Subject: [NOBBC] British car industry

From: Don <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:35:00 -0700

I received this update on the state of the British car industry from 
my friend, Rick Feibusch.  (Rick used to live in SF and was the 
founder of the Morris Minor club and organizer of the Palo Alto 
British car meet.)   I am on Rick's old car e-mail list.

>British vs French auto industries
>
>I was utterly shocked at this statistic: Britain built more cars 
>than France last year. Moreover, it will soon overtake France on 
>total vehicle production (France makes more light vans at the moment).
>
>The difference of course, is that three French mass-market brands 
>survive (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen) while in the U.K., only MINI 
>remains (owned by BMW) along with Vauxhall (entirely rebadged Opels, 
>owned by GM). The entire suite of BMC / British Leyland volume brands is gone.
>
>MG (owned by the Chinese) now struggles to sell even tiny numbers of 
>not-terribly-competitive cars, while the remaining British brands 
>are all top-end: Jaguar, Land Rover, Range Rover (all owned by 
>India's Tata), Bentley (owned by Volkswagen), and Rolls-Royce (owned by BMW).
>
>MINI, Vauxhall, and Jaguar Land Rover aside, the volume cars made in 
>Britain are largely foreign brands: Nissan, Honda, and Toyota.
>
><http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/01/us-autos-britain-france-special-report-idUSKCN0HQ3UL20141001>Special 
>Report: In foreign hands, British automakers overtake France
>
>I'd suggest the entire Reuters piece is worth reading. It appears to 
>have been jointly written by a British writer and a French one, and 
>compares and contrasts the two countries' approaches to industrial 
>policy, with some nice history.  (submitted by John Voelcker in NYC)

---------------------

Don Scott, Calistoga CA USA
1955 MGTF, 1962 MGA Mk2 (seeking, that does not need paint), 1962 MGA 
Mk 2 (will be selling, that does need paint), 1965 MGB, 2001 MIata SE 
BRG and misc. Japanese cars
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