Should British British Leyland be divided up? | British Leyland | Time for Business

Should British British Leyland be divided up? | British Leyland | Time for Business | 1977

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Күн бұрын

With over 150 million pounds worth of public money being invested into British Leyland to help shore up its loss making divisions - 'Time for business' takes a look at whether it is time for British Leyland to be divided up.
First shown: 20/10/1977
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Quote: VT18099

Пікірлер: 110

@paulbroderick8438 4 жыл бұрын

Well paid car assembly workers used to look down upon skilled trades people. I served an engineering apprenticeship in Coventry when it was a major manufacturing hub. Greetings from a Brit in the USA.

@annabellaandrewkingdon7972 3 жыл бұрын

The quality of debate and the level of intellectual analysis was so much better and more informative and mature back then. Why have we lost our way? How did we get into the dummed down partisan tribal nonsense we find ourselves in today?

@keithjohnson49 7 ай бұрын

33 years of creeping Socialism

@ronmccullock1407 4 жыл бұрын

The Truck and Bus division of BL made a huge profit which went to support the Car division hence the Truck and Bus division had no money to develop new models leaving the door open for Volvo, DAF, and Scania to come in

@SB-vb8ch 3 жыл бұрын

That may have been true at a point in time but the endemic issues such as a complete inability to recognise that customers were growing tired of paying handsomely for under developed products was common across the whole organisation. That is what killed the trucks side of things rather than the syphoning of funds which you suggest, well that combined with other sector shifts which the company refused to take on board. There was a certain sense of entitlement which ran through the entire industry (those who had been profitable were amongst the worst afflicted ) which made it so easy for the competition to step in with products which did perform correctly & where they didn't they would respond rapidly to fix the issues rather than blindly continuing & refusing to acknowledge the reality. Customers aren't stupid & will vote with their feet

@ronmccullock1407 7 ай бұрын

@BB-xx3dv I agree the 500 was a disaster

@skyrocketautomotive Жыл бұрын

10:39 Quinton Hazell said something that came straight from the horse's mouth in the year 2000 in a Jeremy Clarkson documentary about this very subject. He was a very intelligent man and the fact that 23 years separates these 2 echoing statements just goes to show the signal to noise ratio within the company at the time. The people who had the answers were drowned out by louder, emptier statements. What a shame. Being from Oxford myself I saw the Cowley plant in full swing, taking up all 4 sides of the roundabout. It really was something. It's folly to want to turn back time but god I wish we could.

@keithjohnson49 7 ай бұрын

Were you at Cowley? Which trade? Since 1990 I've worked with many x-Rover toolmakers & patternmakers

@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 4 жыл бұрын

1950 worlds largest car exporter, workshop of the world. Now we have nothing, as a 16 year old I despise the generations before me for ruining our industry meaning my generation have none to work in.

@iainmclaughlan1557 4 ай бұрын

Don’t underestimate yourself. Triumph motorbikes got going again in 1990 by buying the robots from Japan. A very high proportion of the cars exterior are designed in the UK. And parts are still made here. There are still opportunities here. There is nothing stopping us from starting a car manufacturing business…

@andynixon2820 4 жыл бұрын

That was an excellent discussion .

@pit_stop77 4 жыл бұрын

Love the flower in the lapel. Bring back that kind of style, never mind the cars 😎

@Le_Rennais 4 жыл бұрын

Yep, it has been so well divided there's nothing left at all nowdays lol

@englishrob8245 4 жыл бұрын

Volkswagen and Audi NSU Auto Union AG were in more financial trouble than British Leyland at beginning of 1970’s with low sales of rear engine (VW) and unreliable (NSU) cars so they merged and the German government bailed them out. The difference Volkswagen Audi Group and British Leyland was that VAG new badge engineered cars Passat/80 1973, Scirocco /Golf 1974 Polo/90 1975, 100 (stretched Passat) 1976 had new engine, gearbox, other ancillaries, independent coil spring suspension which could be put on all cars big or small, a common floor plan shared between models and they were reliable right from the start. BL already the maxi which didn’t have a common floor plan shared between models so the big ancillaries shoehorned into marina/allegro making them look bloated. The allegro/ princess didn’t have a hatchback because maxi was only one to have hatchback. The aging mini was due to have hatchback replacement in 1972, BL had several different engines, ancillaries, suspension and gearboxes none of which could be fitted into one another without expensive design alterations. VAG had five models City car, small/ sport car, medium and large. BL 1 City car 1 small 2 medium 3 sport cars 3 large 2 extra-large all rival to each other. Yet BL had the ingredients to do the same as VAG and they had reliable (BMC) badge engineered cars in the1960’s. Sadly BL Management knowingly launching flawed cars 1970’s- early 1980’s, and blaming bad workmanship.

@kailashpatel1706 3 жыл бұрын

Yep spot on...VW had also a coherent approach to engineering and design, excellent factories etc in short very good strategic management the reason BL died was because it exactly did not have that...This was the key reason behind so many problems in post war british Industry (steel, shipbuilding etc) we never fail to say State intervention was a disaster in BL but why was it not a disaster in West Germany..why do they have a unionised workforce in that country and are still able to produce world class cars..?

@stevepearce6689 4 жыл бұрын

It was such a waste. The car designs from the UK was world leading. From Range Rover to Triumph Stag to Jaguar XJ to Rover SD1 etc etc. These cars were all flawed but brilliant. I lose sleep over this..oh Triumph Dolomite Sprint then the trucking division the tractors etc...they had it all.....it was just a mess....

@felix_five 4 жыл бұрын

Steve Pearce yes the UK was world leading. Think Allegro, Maxi, Princess, et all. And build quality and lack of reliability.

@fidelcatsro6948 4 жыл бұрын

Jaguar styling with Toyota engine reliability is what we need today

@chrisdavidson911 2 жыл бұрын

i know this is an old comment... the Stag is a perfect example of what the problem was; it was a decent car, built badly. They'd be recovery trucked in to dealerships with an overheated engine, the mechanic would take a radiator hose off to remove the coolant, and the first thing to come out would be a load of casting sand. Rushed through the factory by people who didn't care, having not had enough troubleshooting done in the manufacturing processes before production started, and none being done afterwards. A willingness to stare at problems instead of sorting them out, and cost cutting the quality out of everything, while management appeared to aimlessly bumble around. Many occasions of wasted time, money, and effort, developing something worthwhile, only to then abandon it and give the existing problematic vehicle a mild rework without solving the problems it has. A Toyota factory went on strike because they weren't happy about things, when they went back to work after the discussions were resolved they were making the cars about 50% faster. A BL factory would go on strike because people wanted more money for making things that fell to bits, and after the strike they'd continue to make things that fell to bits.

@Darwinion 2 жыл бұрын

@@felix_five The original design of the Allegro was very forward thinking. The bean counters ensured the final car looked nothing like the original design. Makes you wonder why they bothered hiring the guy in the first place.

@GaryJohnWalker1 4 жыл бұрын

Smart talk. Totally ignored. Next stop, Michael Edwardes.

@BangerFleet 4 жыл бұрын

I didn’t know there was an actual man named Quinton Hazell! Figured it was two last names of some long dead Victorians...

@dal6984 3 жыл бұрын

Car parts are not bad as well.

@darren2514fv 4 жыл бұрын

Eamonn Andrews presenting a current affairs show

@matthewstocks2960 4 жыл бұрын

The Japanese were laughing at us , nissan Vs Leyland we had no chance!

@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 4 жыл бұрын

Nissan started out license building Austin designs, we had the world in our hands and we threw it away.

@fidelcatsro6948 4 жыл бұрын

a decision that changed the course of British motoring history?

@johnwalsh7806 2 жыл бұрын

Good old Geoffrey. Kovintrois finest

@hugglescake 4 жыл бұрын

... and now it's 6 feet under.

@heinkle1 4 жыл бұрын

Much of the output was mediocre

@jonnyc429 11 ай бұрын

So many 'what ifs' but I do wonder what may have happened if BMC had been restructured independently and Leyland left alone. It was BMC who had no products in the pipeline before 1970 and were in a poor financial state, whereas I think Leyland were doing ok. Who knows

@Myndir 11 ай бұрын

Geoffrey Robinson later resigned from Blair's government having been caught in a corruption scandal with Peter Mandelson.

@mark4lev 13 күн бұрын

Pity that’s all people remember. He’s obviously a very smart guy

@markd8799 4 жыл бұрын

Exactly whats happening between Ford and the US government at the moment.

@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 4 жыл бұрын

No it's not...

@malcolmjawohowelll2892 10 ай бұрын

its extraordinary to compare the product choices generally made by ford US and ford europe and compare them to the confusing range of BL models the best of which were not from top to bottom consisent in design appeal comford build quality and spec/range choices.. Some of the individual highlights in ther range were let down by the superiority of more up to date looking competitors ,especially i think from vauxhall and ford

@saxongreen78 3 жыл бұрын

QH...in the flesh! (I had only ever seen the name on a box of Vauxhall ball joints in the 1980s.)

@dal6984 3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same.

@Darwinion 2 жыл бұрын

Yes... he used to knock them out in his shed during his spare time.

@davidhathaway8271 8 ай бұрын

Me too I can see the box now! For 60 years I thought Quinton Hazel was a trade mark not a real person ! Blimey!

@American-Motors-Corporation 2 жыл бұрын

Mr Robinson actually looks like Mr Lucas from are you being served how can we take him seriously as an executive!!

@dianabrown1409 4 жыл бұрын

such a shame JC4PM

@timpriddy349 2 жыл бұрын

Rust never sleeps or takes a holiday

@johnturner6446 Жыл бұрын

We ruined our own future . My parents bought a Renault just to prove that you could and stick it to public british ownership of BL. The Renault was crap again French public ownership. BL had a cracking apprenticeship scheme. I worked for Austin Rover and loved it. I was part it. I can remember Quentin Wilson saying dont buy a metro simply because of patronision . Well he was a tosser and knew sod all about BL advanced engineering. I still say BL was as good as the rest .We just had more choice late 70's and bought German or Japenese because you could

@mxferro Жыл бұрын

Decades of horrible mismanagement and overly greedy,short sighted worker unions destroyed that company. Those are the main top issues. There are next level issues but to keep a company alive...you have to have those two topics addressed first.

@Geffo555 4 жыл бұрын

Will the Marina be put back into production after Brexit? Forward to the 1970s.

@robdubz1510 4 жыл бұрын

It's ok we have vauxhall british brand (owned by the French)

@Geffo555 4 жыл бұрын

@@robdubz1510. For now. None of us know in truth exactly how Brexit will work out, but common sense alone would suggest higher prices and compromised efficiency.

@davidboult4143 4 жыл бұрын

Eu cars become too expensive, so do eu components shipped in just in time. Time to restart UK car production with UK components.

@Geffo555 4 жыл бұрын

@@davidboult4143. And meanwhile, back in reality, who's going to pay for a new car industry? Dyson? The bloke in charge of Wetherspoons? Should we have a nationalised car industry? It takes years and billions to develop new cars. And if we end up in a deep recession who will have the money to buy them?

@mfitzy100 4 жыл бұрын

David Boult far too tiny to warrant anything like that. They’ll just move elsewhere to serve much bigger markets.

@crouisk Жыл бұрын

There u have it …..in a nutshell why it all failed

@gotthefeelin 4 жыл бұрын

A case where they should have just let the money losing departments die and let business take its natural course. Government money down the drain for a mismanaged mess.

@Myndir 11 ай бұрын

Short term political gain for long term economic pain.

@alisonwilliams4862 4 жыл бұрын

I don't know much about business so I've often wondered why each country doesn't just make and supply cars and various other things for its own country? That would eliminate foreign companies competing with them and then driving them out of business, surely! If we did that, we would still have a manufacturing industry like in the old days. I get the impression that it wasn't broke but we had to try and fix it and look where we are today, where you have to compete with several hundred other people to get a mundane job. When my parents were my age (38), you could allegedly lose your job for whatever reason one week and be in another one within the month.

@grahamfigg5817 2 жыл бұрын

Because that would use resources inefficiently. It's better for each region or nation to specialise in producing what they make most efficiently, and obtain what they can't make by trade. This means labour, materials etc are used more efficiently and more can be produced globally, increasing everyone's living standard. Look up the theories of the economist David Ricardo.

@Myndir 11 ай бұрын

@@grahamfigg5817 "It's better for each region or nation to specialise in producing what they make most efficiently" To be precise, to make what's the most efficient use of their resources. Country A may be better at producing cars than Country B, but they can both be better off if Country B focuses on cars and Country A on e.g. aerospace or electronics. That's comparative advantage. One cool thing is that comparative advantage means that AI can't put people out of work just by being hyperproductive. (It can do so in other ways e.g. by making their skills obsolete.)

@LifeInStone 4 жыл бұрын

And Brexiteers blame Europe. 😆

@heinkle1 4 жыл бұрын

We poorly managed an inevitable decline that was blamed by the left-behind on Europe. The UK’s problems have been caused by successive UK governments - but should we be trying to revive manufacturing? I don’t think so.

@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 4 жыл бұрын

@@heinkle1 yes we should, look at the economies of Germany and Japan, we could have been like them but better, we need high paying jobs and goods to export

@chrisdavidson911 2 жыл бұрын

Not a single Brexiteer would be blaming the EU for something which happened in the 1970s, to a cancerous institution such as BL. What year did we join the Common Market, and in what year did Ford start moving all of it's vehicle production to mainland Europe?