It’s 20 years since the astonishing XJ220 burst on to the scene – and today it still has more road presence than any other supercar of its era. With a top speed of 213mph, it was briefly the fastest car in the world. It’s still up there, today. Supercat at twenty! The XJ220 remains the [...]

Sir Richard O’Brien Sir Richard O’Brien, who died on December 11 2009 aged 89, chaired the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) from 1976 to 1982 and later served as chairman of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s controversial Commission on Urban Priority Areas; during the Second World War he fought with great bravery and was awarded an MC, [...]

Alex Park: chief executive of British Leyland Alex Park ran British Leyland during a controversial period of the motor manufacturer’s history in 1975-78. Park fought hard to revive the newly nationalised company’s fortunes by stemming the haemorraghing of its funds, restructuring its operations and attempting to raise productivity, but left before being able to fully [...]

THE only surviving director of the motor company that designed the iconic Mini has claimed the concept was not the brainchild of Sir Alec Issigonis, its legendary designer, as most people think. Westcountry resident William Davis, the British Motor Company (BMC) production boss who ensured the hugely popular car was manufactured, says few credit the [...]

THE INDEPENDENT Lord Stokes: Tough industrialist unfairly blamed for the failure of Leyland’s merger with the British Motor Corporation Donald Stokes was chairman of the ill-fated British Leyland Motor Corporation from 1968 to 1975. He was unfairly blamed for the inevitable failure of the government-inspired attempt to bring together all the major British-owned motor companies [...]

DAILY TELEGRAPH Lord Stokes, who died yesterday aged 94, was probably the most outspoken industrialist in Britain in the 1970s when, as chairman of British Leyland, he used colourful language to warn repeatedly of the need for Britain to improve her efficiency to compete effectively in world markets. Sadly, factors including industrial strife and lack [...]

THE TIMES As chairman and managing director of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) from its creation in 1968 from the merger with British Motor Holdings and the Leyland Motor Corporation until its demise in a government reorganisation in 1975, Lord Stokes was faced with the intractable task of bringing some shape and order to [...]

THE GUARDIAN British Leyland chief given the unenviable task of turning round the UK car industry in the late 1960s Roger Cowe Lord Stokes, who has died aged 94, had what the Financial Times described as “the toughest job held by any boss in Britain” when, as Sir Donald Stokes, he was given a key [...]

THE INDEPENDENT Sir Austin Bide: Industrialist who transformed Glaxo into a world force and then clashed with Thatcher at British Leyland Sir Austin Bide was the man principally responsible for the transformation of Glaxo from a company best known for its baby foods into a world force in the pharmaceutical industry. During a 40-year career [...]

By KEITH ADAMS I WAS deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Jeff Daniels. For those who don’t really know about the history of the creation of this site, Jeff’s book, ‘BL: The Truth About The Cars’ was a motivating factor behind the accidental creation of, what was then known as, www.austin-rover.co.uk, back in [...]

KEITH ADAMS BRIAN Griffin, son of BMC engineer Charles Griffin, and long-time Rover engineer himself has recently died following a short battle with Cancer. To MG enthusiasts, he will be primarily remembered for his work on the MGF project, turning into the fine-handling car that it was – but his involvement with the company is [...]

MG Rover calls on UK Government to decide on loan Today MG Rover called on the Government to make a decision on the bridging loan which will open the way to the car maker completing complex negotiations with the Chinese company SAIC. The loan is crucial if the partnership is to be established. Peter Beale, [...]

Draughtsman to Issigonis on the Mini Even an observant car obsessive would not have looked twice at the Morris Minor that threaded its way, daily, from Oxford to Birmingham in 1956. But it was a remarkable car: unlike other Minors, this one had its front wheels driven rather than its back ones, its transversely mounted [...]

John Barber: The businessman who tried to make British Leyland work Martin Adeney John Barber, who has died aged 85, was a key player in the government struggle to create a viable British-owned motor industry out of a tangle of underperforming companies in the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote the business plan for Leyland’s takeover [...]

From The Times Executive who was handed the poison chalice of trying to run British Leyland at a time when its affairs were irredeemable. WHEN appointed managing director and deputy chairman of British Leyland in April 1974, John Barber knew that he faced a near-impossible task. Weak management, continuous industrial strife, inflation, the oil crisis [...]

Financial Times MG Rover and its partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China’s largest carmaker, are in talks about making a joint acquisition of the Polish car operations of South Korea’s bankrupt Daewoo Motor. Rover and state-owned SAIC made an approach this month about taking over the Daewoo-FSO plant after it appeared that AvtoZAZ of the [...]

Financial Times By John Griffiths, Motoring Editor MG Rover and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China’s largest carmaker, intend to form a joint venture company to collaborate on developing and manufacturing cars. Under the plans, set out in an unpublished memorandum of understanding signed several months ago, SAIC will inject cash into the company for its [...]

The Guardian Mark Milner and Jonathan Watts in Beijing MG Rover yesterday played down reports that China’s most powerful home grown carmaker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, was planning to take over the British group. Chairman John Towers said such interest would be “flattering” but that ongoing talks had included no discussion of SAIC buying either [...]

Reuters Shanghai Automotive Industry, China’s largest carmaker, plans to buy privately held British automaker MG Rover in a bold push to grab a Western beachhead, the Automotive News Europe weekly has reported. Quoting sources in England and China, the paper said on Monday that SAIC would boost its ambitions to become the world’s sixth-largest automaker [...]

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, China’s largest passenger carmaker, plans to buy MG Rover, say sources in England and China. SAIC will boost its ambitions to become the world’s sixth-largest automaker by taking an initial equity stake in MG Rover. The size of that stake is still under discussion, but an MG Rover source says the [...]