classic car forum header
Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
Register     Posting Photographs     Privacy     F/book OCC Facebook     OCC on Patreon

BMC badge engineering.
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> Classic & Vintage Cars, Lorries, Vans, Motorcycles etc - General Chat
Author Message
Ellis



Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1386
Location: Betws y Coed, North Wales

PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:46 pm    Post subject: BMC badge engineering. Reply with quote

[]

[/]

[]

[/]

[]

When I was growing up in the 1960s most of the cars you would see would be from the BMC stable, after all it had over 40% of the market.
Within a thirty mile radius of Betws y Coed there were no less than 14 BMC dealerships and to prove my point I will name them

1. Jones Bros Llanrwst
2. Braid Brothers, Colwyn Bay
2. M&K. Old Colwyn
3. Automobile Palace, Rhyl,
4. Automobile Palace, Llanfair PG (The village with the longest name).
5 M&K, Bangor
6.Dinas Garages, Caernarfon.
7.Dinas Garages, Llangefni.
8.Paragon Motors, Penygroes.
9.Minffordd Garage, Bethel.
10.Hughes Garage, Trawsfynydd.
11. Deudraeth Motors, Penrhyndeudraeth.
12. RJ Williams and Son, Talsarnau
13. Jones Bros, Ruthin
14. Hutchinson and Wilde, Rhos on Sea.

Those are the ones I can remember and it is not a complete list, there must have been others. I have not included another range of dealerships which sold Triumph, Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.

You just couldn't walk into any one of the above and order a new MG Magnette, say, you could only buy one from Braid Brothers in Colwyn Bay. . If you wanted a Riley 4/72 you had to go to M&K in two locations or Automobile Palace, similarly on two sites. Dinas Garages sold Wolseleys as well as Austin, Jones Bros sold Morris.
Confused ? I sympathise.
If you wanted a Triumph you had to buy from Hollingdrake in Colwyn Bay or Plas Garage in Llangefni on Anglesey. If you were set on a Rover there was one official Rover dealership in Rhyl called Brookes Bros but you could buy a Land Rover from there or from Jones Bros in Llanrwst.

When Lord Stokes became the first chairman of the new British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 he was appalled that of ex BMC part there was only one new model ready to launch - the Austin Maxi. Standard Triumph and Rover did have new products ready or in the pipeline.

We all know what eventually happened to British Leyland and Rover. By 2000 there was only one Rover dealership inside that 30 mile radius and that one, M&K later went on to sell Mitsubishi and Fiat from 2004.

The question I would like you to think about is what do you think should have happened to the gigantic British Leyland after 1970 with no less than 30 vehicle assembly plants and other interests from a large sawmill in mid Wales to a factory producing forklifts.

If Tata, a steel producer in India was able to diverse successfully in anything from a hotel chain to tea plantations and now making a world mark with Jaguar and Land Rover, then why did BL get it wrong?

Over to you.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
ukdave2002



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4229
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 11:48 am    Post subject: Re: BMC badge engineering. Reply with quote

Ellis wrote:
The question I would like you to think about is what do you think should have happened to the gigantic British Leyland after 1970 with no less than 30 vehicle assembly plants and other interests from a large sawmill in mid Wales to a factory producing forklifts.

If Tata, a steel producer in India was able to diverse successfully in anything from a hotel chain to tea plantations and now making a world mark with Jaguar and Land Rover, then why did BL get it wrong?

Over to you.


A suppose its easy with 20:20 hindsight to point the finger of blame;.... but in the 60's the far eastern world had the opportunity to set up vehicle manufacturing virtually from scratch, Germany was having to rebuild its own, both having the benefit of being able to adopt the latest manufacturing processes and technologies.

BMC was like a huge oil tanker, trying to change course, with little investment available, too many facilities; massive overheads, unions stifling change and management who thought UK vehicle production was a god given right.

Had we taken the bitter pill in the 60's things may have been different...?


Dave
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Jim.Walker



Joined: 27 Dec 2008
Posts: 1229
Location: Chesterfield

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The problem was British Malady!
In the mid 1990s it became the thing to have a Japanese telly or a Continental car and eventually probably a Japanese car too.
Poor wages abroad made their products extremely price competitive and although our Motor Industry produced some fine, well designed, vehicles, quality control in production let them down. Plus bolshie trade unions inflating the work force with "one man - one job"
Don't blame British Leyland! Our workforce was impossible to work with.

I had a friend. On paper a Plater. To keep his job he had to learn skills like welding, but he was forbidden to do any.
One day, high up on a wagon tippler a repair he was tasked with required a five minute weld doing. The welder required did not show up though he waited for hours. He picked up the weldin torch already on the job and did the weld and completed the job.
That caused a strike. He almost lost his job and only kept it by consenting to join the Union!
What happened to British Leyland? Ask the public who let our industries down and the Unions who backed them!
Jim.

P.S. Compare our unions history with the USA ones who generally went to employers asking for a pay rise often bearing plans to increase profitability to pay for it.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Riley Blue



Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Posts: 1751
Location: Derbyshire

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The demise of BL must be one of the best documented industrial suicides in history, what's to discuss?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Phil - Nottingham



Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 1252
Location: Nottingham

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Badge engineering is nothing new or wrong Rootes and General Motors did it for years GM still does along with VW, Peugout and Ford. Less obvious badge engineering happens now with shared "platforms" and major components

Its bad management strive for growth (really greed) that is to blame including the so called unforeseen problems like the recession.

The aim is to sell the punters more and more new cars each year to make more and more cash even if not profits and for 99.99% of car manufacturers that was and still is the aim.

Rover Co used the all steel bodywork of the then new Hillman Minx made by an independent pressing factory for its new Rover 10 (P1) in 1933 as it could not build down to a price quicker in its own factory. It worked as well.
_________________
Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
pogo



Joined: 01 Feb 2013
Posts: 51
Location: Limousin. France

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:17 pm    Post subject: BMC Reply with quote

I notice that the new Chrysler on sale in the UK is in fact a Lancia, in body at least.
Badge engineering to fool the public into buying something which in the UK is as popular as a f£$t in a spacesuit.

Personally, all the Lancias I had were excellent, ide rather buy one than a Chrysler.

Paul
_________________
http://www.centralfrancestorage.com/index.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
V8 Nutter



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 601

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

B.M.C. management often knew they had problems but they did nothing about it. Austins burning oil. Triumphs dropping thrust washers are just two.

The unions were too powerful. In the late 60's a friend of mine almost caused a strike working too fast. to solve the problem his manager told him to get his quota done then spend the rest of the night in the toilet out of sight
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration. Forum Index -> Classic & Vintage Cars, Lorries, Vans, Motorcycles etc - General Chat All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
OCC Merch link
Forum T&C


php BB powered © php BB Grp.