Believe it, or not, in the 1950s, the UK was the world’s second-largest manufacturer of cars, and its largest exporter to a massive number of countries all over the globe. Fast forward to today and you’ll find that that the UK sits at around 14th in the world, well below many countries that you might not even know produced motor vehicles!
Many manufactures previously considered as uniquely ‘British,’ such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lotus, Aston Martin, and even MINI, are now entirely foreign-owned. So, what became of Britain’s once-dominant car industry which was once the very heart and soul of the country?
History of the British Car Industry
Well, it’s a long old story that dates back further than many of the readers, no doubt, but you can still get a piece of UK heritage, like Land Rover Defenders from Nene Overland . It all started at the back end of the 1960s following a long list of company mergers which were attempted for a number of reasons, one of which being the need, or want to cut costs. The UK’s last major car manufacturer, MG Rover, finally had to give up the ghost in 2003.
A bit of history
At one point in time, following a very complex time and the aftermath of World War II, car manufacturers from the UK were in great demand and quickly stepped up to meet that demand. Japan, as well as most parts of Europe were still recovering, and getting back on their feet which meant that the UK’s quick response to the initial demand found them building over half of the world’s exported vehicles with most going to Australia and the USA.
So, what went wrong?
Cars from the UK were at their best around the back end of the 50’s, stepping into the 60’s, there was no doubt that they looked good, were made from quality materials, and were built to last. They were renowned worldwide which was part of the reason that the UK automotive industry was so successful, it produced jobs for over a quarter of a million people and manufactured over two million cars a year!
However, by the mid-50s, the American car manufacturing industry had pretty much caught up with public demand, and European automakers were rebounding. The British car industry had higher costs than its worldwide competitors due to labour expenses, production techniques and the sheer variety of cars that they were producing. At the back end of the 60’s is where German vehicle output surpassed that of the United Kingdom, it all started to go downhill from there on.
Where are we now?
Well, most of the car manufacturing from the UK has ceased to exist, although there are some small manufacturers that are still producing a small number of vehicles per year although they are some of the fastest cars on the planet, 0-60 times under 3 seconds and max speeds of over 225mph. Sadly though, it isn’t enough to put the UK back in the game and will likely never be able to match the Chinese in terms of units produced.
According to some research, the Chinese are actually out manufacturing the US of A, making them the biggest car manufacturer in the world!
