British Leyland - The Grand Illusion

History : British Leyland, the grand illusion – Part One

5 January 2014 Ian Nicholls 59

PART ONE : EXPORT OR DIE AROnline contains many stories of botched decisions, cars that never were and wrong turnings. However, perhaps the real reason why the British-owned motor industry collapsed so rapidly post-1945, was the socio-political environment it had to co-exist in. […]

History : British Leyland, the grand illusion – Part Two

4 January 2014 Ian Nicholls 39

PART TWO : OWNED BY THE PEOPLE ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE On 6 December 1974, Tony Benn, now Trade and Industry Minister, announced to Parliament that, ‘Discussions have been taking place with the company regarding both its short-term requirements for working capital and its long-term investment programme. […]

History : British Leyland, the grand illusion – Part Three

3 January 2014 Ian Nicholls 46

PART THREE : A JOB FOR LIFE? By August 1975 the concept that the Ryder Report was gospel was called into question. Now the All-Party Commons Trade and Industry Sub-Committee called into question the financial and organisational foundations of the new state-owned British Leyland Limited. […]

History : British Leyland, the grand illusion – Part Four

2 January 2014 Ian Nicholls 56

PART FOUR : MELTDOWN British Leyland’s self-destruction continued into 1977. At first the main trouble stemmed from the Castle Bromwich body plant, which had a dire productivity record. A strike there soon crippled production at Leyland Cars. […]

History : British Leyland, the grand illusion – Part Five

1 January 2014 Ian Nicholls 82

PART FIVE : ENTER THE MAN FROM CHLORIDE On the day Michael Edwardes became British Leyland Chairman, 1 November 1977, some 1500 workers at Triumph, Speke Number Two, walked out only a few hours after they had resumed work. […]