Home > British Leyland Motor Corporation
The British Leyland Motor Corporation (often abbreviated to simply "BL"), was a car manufacturing company formed in Britain in 1968.1 History
BL was created from the merger of many British car manufacturing companies. Many of these brands have since been divested and continue to exist to this day, although the British Leyland name came to an end in 1982. The most direct heir of the company is the current MG Rover Group.
The company became an infamous monument to the industrial turmoil that plagued Britain in the 1970s. At its peak, BL owned nearly 40 different manufacturing plants across the country. Rivalry between the individual marques which had previously been competitors prior to the merger resulted in a product range which was incoherent and full of duplication. This, combined with serious industrial relations problems (principally, the company's relations with hard-line Socialist Trade Unions of the time), and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled bethemoth whose bankruptcy in 1975 was inevitable.
British Leyland also produced commercial vehicles, light vans and agricultural tractors.
2 Timelines
2.1 Merged Companies
The car firms (and car brands) which eventually merged to form the company are as follows.
The dates given are those of the first car of each name, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development.
- 1895 Wolseley
- 1896 Lanchester
- 1896 Leyland Motors (commercial vehicles)
- 1896 DaimlerConfusingly, the name Daimler is used by two completely separate groups of car manufacturers. Both trace back to the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, who patented an engine design in the late 1800s, built (together with Wilhelm Maybach) the first motorcy
- 1898 RileyRiley was a British motorcar manufacturer, and had earlier been a cycle manufacturer. They ended up part of British Leyland. Like Rover and other early car companies, Riley entered car production via the cycle industry. The Riley family had a weaving busi
- 1903 Standard
- 1904 RoverThis article deals with the brand of car known as Rover''. For extraterrestrial vehicles, see Lunar Rover, Mars Rover, and for the game position see softball rover. The first Rover was a tricycle manufactured by Starley & Sutton Co of Coventry, England in
- 1905 Austin
- 1912 Morris
- 1913 Vanden PlasVanden Plas is the name of a company of coach builders for specialist and up-market automobile manufacturers. It originated in Belgium in 1870. In 1946 Vanden Plas became a subsidiary of the Austin Motor Company, which is now part of MG Rover. The North A
- 1919 AlvisIn Norse mythology, Alvis ("all-wise") was a dwarf. Thor's daughter, Thrud, was promised to Alvis in exchange for which Alvis made weapons for the gods. Thor devised a plan to stop Alvis from marrying his daughter. He told Alvis that, because of his small
- 1923 MG created by Morris
- 1923 Triumph Motor Company
- 1924 BSA used as a car brand
- 1935 Jaguar
- 1947 Land Rover created by Rover
- 1952 Austin-Healey created by Austin division of BMC (see below)
- 1959 Mini created by Austin division of BMC (although the name was first used on a variant with Morris badges)
2.2 Other Merger Events
Several of these names (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini) are now in other hands. The history of the mergers and other key events is as follows:
- 1910 Daimler purchased by engineering company BSA
- 1931 Lanchester purchased by BSA. (Last Lanchester 1956)
- 1938 Morris incorporates Wolseley and Riley forming the Nuffield Organisation
- 1944 Standard acquire Triumph Cars, forming Standard Triumph
- 1946 Austin acquire Vanden Plas
- 1952 The Nuffield Organisation and Austin merge to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC)
- 1960 Jaguar buy the car-making interests of BSA, including Daimler
- 1961 Leyland Motors acquire Standard Triumph
- 1965 Rover acquire Alvis
- 1966 BMC merge with Jaguar to form British Motor Holdings
- 1967 Leyland absorb Rover
- 1968 Leyland merge with British Motor Holdings to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation
- 1975 Publication of the Ryder Report, British Leyland nationalised due to financial difficulties, company changes its name to BL Ltd.
- 1977 Michael Edwardes appointed as Chairman by Labour Government. Begins massive cull of excess BL assets.
