assassinated by GM itself.

you know, oil companies, stupid governament, all that stuff

[Capitanvolume]

@ScLeCo Thats true marketing people designed GM cars, that fucked everything up because instead of saying

"Well lets do this because it's better" they said "No, lets do this because we'll make more money"

[Turismo87]

jeremy once said that allegro and marina both are one of the worst cars ever built

[crazycardude1984]

anyone getting a sense of deja vu?

[theGetRealGuy]

you mean the weak and stupid Management being bailed out by an equally weak and stupid Government part?

[gumbypiz]

I'm thinking the same thing. The problems of GM now to BMC decades before is astounding. Too many versions of the same crappy car, fighting for the same market. All shabbily built by unmotivated union workers, and managed by fat cat overpaid executives. And like the UK citizens, we taxpayers take a bath in bailing these failures out.

Whats that line again about those who don't learn from history are doomed to...

[jozg44]

The same thing occured to me- GM is now about where BL was in the early 80s- overstretched, complacent, inefficient and in need of complete re-invention. BL came very close to turning itself around once it became the Rover Group- it ditched all but 3 of its brand names, stopped nearly all the badge-engineering and produced several market-leading cars....then BMW came along and torpedoed the whole business just as it was reviving. Moral- don't let any German companies get hold of GM.

[gumbypiz]

Good point that. I'd like to say the same thing about Mercedes and Chrysler, aka Daimler Chrysler. But in this case, and unlike BMW, Mercedes actually made Chrysler better (at least for the chassis platforms, for a little while at least). Now that Daimler (wisely) bailed, Mopar (Chrysler) is surely going to take a dirt nap. Too bad though, a great company with a great history driven into the ground by poor management, planning and design. Now that FIAT's on board, can only wonder...

[Sephirius]

Part of the problem was that when Daimler jumped ship they took all of Chrysler's R&D funds with them.

[firehawk400]

We learned our lesson after the DaimlerChrysler affair. I hope.

[mercedesE320fan]

Yes Chrysler make some good cars The 300C 3.0TD (Mercedes-Benz ENGINE) thats a decent car, but Chrysler where costing Mercedes-Benz too much money, soo ergoo DaimlerBenzAG which is better for Mercedes-Benz.

But i hope Chrysler & GM dont go bankrupt !

[fjordland]

You Gotta Wonder where they can take it from here Ultra High Tech Needs Big Money State Auto Makers.

Retro or Stylish Cars are needed too but can the US compete with China and India. Perhaps Referbishment might be a new role for Automakers?

[71TR6Guy]

True -- except that the UK govt. did try to bail out BL too. We're just repeating the BL mess pretty much step by step here, 20 years after.

Ford is the only one who had their crap together well enough to not need our $ to survive past this January.

The opening 2 minutes to this show (Who killed the British motor industry Pt 1) was like watching a summary of the past 20 years here in the US.

No sympathy for GM from me though -- not after all those junk cars they sold us in the 80s and 90s...

[Islamicpeace]

shame about BL Cars, i tihnk the unions killed it.

[TeeVeeNZ]

I guess they will live on in India for now.

Unless the Chinese plan to do something.

[OfficialNonsense]

What was the song at 3:14? And why do I swear I've heard it before?

[deletetotheend]

It's "We are Family" by Sister Sledge. You probably have heard it before because it's a famous 70's song

[worcesterwombat]

bloody unions

[rhadooxxl]

It's really too bad. BL could have been great. It offered the widest selection of cars, you literally had something for everyone. I guess there is enough blame to go around, unions, management, goverment, all of them.

[Volkskraft]

The most harsh example of marxism in Great Britain. Dig it.

[fastrover]

I think was the british people who killed it in first place back in the 80's.

They should be more proud of their own industry because it's brilliant.

[hamsterdance4lyf08]

I agree with you there, the idea of BL was great cause they could produce a wide range cars for different people. BL was a family, if you know what I mean, But all the companies hated each other, I like to think of it was sibling rivalry taken to far.

We all know what the problems were of BL, and if we knew them all those year ago, BL could be here today.. x

[toyotasera55]

@hamsterdance4lyf08 Beauty of Hindsight. I often wish We could go back and tell them, just change it a little where ever it kept going wrong.

[aeolus75]

thank for that Video :))

[zepsterboy]

These cars make me ashamed to be English.Typical English Post war management thinking of the time was that instead of focusing on investing in new technologies and research, management had the post war british empire view that johnny foreigner could never topple us and they stood still as the world rushed past. Land rover and Jag seem to be on the right road now so at least some of the great names live on albeit under foreign ownership. I dont have a problem with that.

[seroyer2]

I'm an American how do you think I feel about are car industry right now?

[fjordland]

This story won't be very comforting for you when you see how easy the great names can fall.

[joycie1bannercheck]

what im curious about is. in australia. under australian management holden (GM) and ford make decent cars like the falcon, commodore etc. and we also get the UK styled good little hatchbacks like the fiesta and the barina. how come ford america and GM still appear to be flogging americans lumbering barges with wheels that suck oil refineries dry.

[fjordland]

I think Ford at Least are Looking at this problem as they are in a small way getting to touch of Leyland overkill sickness with too many variations on product.

[DarylJCheetham]

@fjordland Wow 2 years old :D

This is where it gets weird. Ford in the UK was a completely different manufacturer to ford in the usa. Hence why I regard the Capri, escort etc as british cars.

[seroyer2]

because they can get a way with it, gas here is (US)$4.00 Gallon or about (US)$1.00 per liter. so gas here is not all that expensive. all thought people may complain it not to the point where people are going to change there driving habits. but more importantly it is the auto unions that are bring the industry down what are auto makers have to pay per employee is insane. Toyota pay's $800 per employee in benefits, GM pay's $2,500 per employee in benefits.

[GunsOfThePhoenix]

@joycie1bannercheck I know, we just got the Ford Fiesta here and it was released world wide in 2003 except here in the US and Canada. We were given a junk version of the Fiesta Hopefully GM will do better now that its under new management, the reason why our own car companies give us crap cars (the reason a lot of us buy imports), is because they are designed to fall apart in under 6 years.

[superjetx]

Its a very very similar story. Bad cars and powerful unions

[polobuzzin]

The Ital was never designed by Ital design, but in the drawing office at Longbrige.

[malcstag]

shocking, those BL managers were wankers, great names buried for ever. Look at Renault, and VW state owned doing well. It just needed an iron fist and good management to sort, surprise no government would do it, labour sold out to UK workers and R&D will follow

[flanneryged]

A very informative and amusing tale.The real

tragedy is all of it is "TRUE"??.How can a bunch of so-called educated men be so idiotic

and stupid,The lovely Triumph Stag was utterly

ruined by that pathetic cobbled together engine.I still can not believe it ever happened.Bolting two unreliable engines together at the crank is a recipe for disaster,and disaster is exactly what they got.The Stag does still look great but for Gods sake do not ever drive it through Town on

a hot day.

[alanridgley]

british motor industry was gerrymandering at it's finest,support lame ducks to buy votes!!

[thouarttim]

gerrymandering? do you know what that is?

[JBofBrisbane]

@alanridgley - two years ago, I know, but I think you meant pork-barrelling. Gerrymandering is rigging electoral boundaries, not throwing money around.

[alanmk5]

i'm laughing at this

but i don't suppose the people who worked for bl will be

[Fanfman]

I like the Ital. I love its unusual styling. It combined a 70s body with 80s fit and finish. It's original to say the least. At one time it was the 5th best-selling car in Britain. As hated as it is, many many people had one.

For the record, Harris Mann designed the car completely.

[odentroll]

It Sounds like Herb Albert to me.

but very 70s

[petersfield209]

Does anyone know what the background music is at 03.47? It is brilliant!

I have always thought that all of Clarkson's and Top Gear's progrmammes feature relly fitting music.

[metyman63]

"Despite the long-held belief that Ital Design was responsible for the revised styling of the new car, it was somewhat less involved in the process -- simply handling its productionisation"

[metyman63]

"The Longbridge drawing office headed by Harris Mann soon completed a neat facelift,Of course, the story soon got out that the Morris Ital was actually the work of Giorgetto Giugiaro and, as one insider has subsequently said: "...why spoil the story with facts, we thought"

[metyman63]

Sorry but you are wrong mate. Take a look at Austin Rover online, and you can read the full story about the Morris Ital, Harris Mann gave the Marina Its face lift into the Ital.

[metyman63]

Mr Clarkson gets his facts wrong yet again, Ital was styled by Harris Mann.

[doomantia]

English Humour. Don't you just love it!!!