PSA again dipped into the corporate parts-bin when devising the Samba replacement. The most suitable idea was a car based around the 1986 Citroen AX… Citroen AX-based replacement During 1983/84, PSA investigated the possibility of producing a replacement for the Samba, which was based upon the upcoming Citroen AX. The plans did not develop much [...]

The Clubman was developed through BMC’s desire to expand the Mini concept, without spending too much money. It started out as a hatchback proposal penned by Roy Haynes, and then developed into something rather less useful. Words: Ian Nicholls Keeping up appearances THE Mini Clubman story starts in 1967 when BMC managing director Joe Edwards [...]

Early on during the Samba’s development programme, PSA decided that something extra was needed for its new baby in order to have added market appeal. The Cabriolet was an obvious answer, especially following the success of the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet… Although the cabriolet was announced at the time of the Samba’s launch in November 1981, [...]

Ian Nicholls charts the origins and production history of the legendary Mini Cooper. In doing so, Ian explains: ‘This article is not meant to be a rehash of the Mini Cooper story, but an attempt to show how the car fitted in with the BMC>MG story.’ The giant-killer AS is well known, when the 34bhp [...]

The Talbot Samba was another car that relied on badge engineering to take it to market… But despite that, it was a reasonable success in its home market – but was that the UK or France? Changing tune… The story of the Talbot Samba, sadly, is one of history repeating itself… However, it is not [...]

The Talbot Tagora was vitally important to the long-term future of the Talbot marque: after all, it was one of three mid-market carmakers nestling under the PSA banner. Executive cars were always bought and sold on style and image; the Tagora – according to many commentators – fell short on both Brochure images Taken from [...]

What better way than to make a splash on he French market than to produce a car designed to lever governmental types out of their Citroen CXs and SMs. This was Talbot’s attempt to out-do Citroen… The brief for the Présidence was to design a Talbot Tagora with everything, the kind of car that would [...]

Project C9 was instigated in 1976, and like the Alpine and Horizon before it, was engineered in France and styled in the UK. The car that emerged was the first car to emerge from the combine, which was not styled under the directorship of Roy Axe… The upscaled Solara concept was considered a failure by [...]

Chrysler’s great white hope in the executive sector was the C9 project. However, events overtook its development, and Peugeot ended up finishing the job. And like all the best stories, it ended up in abject failure… Wrong car, wrong time To fully understand why Chrysler Europe decided to replace the slow-selling Chrysler 180/2-Litre models just [...]

Fancy a Rover 25 or its MG ZR sister? Here’s what to look out for… Words: Mike Humble Availability Years produced: 1999-2005 Body styles: three- and five-door hatchback, three-door van (MG and Rover). Offered as Rover 25, Streetwise, MG ZR Engine options: Petrol: 1.1-1.4 (16v), 1.4 (16v), 1.6 and 1.8 Diesel: 2.0 (turbo) Transmission options: [...]

Freelander underwent a rather convoluted development programme; it started out as a joint Rover Cars/Land Rover project to produce a vehicle to compete in the emerging “crossover” market, as epitomised by the Suzuki Vitara… The initial projects crystallised into the Rover Oden and Land Rover Pathfinder. It was the latter that survived into maturity, and [...]

The rear wheel drive version of the MG ZT spent a long time in development – and in the end it didn’t make it into production, as time ran out for it. Wearing the coveted chassis number one, the ZT XPower 385 is another of those fascinating might-have-beens that never saw the light of day. [...]

Following BMW’s disposal of the Rover Group in 2000, production of the then-new 75 needed moving from Cowley to Longbridge. Here’s the story, as recounted by IAN ELLIOTT back in 2000, and produced for the then fledgling MG Rover PR Department. It makes fascinating reading to this day, and shows just how logistical mountains can [...]

Not a lot of pictures of the R40′s development programme have surfaced; mainly because Richard Woolley’s 1993 design was considered so successful, it didn’t change between the time the clay model was finalised, and the launch of the car five years later. However, the interior was subject to a lot of soul searching, and two [...]

An iconic name from the 1960s has made a return: Radford MINI. KEITH ADAMS takes the top of the range version for a quick spin and comes away impressed, but wonders whether £34,000 is a little too much to spend on a MINI… Back to the future… JUST about everyone loves the MINI – and [...]

The next generation MINI might be with us now, but that didn’t stop them launching the ultimate version, and selling out before it even hits the streets. Download the wallpaper | 1024×768 | 1280×960 Work it, baby! REMEMBER the old cliché about saving the best ‘til last – well, we reckon MINI may well have [...]

THE MINI Cooper is coming to the end of its life, and yet remains as popular as ever. KEITH ADAMS takes a long, lingering look at the car that redefined the Mini for the 21st Century, and investigates whether it’s the driving machine its makers claim it to be by running it round the Nürburgring… [...]

Just like the Mini in the 1960s, the MINI has attracted its fair share of customisers… In 2006, Carrozzeria Castagna announced a range of MINI conversions that pre-dated the factory’s efforts – so to fans of Italian coacbuilders, the R56 Clubman was very much last year’s old news when it was launched… Variations on a [...]

LAMBASTED as an irrelevant folly, the MG XPower SV has always divided opinions – why? Because MG Rover should have spent its finite financial resources elsewhere… Others would say that if the company was going down, why not do it in style? We take a drive in one for ourselves – and decide that the [...]

These pictures published on the Aria Group website depict a new sporting MG, which would have been based upon the Qvale Mangusta platform… The Aria Group’s concepts for MG’s new sports car What can be gleaned from these pictures? Very little, although it could well be that MGR commissioned the Aria Group to work on [...]