vLane Blog

Déjà Vu all over again: 34 years after British Leyland

From Derek Kreindler, Featured Contributor
Posted on June 10, 2009

Filed under GM, British Leyland

A national car manufacturer goes bust. A handful of historic, well-loved nameplates hang in the balance. While the rest of the country panics about job losses and the death of a major national industry, the government takes a major stake in the company.

Sounds a lot like GM circa 2009, right? Well, the same thing happened nearly 35 years ago in England, with British Leyland.

Those who grew up with video games will probably scratch their heads at the name, but if marques like Austin, Morris, Triumph, Rover, Jaguar and Land Rover mean anything to you, then you might be aware that they were once all under the umbrella of British Leyland.

While GM is still intact (for now), British Leyland was broken up and sold off, with Rover, Jaguar, Land Rover and other brands having to go at it alone. Some nameplates, like Austin, didn't survive. The aforementioned ones did, although Rover went bust and was purchased by a Chinese car maker a few years ago. This begs the question, what would happen if GM was broken up in a similar manner. Would it be such a tragedy?

Read on…

The parallels between British Leyland and GM are staggering; both companies:

• Owned far too many factories throughout their respective countries. [link]
• Operated brands that competed against each other. [link]
• Sold "badge engineered" cars (a nearly identical car sold under different names). [link]
• Clashed constantly with labour groups. [link]
• Struggled with high oil prices. [link]
• Were saddled with insular and ineffectual management. [link]

Based on British Leyland's history, breaking up GM wouldn't be such a tragedy. Rover went on to make some fine products for the rest of its life; Jaguar had its ups and downs, but managed to hit its stride and shed its well-deserved reputation for poor quality. Land Rover continued to do what it always did; make barely disguised Army vehicles and sell them to moneyed Mommies. Can anyone else see the parallels between those brands and Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC? I still believe that GM could have gone down to just Chevrolet and Cadillac, with GMC being axed and Buick sold to a Chinese automaker, where the brand enjoys enormous cachet.

We can debate the merits of the auto industry bailout until the end of time, but the fact remains that it's happened more than once. The British Leyland episode gives us an alternate view of what could have transpired for GM. Rather than a break from the past, we are stuck with the status quo, and not at the dawn of "open source cars", "radical disruption" or any of the buzzwords that web pundits like to throw around. History is a great teacher as well as a great indicator of the future. So don't be surprised if the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze, rather than the Volt, ends up saving GM.

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• Preview: The 2010 Cadillac SRX
• Opinion: The 2010 Camaro RS
• GM and Segway Unveil the Puma Concept

Derek Kreindler is a featured contributor for vLane.