"Austin Montego The Austin Montego is a British family car that was produced by British Leyland from 1984 until 1988, and then by Rover Group from 1988 until 1995. The Montego was the replacement for both the rear-wheel-drive Morris Ital and the front-wheel-drive Austin Ambassador ranges to give British Leyland an all-new competitor for the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier. On its launch, it was sold as an Austin and also an MG, and was the last new car to be launched with the use of the Austin marque. From 1988, it was sold without a marque following the phasing"
"cars from Opel factories in West Germany and Belgium, and its Corsa supermini (Vauxhall Nova in the UK) was solely assembled at a factory in Zaragoza, Spain, which opened in 1982. British Leyland's overseas outposts in countries like Italy (where cars were produced under the Innocenti brand) were gradually closed down or sold to other carmakers, so by the 1980s it was entirely a British-based operation. By the end of the 1970s Ford, Peugeot-Talbot and Vauxhall (GM) were well integrated with their parent companies' other European operations. BL stood alone in the UK as an increasingly junior player. As part"
"interior changes. Coupled with the continuing quality problems suffered by the car and the increasingly poor perception of BL cars as a whole, this sealed the Marina's reputation, despite its high sales. Even when Marina production ended in 1980, a modified version of it survived until 1984 as the Ital. British Leyland had been working on an all-new replacement for the Marina by 1980, but it was too early in the development stages to enter production, with production not beginning until early 1984, when the new car, called the Austin Montego, was launched. Over the years, it has frequently been"
"1980 in motoring 1980 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1980, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles. British Leyland introduced the Austin Metro, a compact three-door hatchback which was sold alongside the Mini and was powered by the 1.0 and 1.3 petrol engines that were familiar in other BL products. The Metro took five years and cost hundreds of millions of pounds to develop, and left BL without enough money for any more immediate all-new cars. So the nine-year-old Morris Marina was restyled to become the"
"British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later BL, in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which constituted 40 percent of the UK car market, with roots going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, British Leyland had"
"to their very premature withdrawal. The formation of British Leyland in 1968 saw rivals Daimler and Bristol merge with Leyland, bringing the two competing rear-engined chassis (Daimler Fleetline and Bristol VR) together with the Atlantean. Though the Bristol brand was retained, Daimler was dropped and products were re-badged as Leylands. After the re-organisation, Leyland set out to develop a new rear-engined double-deck bus for the London market to replace the troublesome Fleetlines. This new vehicle, the Titan B15 spawned a simpler, non-integral offshoot, the Olympian, which debuted in 1980. Though the Olympian was meant as a direct replacement for the"
"the Viking bus models continued. In 1969, the company took over the neighbouring Coventry Ordnance Works on South Street, which it used for truck component manufacture. British Leyland eliminated the Albion name in 1972 with the products continuing to be built at the same factory under the Leyland brand. In 1980, vehicle production at the former Albion factory ceased, moving to the British Leyland plant at Bathgate, however component manufacturing continued. British Leyland became Rover Group between 1986 and 1997 the component manufacturing plant became part of Leyland DAF, the newly formed British arm of the Anglo-Dutch company DAF NV,"
"joint development of a range of cars which spearheaded the company's revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Lastly, the number of BL dealerships in the UK was trimmed down drastically. The new, slimmer British Leyland was organised into a series of groups. Austin Rover handled the mass production of cars, with the smallest and cheapest models being sold under the Austin brand, while the more upmarket models carried a Rover badge. High performance version of the Austin hatchbacks and saloons made use of a revived MG badge. Light commercial vehicle production (4x4s and vans) was managed by the Land Rover"
"Rover 800 series The Rover 800 series is an executive car range manufactured by the Austin Rover Group subsidiary of British Leyland, and its successor the Rover Group from 1986 to 1999. It was also marketed as the Sterling in the United States. Co-developed with Honda, it was a close relative to the Honda Legend and the successor to the Rover SD1. The first product of the BL-Honda alliance was the Triumph Acclaim – and shortly after its launch the two companies mapped out a advisable strategy for future collaborative projects. Plans for a midsize car were investigated, but were"
"engines, followed by other models, including, from 1973, the Regent (Allegro), with engines up to 1,485 cc. The company of this era is commonly called Leyland Innocenti. The Innocenti Spyder (1961–70) was a rebodied version of the Austin-Healey MKII Sprite (styling by Ghia). The car was produced by OSI, near Milan. In 1972 BLMC took over control of the company. In 1972 the company's land, buildings and equipment were purchased by British Leyland in a deal involving approximately £3 million. The British company had high hopes for its newly acquired subsidiary at a time when, they reported to the UK"
"by 1991 as a result of the recession and the fact that it was being replaced by a facelifted model towards the end of the year. By 1998, yearly production figures had fallen to just over a tenth of its 1987 peak. Rover 800 series The Rover 800 series is an executive car range manufactured by the Austin Rover Group subsidiary of British Leyland, and its successor the Rover Group from 1986 to 1999. It was also marketed as the Sterling in the United States. Co-developed with Honda, it was a close relative to the Honda Legend and the successor"
"moved to front-wheel drive for its popular 323 hatchback, which will be sold in Australia as the Ford Meteor and Ford Laser as part of Mazda's venture with Ford. The latest 323 had 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5 petrol engines, and the car's contemporary body was designed with the help of Ford's design team. Production of the rear-wheel drive estate, part of the pre-1980 range continues. 1980 in motoring 1980 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1980, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles. British Leyland introduced the"
"Czech truck maker, Avia, is entering the European truck market directly. With its purchase, in 2010, of a 25 per cent stake in UK-based bus manufacturer Optare, Ashok Leyland has taken a step closer to reconnecting with its British heritage, as Optare is a direct descendant of Leyland's UK bus-making division. During the time of British Leyland's transition into Austin Rover during the 1980s, a version of the Rover SD1 was licence built in India as the Standard 2000 from 1985 to 1988, briefly reviving the Standard brand which had been axed in 1968. British Leyland also provided the technical"
"Leyland Eight The Leyland Eight was a luxury car produced by Leyland Motors from 1920 to 1923. The car was designed by the chief engineer of Leyland Motors, J.G. Parry-Thomas and his assistant Reid Railton, and was intended to be the finest car available. It was the first British car with a straight-eight engine. The Eight was introduced to the public at the 1920 International Motor Exhibition at Olympia, London, where it was referred to as the ""Lion of Olympia"". The engine, with cylinder block and upper crankcase cast in one piece, had a single centrally mounted overhead camshaft, hemispherical"
"The indicator switchgear, also used on the Triumph Stag, eventually became part of the Lamborghini Diablo. Marina-sourced gearboxes were used in the MG Midget 1500 version. Morris Marina The Morris Marina is a car that was manufactured by Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It was sold in some markets as the Austin Marina, the Leyland Marina and the Morris 1700. It was a popular car in Britain throughout its production life, narrowly pipping the Ford Escort to second place in the UK car sales table in 1973 and regularly taking third or fourth place in other"
"Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally-constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, Workington. Styling was carried out by the Italian vehicle stylist Giovanni Michelotti, previously commissioned by both Triumph (Herald, TR4, GT6, 2000/2500, 1300, Dolomite and Stag) and Scammell lorries (Routeman GRP cab). It was intended to replace all the rear-engined single-decker buses offered by British Leyland, including the"
"VIII Centaur tanks which were built at Leyland taking part in the Italian campaign in 1943. While the OT 64 Czech armoured carrier's chassis units were manufactured by AVIA in 1963. Ashok Leyland has extended its automotive expertise to the defence sector, for over three decades, and has been a pioneer in the design, development and manufacture of special vehicles, serving the Indian Army. Ashok Leyland Defence Systems Ltd. (ALDS) shares this heritage and association with global defence markets. Ashok Leyland Defence Systems Ltd. (ALDS) also leverages Ashok Leyland's in-house R&D base, its collaboration with global technology leaders and Ashok"
"1983 its Nova supermini (badged as the Opel Corsa on the continent) was built solely in its Spanish factory. Peugeot was dividing production of most of the Talbot badged vehicles between the Ryton plant near Coventry (the Linwood plant in Scotland closed in 1981) and its French factories by the early 1980s, and started producing its own models at Coventry in 1985 after deciding to axe the Talbot marque due to falling sales. Foreign carmakers continued to gain ground on the British market during the 1980s, with the likes of Renault, Peugeot, Citroen (France), Volvo (Sweden), Volkswagen (West Germany) and"
"to mid 1980s saw the decline of coupe models on the British market, with British Leyland not replacing the MG B when it closed the famous MG factory at Abingdon in 1980, and even the Ford Capri (a top 10 seller in Britain as late as 1980) had no immediate successor after the end of production in 1986, as Ford felt that there was not sufficient demand in Europe for a new sporting coupe to be launched. This was largely due to the rising popularity of ""hot hatchbacks"" and sports saloons including the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Vauxhall, from 1978 until"
"and Marketing. Triumph TR8 The Triumph TR8 is an eight-cylinder version of the ""wedge-shaped"" Triumph TR7 sports car, designed by Harris Mann, and manufactured by British Leyland (BL), through its Jaguar/Rover/Triumph (JRT) division. Because of its outstanding performance, the TR8 was often dubbed the ""English Corvette"". The majority of TR8s were sold in the United States and Canada. A more powerful V8-engined version of the TR7 was planned in the early stages of the TR7's development, a prototype being produced in 1972. However, British Leyland's financial state, labour problems and lack of engines—as MG and Range Rover had first priority—delayed"
"time under Leyland or BL ownership the Triumph marque belonged in the Specialist Division of the company, which went by the names of ""Rover Triumph"" and later ""Jaguar Rover Triumph"", except for a brief period during the mid-1970s when all BL's car marques or brands were grouped together under the name of Leyland Cars. The only all-new Triumph model initiated as ""Rover Triumph"" was the TR7, which was in production successively at three factories that were closed: Speke, the poorly run Leyland-era Standard-Triumph works in Liverpool, the original Standard works at Canley, Coventry and finally the Rover works in Solihull."
"Leyland Motors Limited and for 1964 the little van was renamed Leyland 15 / Leyland 20 (according to capacity). In 1968 Leyland merged with the British Motor Corporation to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation, and the van was taken out of production in order to avoid direct competition with a range of vans such as the Morris JU 250, now produced by the same company. After production of the van in the United Kingdom had ended, the tooling and panel presses were exported to southern India where the van re-emerged, to be produced, between 1970 and 1980 by Standard"
"1986 in motoring 1986 in motoring includes developments in the automotive industry throughout the year 1989 by various automobile manufacturers, grouped by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles. BL (formerly British Leyland Limited) was renamed to Rover Group. The Rover Group's Leyland Trucks division (which included its Freight Rover van business) was merged with the Dutch DAF Trucks company to form the new commercial vehicle company DAF NV. The new company's trucks (built in Leyland, Lancashire, England and Eindhoven, Netherlands) and its vans built in Birmingham, England, were branded as Leyland DAF for the"
"Ital (an updated version of the Marina) which continued in production until 1984, when the Morris marque was axed and the Austin badge featured on the Montego that replaced it, signalling the end of the Morris brand after more than 70 years. (With the discontinuation of the Morris 18-22 – also sold as an Austin and Wolseley – the Marina car and the Ital were the only noncommercial vehicles sold with the Morris badge after 1975.) In Australia and South Africa it was known as the Leyland Marina, in New Zealand as the Morris 1.7 (for 1979–81, in face-lifted O-Series"
"Austin Metro The Metro is a city car that was produced by British Leyland (BL) and, later, the Rover Group from 1980 to 1998. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro. It was intended to complement and eventually replace the Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The Metro was named by ""What Car?"" as Car of The Year in 1983 as an MG, and again as a Rover in 1991. During its 18-year lifespan, the Metro wore many names: Austin Metro, MG Metro and Rover Metro. It was re-badged as the Rover 100 series in"
"London in 1960. As no vehicles had by then entered service, the brochure carried pictorial artist's impressions rendered by three industrial design studios, one being Ghia and another being Cross Courtney The show chassis carried an elaborate pictorial Lion on a shield badge which became standard for the model. It featured a cutaway version of the 'Farina Fin' tail that had been mocked up at Leyland. Although said at the show to be purchased by Highway Products Inc of Kent, Ohio, USA, it was later dispatched to Leyland Iberica SA and became the Ayats bodied coach mentioned later. Although designed"
"also started a company selling imported microcars under the catch-all ""Willam"" label. Many of these creations received Lambretta engines, and were sold through the French Lambretta network. The four-wheeled version of the Casalini Sulky was sold as the Willam Bretta in France, beginning in 1980. As wealth increased in western Europe in the late 1960s, the demand for motor scooters fell as the small car became affordable to more people and Lambretta sales started to decline, as did the financial status of parent company Innocenti. The British Leyland Motor Corporation took advantage of Innocenti's financial difficulties and their production and"
"Bus Museum. Leyland Lynx The Leyland Lynx was a stepped-entrance single-decker bus manufactured by Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B. The Leyland Lynx (B60) was designed in 1984 as a replacement for the ageing Leyland National, being unveiled at the 1985 International Bus & Coach Exhibition at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Although the B60 was the first bus to carry the Lynx brand, Leyland had previously used it on truck chassis between 1936 and 1940, and again between 1968 and 1979. The Lynx name has"
"1983, it recognised the continuing demand for smaller and medium-sized family saloons by introducing the Orion, which was based on the Escort floorpan. The supermini sector had expanded rapidly since the early 1970s. BMC's Mini had remained popular beyond its 20th anniversary, but successor organization British Leyland had started work on a more modern and practical alternative by the mid 1970s, the final result being the Austin Metro in 1980 - the new car featured more modern styling and a hatchback bodystyle. Chrysler Europe had axed the long-running Hillman Imp (launched by the Rootes Group in 1963) in 1976 and"
"the group ""The British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd"", renamed ""BLMC Ltd"". BL's fortunes took another much-awaited rise in October 1980 with the launch of the Austin Metro (initially named the Mini Metro), a modern three-door hatchback which gave buyers a more modern and practical alternative to the iconic but ageing Mini. This went on to be one of the most popular cars in Britain of the 1980s. Towards the final stages of the Metro's development, BL entered into an alliance with Honda to provide a new mid-range model which would replace the ageing Triumph Dolomite, but would more crucially act"
"Group until the 2000 break-up. In 1986 Graham Day took the helm as chairman and CEO and the third joint Rover-Honda vehicle – the Rover 800-series – was launched which replaced the 10-year-old Rover SD1. Around the same time, BL changed its name to Rover Group and in 1987 the ""Trucks Division – Leyland Vehicles"" merged with the Dutch DAF company to form DAF NV, trading as Leyland DAF in the UK and as ""DAF"" in the Netherlands. In 1987 the bus business was spun off into a new company called Leyland Bus. This was the result of a management"
"company of Saint-Germain-Laval (Loire) progressed to vehicle manufacturing in about 1960. From 1979 the vehicles were also produced under licence in Portugal by UMM; the French market was off limits to the UMMs. The business was acquired by the ""Société I.M.I."" company (SIMI) in 1980 and during a period when ownership was being transferred to Auverland in 1983/84 the vehicle was briefly marketed as the ""Autoland"". In 1982 Auverland took over the business and after 1985 the vehicle was marketed as such. UMM kept improving the car and offered a number of different engines over the years, keeping it in"
"Leyland was created in 1975 when the bankrupt British Leyland Motor Corporation was nationalised. In 1977 the South African-born corporate troubleshooter, Michael Edwardes, was recruited as chairman to sort out the troubled firm. Part of Edwardes' plan was to introduce a completely new range of mass-market models to replace the current offerings, designed and built using state-of-the-art technology. The new range eventually decided upon consisted of a new vehicle for each of the small, lower-medium and upper-medium market segments. The first of these cars to be launched was the Austin Metro in 1980. The new cars for the lower and"