![]() ![]() ![]() It was always going to be built at Longbridge – Longbridge built the Mini, which this was to replace (at least in part), and Cowley was dedicated to Marinas, Maxis and Princesses. ![]() There was another aspect to the LC8 programme directly traceable to decisions BL took in the early 1970s – the complete modernisation of Longbridge to build it. It is not often that a car can be advertised like this one was, without someone laughing out loud in the corner. He chose the former because, among other things, the company needed new product just as soon as it could and those who remember the reaction in 1980, will see his point. In his Account of his BL years, then BL Chairman Michael Edwardes makes the crucial point that that he could have chosen to introduce the Metro in 1978, and the Maestro in 1981/2 instead of 1983. Rather more worrying were the initial warranty costs, but at least this time BL seemed to take note, and production quality did improve. For a while it became Britain’s best seller and regularly traded UK market sector leadership with the Ford Fiesta. Margaret Thatcher might have resisted the temptation and stayed in an armoured Jaguar, but Diana Spencer bought a red one.īritain needed, and wanted, the Metro to succeed. It may look a bit cheesy now, but it worked to generate a huge level of awareness and positive public sentiment to the car. Meanwhile, BL had started one of the largest advertising campaigns ever seen for such a car, based around the themes of versatility (of the car) and patriotism (of the potential buyers) the strap line actually was “A British car to beat the World”. The same day, Michael Edwards was driving a Metro with Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula 1 World Champion who drove for the Leyland Truck-sponsored Williams Formula 1 team, to Birmingham, to the British Motor Show. Somehow, BL managed to keep that fact from the BBC, the nation wasn’t told, and all seemed well. On the launch day, the BBC presented the country’s main evening news programme from inside Longbridge, which gave the BL PR people a bit of a headache, as the assembly shop chose that morning to come out on strike. The press had made great play about just how much taxpayers’ money (£275 million, say £800 million now) had gone into the development of this car and the overhaul of Longbridge, the factory the Metro was to be built in. A dearth of new cars had been the result of the lean years – nothing properly new had come from British Leyland since the Rover SD1 in 1976.Īll press discussion about British Leyland had been doom and gloom – factories had closed, jobs had been lost – whilst BL Chairman Michael Edwardes was doing all he could to convince the new incumbent at Number Ten Downing Street, a certain Margaret Thatcher, not to close down the operation for good as market share dropped and imports ran at the highest ever level. A new decade had started, but BL was still struggling with a range of elderly and, unarguably, quite dated, inappropriate and uncompetitive models, such as the Marina, Maxi and Allegro. Economy was good (very good indeed on some versions) it was and looked modern, and was well equipped and well priced.Ĭast your mind back to 1980. Mechanically, it was a bit of Allegro (Hydragas suspension, 1.3 litre A series engine, now known as A+, with some new interior pieces), some Mini here and there (1.0 litre engine) and all excellently packaged – the gearbox under the engine and Hydragas both helped here – and it was as roomy inside as the 6-9 inch longer competitors. The LC8 had moved forward quickly from the final definition in late 1977 and early 1978, which given the earlier saga was pretty impressive. In practice it was known and advertised as the Metro from the start, and the badges changed within a couple of years. It was rushed into production and launched in October 1980 as the Austin miniMetro, twenty one and a half years after the Mini first saw the light of day.Ī quick word about the name: The “Metro” part was chosen by BL workers in a ballot from a short list and the “mini” element added to avoid legal issues with other users of the Metro name, principally the Birmingham based train and bus builder Metro-Cammell-Weymann. When the need became so overwhelmingly obvious, and the will to create a successor was finally mustered, it came together very quickly, in the form of the the LC8. CC looked yesterday at how BMC and BL tried and failed for over ten years to come up with a viable replacement for the Mini, dithering with one concept after another. ![]()
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