Opinion

I must admit that I have regular AROnline Contributor Andrew Ryan to thank for this one. Otherwise known as @thecarfactoids, he’s been tweeting about BMC>MG Rover (and more) related stuff on Twitter […]

Chris Cowin looks at recent developments in UK car production and exports, in the context of industry history since the 1950s. UK car production in June 2021 was the lowest […]

Forgive the long title of this opinion piece, and also radio silence over the past few weeks. AROnline had to take a bit of a back seat in deference to my […]

Chris Cowin looks at a vehicle which used to be everywhere, but has now largely disappeared: BMC’s 250 JU Coach. It was part of British Leyland’s range in Britain until […]

Ever wondered what it was like running a police fleet back in the day? What’s the inside story of how good (or bad) ‘firm’ cars were on patrol? Well, wonder […]

Jesse Kraal Firstly, my compliments on your very informative site. I end up spending hours here, losing myself reading stories and looking at pictures. I published a piece about the MG […]

Last week, I spent a couple of highly illuminating days immersed in the world of Nissan as the company launched its new Qashqai to the UK’s media. I’m sure pretty […]

Ah, the dear old Morris Marina, yet another BL clunker that strikes a nostalgic chord in my heart. Yes folks, it’s birthday time again as British Leyland’s answer to the […]

It’s all well and good discussing the merits or otherwise of the Morris Marina but, in isolation, you’re only getting a slice of the story. In this article, we’re going […]

If you’ve dropped in on this site via the homepage, it won’t have escaped your notice that there are rather a lot of Morris Marina stories peppering the place. Well, […]

We often blithely talk about design classics without actually pondering about their effect on society… Well, the Marina door handles are most certainly a classic in our times and, as […]

Now widely seen as a joke car by the general public, who misunderstood the market it was aimed at, the Morris Marina sold well in comparison with its British Leyland stablemates. How successful […]

I’m on tenterhooks here. It’s coincidental that Mike publishes an article here sub-titled ‘Last-chance saloon’ today. Why, you ask? Tomorrow, at 9am, Citroën will be unveiling the first pictures and […]

AROnline’s historian-in-residence, Ian Nicholls, dusts off his archive once again and plays devil’s advocate to discuss whether the late Tony Benn’s socialist plan for BL was right all along… Call […]

Seems like a good time to be buying if you’re after launch-spec cars. Following on from the eBay sale of a 1987 Rover 825i which piqued my interest, this rather […]

The optimism of Austin Rover marketing in 1984/5 is in stark contrast to what’s left of the company now… AROnline Contributor Simon Weakley was a Marketing Trainee at ARG in […]

This fascinating, wonderful and rare beast has just popped up on my eBay feed, and I find myself doing some man maths in order to add it to my collection […]

For anyone who’s been vaguely following the MG story here in the UK, it’s been interesting to see parent company SAIC reinvent its most historic brand as an electric car […]

Here’s an interesting one recently brought to my attention. AROnline Contributor David Harvey got in touch to remind us that it wasn’t just BMC that had missed the boat to replace […]