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87-512: Bernard Cournil was born in Aurillac in April 1909. He was a passionate engineer and, as a young man, closely involved with the compagnonnage  [ fr ] before returning to his native Cantal where he set up an automobile workshop business which as the next war progressed and the oil ran out, specialised in converting cars to run on wood based “gazogène” fuel . After the war Cournil found

174-453: A warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) under the Köppen system . In spite of this, the city enjoys more than 2,100 hours of sunshine per year on average, but also a high amount of precipitations per year on average. The record low temperature was −24.5 °C (−12 °F) on 9 January 1985 and the record high was 38.0 °C (100 °F) on 30 July 1983. The origin of the name Aurillac

261-527: A brand in consumers' minds in and outside the UK, print ads and spots were produced, causing confusion rather than attraction for buyers. BL marketing and management attempted to draw more obvious distinctions between the marques – most notable was the decision to pitch Morris as a maker of conventional mass-market cars to compete with Ford and Vauxhall and Austin to continue BMC's line of advanced family cars with front-wheel drive and fluid suspension. This resulted in

348-495: A disastrous couple of years in the marketplace, by the end of 1974 BLMC was on the brink of bankruptcy. Its financial backers – the City banks – had become very nervous about its future, and persuaded Lord Stokes to approach Tony Benn for financial assistance." Sir Don Ryder was asked to undertake an enquiry into the position of the company, and his report was presented to the government in April 1975. Following Ryder's recommendations,

435-472: A perceived concern over the robustness of the standard gear-box, Cournil substituted gearwheels derived from castings which he machined in his own workshops. He then started looking for an engine that would be more reliable than the ones provided from Hotchkiss , initially substituting a diesel unit from Ferguson . By the early 1960s he had decided that the Hotchkiss Jeep chassis was insufficiently robust for

522-423: A product to sell. This meant that Austin and Morris still, to an extent, competed with each other and meant that each product was saddled with effectively twice the logistics, marketing and distribution costs that it would have if sold under a single name or if production of a single model platform was concentrated in one factory. Although BL did eventually end the wasteful double sourcing – for example production of

609-463: A recognised and respected marque across India, the wider subcontinent and parts of Africa in the form of Ashok Leyland , a company formed from the partnership of the Ashok group and British Leyland. However, now the company has been largely Indian in its ownership for over three decades. Now a part of the giant Hinduja Group , Ashok Leyland manufactures buses, trucks, defence vehicles and engines. The company

696-634: A redesigned body for their "A3" in 1986. The first Cournil Tracteur ( JA1 ) used leftover Standard 23C diesel engines from the Ferguson TE20/FF30 , often known as "Hotchkiss engines" as they had been built under license in the Hotchkiss plant in Paris until 1958. This 2,088 cc (127.4 cu in) engine produces 30 PS (22 kW). As availability of the Hotchkiss-built engine came to an end,

783-601: A single all-new model, the Austin Montego. The Acclaim was replaced in that same year by another Honda-based product, the Rover 200 -series. The MG factory at Abingdon and Triumph factory at Canley were both closed in 1980. By the end of Michael Edwardes' tenure as chairman of BL plc in 1982, the company had been restructured into two distinct parts – the Cars Division (which consisted of Austin-Morris, Rover and Jaguar, and

870-539: A small number of tractors with some modest success. The car marques inherited by the company are as follows. The dates given are those of the first car of each marque, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development. Several of these names (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini) are now in other hands. The history of the mergers and other key events is as follows. Pre-BL: As BL: As BL: Post-BL: As BL: Post BL: In some cases, British Leyland continued to produce competing models from

957-610: A speckled gray horse which is visible in a painting in the Art and Archaeology Museum. When the National Stud moved the stables were transformed into an exhibition hall / gallery and a range of exhibitions is held every year including the Salon des Métiers d'Art d'Aurillac. BLMC British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd ( BLMC ), following

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1044-659: A step closer to reconnecting with its British heritage, as Optare is a direct descendant of Leyland's UK bus-making division. During the time of British Leyland's transition into Austin Rover during the 1980s, a version of the Rover SD1 was licence built in India as the Standard 2000 from 1985 to 1988, briefly reviving the Standard brand which had been axed in 1968. British Leyland also provided

1131-555: A stock of US built Jeeps that had been left behind, and these he adapted and maintained for agricultural use. When Hotchkiss began to assemble Jeeps under license in France, it was a natural progression for Cournil to become a regional distributor for the Hotchkiss built Jeep , and in 1954 he went a stage further, concluding his own licensing agreement with Willys Jeep for assembling their vehicle. Little by little Cournil now progressed from assembling Jeeps to improving them. Responding to

1218-634: A stop-gap until the Austin Maestro and Montego were ready for launch. This car would emerge as the Triumph Acclaim in 1981, and would be the first of a long line of collaborative models jointly developed between BL and Honda. At the same time, Leyland Trucks introduced the Landtrain , the first in a series of vehicles developed specifically for export markets. A rationalisation of the model ranges also took place around this time. In 1980, British Leyland

1305-467: A total of 850 units (most sold locally in the Massif Central region) by 1972. After filing bankruptcy in 1970 Bernard's son Alain took over, building 53 units between 1971 and 1977. This was a dark period for the small firm in spite of Bernard's close cooperation; Alain's operation was run out of a small garage rather than a factory and with credit hard to come by development came to a standstill. In 1977

1392-415: A very large number of buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments. There are also a very large number of items which are registered as historical objects in various locations. Some of the most interesting sites are: The commune has several religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments: Aurillac has several dance centres: In 2011 Aurillac hosted

1479-751: Is a leader in the heavy transportation sector within India and has an aggressive expansionary policy. In 1987, the UK-based Hinduja Group bought the India-based Ashok Leyland company. Today, Ashok-Leyland is pursuing a joint venture with Nissan and through its acquisition of the Czech truck maker, Avia , is entering the European truck market directly. With its purchase, in 2010, of a 25% stake in UK-based bus manufacturer Optare , Ashok Leyland has taken

1566-570: Is at 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin . The city is built on the banks of the Jordanne, a tributary of the Cère . It is 558 km (347 mi) south of Paris and 223 km (139 mi) north of Toulouse . Aurillac was part of a former Auvergne province called Haute-Auvergne and is only 20 km (12 mi) away from

1653-553: Is best known for its Cheese centre based on the heights of Aurillac close to the Chateau Saint-Étienne. It was established in 1993, the structure consists of an association bringing together many organisations to develop scientific programs. It develops scientific programs relating to the cheese sector. Aurillac hosts several websites: Aurillac has also been the headquarters of the ERP vendor Qualiac since 1979. The commune has

1740-507: Is from Aureliacum meaning "Villa of Aurelius" and dates back to the Gallo-Roman era. It is attested in the polygonal Fanum d'Aron which was built in the 1st century and discovered in 1977 at Lescudillier. It is thought that in the Gallic era the original site of the city was on the heights overlooking the current city at Saint-Jean-de-Dône ("Dône" from dunum ) and, like most oppida , it

1827-451: Is wide and airy and a feature of military architecture of the time. It is now known as the Zone of Peace and is now converted into a parking lot leaving a clear view of the 3 buildings that surround it. The entrance to the barracks was destroyed and replaced by a modern building. It houses administrative services, treasury, CABA, Mortgages, Cadastre etc. In the 1950s the old military buildings became

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1914-450: The Austin , Morris and Wolseley marques became part of China's SAIC , with whom MG Rover attempted to merge prior to administration. As of 2024, Mini , Jaguar Land Rover , Leyland Trucks , and Unipart are the most prominent former parts of British Leyland that still exist, with SAIC still operating its UK base out of the former Longbridge site. BLMC was founded on 17 January 1968 by

2001-651: The Austin Metro (initially named the Mini Metro), a three-door hatchback that gave buyers a more modern and practical alternative to the iconic but ageing Mini. This went on to be one of the most popular cars in Britain in the 1980s. Towards the final stages of the Metro's development, BL entered into an alliance with Honda to provide a new mid-range model which would replace the ageing Triumph Dolomite , but would more crucially act as

2088-622: The British Motor Corporation , Pressed Steel and Jaguar) was perilously close to collapse. The government was hopeful LMC's expertise would revive the ailing BMH, and effectively create a "British General Motors ". The merger combined most of the remaining independent British car manufacturing companies and included car, bus and truck manufacturers and more diverse enterprises including: construction equipment, refrigerators, metal casting companies, road surface manufacturers; in all, nearly one hundred different companies. The new corporation

2175-492: The Land Rover Group . JRT later split up into Rover-Triumph and Jaguar Car Holdings (which included Daimler ). At the same time the public use of the "British Leyland" name ceased, being abbreviated simply to "BL", whilst the company's "hurricane" logo was redesigned with the central "L" removed. The Austin-Morris division was given its own unique brand identity with the introduction of the blue and green "chevron" logo, which

2262-578: The Morris Minor which was introduced in 1948 and the Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxford , which dated back to 1959. Although BMH had enjoyed great success in the 1960s with both the Mini and the 1100/1300 , both cars were infamously underpriced and despite their pioneering but unproven front wheel drive engineering, warranty costs had been crippling and had badly eroded those models' profitability. After

2349-598: The Simca 1307 (Chrysler Alpine) in 1975. The company also wasted many of its scant funds on concepts , like the Rover P8 or P9, that would never be produced to earn money for the company. These internal issues, which were never satisfactorily solved, combined with serious industrial relations problems with trade unions, the 1973 oil crisis , the three-day week , high inflation and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth. "Following

2436-541: The "Cité Administrative". The clock building is called so because of the great clock that adorns this building. It is also commonly called the House of unions and associations . Originally these buildings were the former Convent of the Visitation, built in 1682. The Convent was converted into a barracks for infantry in 1792 and occupied half of the buildings until 1922, hence the transformation of buildings to equestrian use. Today

2523-564: The "LC8" project – eventually launched as the Austin Mini Metro in 1980. In 1977, Michael Edwardes was appointed chief executive by the NEB. Edwardes embarked on a massive restructuring of the beleaguered conglomerate, selling off many of its non-core businesses such as Prestcold and Coventry Climax. Edwardes also took on the militant unions head-on, culminating in the dismissal of chief shop steward Derek Robinson in 1979, who had been seen as

2610-807: The 2- and 3.6-litre Renault/Saviem petrol units. During SIMI's ownership, the short wheelbase model began being referred to as the "Randonneur" while the LWB model was called the "Entrepreneur". Auverland continued to build SIMI's lightly modified version as the SC (in SC-200, -250, and SC-11 versions), and the more heavily modified version as the A-2 , until the A-3 was introduced in July 1987. The Bernard Cournil company of Saint-Germain-Laval (Loire) progressed to vehicle manufacturing in about 1960. From 1979

2697-416: The 23C was replaced by a Leyland unit (the "O.E. 138" ) in 1964 - this was a derivative of the 23C engine, and still built by Standard after having been taken over by Leyland. Displacement was increased to 2,260 cc (137.9 cu in) engine and power up to 35 PS (26 kW); the design also benefitted from glow plugs and a stronger oil pump amongst other detail improvements. 1964 also marked

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2784-580: The Abbey was sacked. The library and archives were all burned. Before the French Revolution Aurillac had a Présidial and carried the title of capital of the Haute-Auvergne . In 1790 on the creation of departments, after a period of alternating with Saint-Flour , Aurillac definitively became the capital of Cantal . The arrival of the railway in 1866 accelerated the development of the city. At

2871-623: The Air France subsidiary HOP! . The commune was awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. The Jordanne river flows through the heart of the commune from north to south where it joins the Cère just south of the commune. Influenced by its altitude, Aurillac features an oceanic climate (Cfb), closely bordering on

2958-522: The Allegro. The company were aware of the issue but had decided against a recall. They were held liable for damages as they had failed to take reasonable care, because the costs of the recall were deemed in proportion with the potential risks of injury. In 1978, the company formed a new group for its commercial vehicle interests, BL Commercial Vehicles (BLCV) under managing director David Abell . The following companies moved under this new umbrella: BLCV and

3045-665: The British market. By the end of the 1970s, the UK Government had introduced protectionist measures in the form of import quotas on Japanese manufacturers to protect the ailing domestic producers (both BL and Chrysler Europe ), which it was helping to sustain. At its peak, BLMC owned almost forty manufacturing plants across the country. Even before the merger, BMH had included theoretically competing marques that were in fact selling substantially similar badge engineered cars. The British Motor Corporation had never properly integrated either

3132-641: The Cournils decided to sell the operation to two firms: the French rights went to arms company Gevarm, of the " Groupe Gévelot ", while the rights to market areas outside of the domain of the French were sold to UMM of Portugal. This was also when the business was relocated from Aurillac to Saint-Germain-Laval . In 1980 the firm was taken over by SIMI of the Belin group, who built another 560 units until 1984, again mainly for government use. In 1984 Auverland took over, introducing

3219-515: The Land Rover Group later merged to become Land Rover Leyland . In December 1978, British Leyland Limited was renamed BL Limited and its subsidiary, which acted as a holding company for all the other companies within the group. The British Leyland Motor Corporation Limited was renamed BLMC Limited at the same time. BL's fortunes took another much-awaited rise in October 1980 with the launch of

3306-582: The Mini and the 1100/1300 was concentrated at Longbridge , whilst the 1800 and Austin Maxi ranges moved to Cowley , the production of sub-assemblies as well as component suppliers were scattered all over the Midlands which greatly increased the cost of keeping the factories running. BMH and Leyland Motors had expanded and acquired companies throughout the 1950s and 1960s which were in direct competition with each other, with

3393-664: The Morris Ital and the Triumph Acclaim being discontinued, their respective brands were effectively shelved, leaving only the Austin and Rover marques, whilst Land Rover moved into the Freight Rover Group alongside the light trucks division. After the divestment of Unipart and the van, truck and bus divisions in 1987 (see below), leaving just two subsidiaries – Austin Rover (volume cars) and Land Rover (SUVs) this essentially remained

3480-563: The Peace of Aurillac, relations were normalised. In the 13th and 14th centuries Aurillac withstood several sieges by the English and in the 16th century continued to suffer from civil and religious wars. The influence of the abbey declined with its secularization and its implementation of orders. In 1569 the city was delivered by treason to the Protestants : people were tortured and held to ransom and

3567-702: The Pierre-Mendès-France Cultural Centre occupies the premises including the Museum of Art and Archaeology, the County Conservatory of Music and Dance, the youth service activities of the town of Aurillac, and a crèche for children. The Stables were then used by the national stud established by Napoleon in 1806; a depot of stallions was created in Aurillac. At the Battle of Austerlitz Napoleon rode Cantal ,

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3654-501: The Rover Group, and only retain the Cowley operations and the rights to manufacture the new MINI family of vehicles. Land Rover was divested to Ford , who integrated it with its Premier Automotive Group (of which Jaguar was already a part, therefore reuniting the two former BL stablemates), whilst the remains of the volume car business, including the massive Longbridge complex, became

3741-689: The SCD15/25 models. There was also a version with a two-litre Renault 829 engine available from 1979 (SCE15/25). It was detuned from 109 to 83 PS (80 to 61 kW), compared to the Renault 20 TS in which it was normally installed. SIMI began by taking over the existing Gevarm lineup, but soon began adding new engines. A redesign also followed, as did a modified chassis with new dimensions. The wheelbases offered were now 2,200 and 2,750 mm (86.6 and 108 in), while PSA's 2.5-litre XD3 P diesel and 2.3-litre XD2 PS turbodiesel engines were on offer alongside

3828-499: The UK and as DAF in the Netherlands. In 1987, the bus business was spun off into a new company called Leyland Bus . This was the result of a management buyout who decided to sell the company to the Bus & Truck division of Volvo in 1988. That same year, the UK Government controversially tried to privatise and sell-off Land Rover , however this plan was later abandoned. The Austin name

3915-534: The abbey. The first urban area was circular and built close to the Abbey of Aurillac . Gerald died around 910 but his influence was such that over the centuries Gerald was always a baptismal name prevalent in the population of Aurillac and the surrounding area. It was in the 13th century that municipal conflict began between consuls and abbots. After taking the Chateau of Saint-Étienne in 1255 and two negotiated agreements called

4002-439: The agricultural challenges of central France, and had substituted his own virtually indestructible four-wheel drive vehicle which had progressed a long way beyond the original Jeep design and which in the Mining industry acquired the soubriquet “Tracteur Cournil”. The date when Cournil became a vehicle manufacturer in his own right was in 1960, when their own frame was introduced for the "Cournil Tracteur JA1". In 1961 Cournil changed

4089-460: The basic structure of BL and subsequently the Rover Group until the 2000 break-up. In 1986, Graham Day took the helm as chairman and CEO and the third joint Rover-Honda vehicle – the Rover 800 -series – was launched which replaced the ten-year-old Rover SD1 . Around the same time, BL changed its name to Rover Group and in 1987 the Trucks Division – Leyland Vehicles merged with the Dutch DAF company to form DAF NV , trading as Leyland DAF in

4176-532: The best-selling Mini , BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation. After much restructuring and divestment of subsidiary companies, BL was renamed the Rover Group in 1986, becoming a subsidiary of British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, then was subsequently bought by BMW . The final surviving incarnation of the company as the MG Rover Group went into administration in 2005, bringing mass car production by British-owned manufacturers to an end. MG and

4263-446: The car and offered a number of different engines over the years, keeping it in production until 2004. The Auverland also provided the basis for Brazil's " JPX Montez ", built from 1992 until 2002. Aurillac Aurillac ( French pronunciation: [oʁijak] ; Occitan : Orlhac [uɾˈʎak] ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department , in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France . Aurillac

4350-404: The centre of town, lies on the Figeac -Arvant railway. It has rail connections to Clermont-Ferrand, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Toulouse. About 50% of the commune is urbanised with farmland to the east and west of the urban area. Aurillac – Tronquières Airport is located in the south of the commune with its runway extending beyond the commune boundary. It is connected to Paris by two daily flights by

4437-469: The commune are known as Aurillacois or Aurillacoises in French. Aurillac has hundreds of boutiques, shops, and artisans. Also found in Aurillac are different players in various food fields (e.g. the Couderc distillery with its famous gentian liqueur and famous establishments such as the Leroux and Bonal cheese factories, the Morin refinery, MAS charcuteries , Teil cured by the Altitude group, refrigerated transport operator Olano Ladoux etc.). Aurillac

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4524-449: The dealer networks or the production facilities of Austin and Morris . This had been done partly to appease poor industrial relations, as decades old rivalries between Austin and Morris workers at Longbridge and Cowley respectively, had persisted after the 1952 merger and creation of BMC. The upshot was that both plants were producing badge engineered models of otherwise identical Austin and Morris cars so that each dealer network would have

4611-436: The design of their truck, creating a distinct shape which was to last until 1986, and until 2004 in modified forms. The front was distinguished by drastically sloped fenders to allow for maximum visibility on the narrow mountain tracks for which the vehicle was intended. Built mostly by hand his products gradually used more and more proprietary components, built by Cournil or especially for them. Production had still only reached

4698-427: The development of the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro . The policy's success was mixed. Since the dealership network was still not sufficiently rationalised it meant that Austin and Morris dealers (which had, in BMC/BMH days, each offered a full range of cars both advanced and traditional) had their product range halved and found that they could no longer cater to many previously loyal customers' tastes. The policy

4785-411: The end of 1976 with the approval by Industry Minister Eric Varley of a £140,000,000 investment of public money in refitting the Longbridge plant for production of the company's "ADO88" (Mini replacement), due for launch in 1979. However, poor results from customer clinics of the ADO88, coupled with the UK success of the Ford Fiesta , launched in 1976, forced a snap redesign of ADO88 which evolved into

4872-565: The first census in 1759 there were 6,268 people in Aurillac, it now has about 28,000. Blazon: Gules, three escallops of Argent 2 and 1, in chief Azure, three fleurs-de-lis of Or. Blazon: Party per pale, Or and Vert, the border engrailed of one on the other. Aurillac is the capital of the department of Cantal (seat of the prefecture ) and of the Arrondissement of Aurillac as well as for three cantons (INSEE names): List of Successive Mayors Aurillac has twinning associations with: The inhabitants of

4959-433: The first one that can be considered a true "production" model, came in two wheelbases: 2,040 or 2,540 mm (80 or 100 in). The engines offered were a 2.6-litre Saviem 817 petrol unit with 69 PS (51 kW) (SCE14/24), or a 2.1-litre Indenor diesel unit ( XDP 4/90 ) with 62 PS (46 kW), called the SCD14/24. The larger Saviem 720 diesel of 3.6 litres was also available, with 85 PS (63 kW). This

5046-400: The heart of the Auvergne Volcano Park. Access to the commune is by numerous roads including the D922 from Naucelles in the north, the D17 from Saint-Simon in the north-east, Route nationale N122 from Polminhac in the east which continues to Sansac-de-Marmiesse in the south-west, the D920 to Arpajon-sur-Cère in the south-east, and the D18 to Ytrac in the west. Aurillac station , in

5133-648: The industrial turmoil that plagued the United Kingdom during the 1970s. Action by unions frequently brought BL's manufacturing capability to its knees. Despite the duplication of production facilities as a result of the merger, there were multiple single points of failure in the company's production network which meant that a strike in a single plant could stop many of the others. Domestic rivals Ford and General Motors mitigated against this by merging their previously separate British and German subsidiaries and product lines (Ford combined Ford of Britain and Ford Germany to create Ford of Europe , whilst GM eventually merged

5220-458: The introduction of a differential lock. The new engine was considerably smoother and was also available in a version with higher output, 54 PS (40 kW), and the model was now called the JA2 . In 1968 BLMC was formed, and as a result about fifty JA2s were equipped with the less-than-reliable 2.1-litre Land Rover diesel engine. A variety of other available engines followed, from Saviem, Renault, Indenor, and others. The Gevarm-built Cournil,

5307-496: The market. The lack of attention to the development of new mass-market models meant that BMH had nothing in the way of new models in the pipeline to compete effectively with popular rivals such as Ford's Escort and Cortina . Immediately, Lord Stokes instigated plans to design and introduce new models quickly. The first result of this crash programme was the Morris Marina in early-1971. It used parts from various BL models with new bodywork to produce BL's mass-market competitor. It

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5394-405: The merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by Tony Benn as chairman of the Industrial Reorganisation Committee created by the first Wilson Government . At the time, LMC was a highly successful truck and bus manufacturer – as well as owning prosperous car brands Triumph and Rover – whilst BMH (which was the product of an earlier merger between

5481-453: The merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings . It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar , Rover , and Land Rover , as well as

5568-417: The merger, Lord Stokes was horrified to find that BMH had no plans to replace the elderly designs in its portfolio. Also, BMH's design efforts immediately prior to the merger had focused on unfortunate niche market models such as the Austin Maxi (which was underdeveloped and with an appearance hampered by using the doors from the larger Austin 1800 ) and the Austin 3-litre , a car with no discernible place in

5655-432: The new models that had been introduced by BLMC failed to sell in high enough quantities outside of the home market, despite the UK now being a part of the European Economic Community – with the Allegro and Princess, in particular, having been tailored for European tastes. However, both these vehicles were saloons when the trend in Europe was moving towards family-sized hatchbacks, typified by the Volkswagen Golf in 1974 and

5742-407: The newly independent MG Rover , which collapsed in 2005. However, after suffering severe financial problems and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Ford decided to dissolve its Premier Automotive Group, and sold off most of its brands, with Jaguar and Land Rover being sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors by the end of 2008. Ultimately only MINI, Jaguar Land Rover and Leyland Trucks would be

5829-566: The operations of Vauxhall and Opel ), so that production could be sourced from either British or Continental European plants in the event of industrial unrest. The upshot was that both Ford and Vauxhall ultimately overtook BL to become Britain's two best-selling marques. At the same time, a tide of Japanese imports, spearheaded by Nissan (Datsun) and Toyota exploited both BL's inability to supply its customers and its declining reputation for quality. Continental carmakers including Fiat , Renault and Volkswagen were also achieving strong sales on

5916-437: The organisation was drastically restructured and the Labour Government created a new holding company, British Leyland Limited (BL), of which it was the major shareholder, effectively nationalising the company. Between 1975 and 1980, these shares were vested in the National Enterprise Board which had responsibility for managing this investment. The original seven divisions of the company were now reorganised into four: There

6003-547: The perpetrator of much of the strikes and industrial unrest that had crippled the company throughout the decade. Edwardes quickly reversed the Ryder Report's policy of giving prominence to the "Leyland" brand, and returned focus back to the individual brands. Leyland Cars was thus renamed BL Cars Ltd , consisting of two main divisions; Austin Morris (the volume car business) and Jaguar Rover Triumph (JRT) (the specialist or upmarket division). Austin Morris included MG. Land Rover and Range Rover were later separated from JRT to form

6090-537: The policy of having multiple models competing in the same market segment continued long after the merger – for instance BMH's MGB remained in production alongside LMC's Triumph TR6 , the Rover P5 competed with the Jaguar XJ , whilst in the medium family sector, the Princess was in direct competition with upscale versions of the Morris Marina and Austin Maxi , meaning that economies of scale resulting from large production runs could never be realised. In addition, in consequent attempts to establish British Leyland as

6177-552: The result that when the two conglomerates were brought together into BL there was even more internal competition. Rover competed with Jaguar at the expensive end of the market, and Triumph with its family cars and sports cars against Austin, Morris and MG. Internal politics became so bad that one marque's team would attempt to derail another marque's programmes. Individual model lines that were similarly sized were therefore competing against each other, yet were never discontinued nor were model ranges rationalised quickly enough; in fact,

6264-757: The start of the Tour de France in the 10th stage. Two military units are garrisoned in Aurillac: Aurillac has long been a garrison town with the 139th Infantry Regiment, who are noted for their feats during the Battle of the Somme . They have a remarkable chronology and a cabinet of trophies were displayed in the Hall of Honour of the Departmental Military Delegation who have since moved, forgetting to preserve and safeguard this part of history. The military square

6351-523: The surviving automotive manufacturing operations of British Leyland to the present day. Many of the brands were divested over time and continue to exist on the books of several companies to this day. In total, the British Government had invested over £3 billion (not adjusted for inflation) attempting to rescue British Leyland from bankruptcy. Until the 1980s, the Leyland name and logo were seen as

6438-481: The technical know-how and the rights to their Leyland 28 BHP tractor for Auto Tractors Limited , a tractor plant in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1981 with state support, ATL only managed to build 2,380 tractors by the time the project was ended in 1990 – less than the planned production for the first two years. The project ended up being taken over by Sipani , who kept producing tractor engines and also

6525-627: The vehicles were also produced under licence in Portugal by UMM ; the French market was off limits to the UMMs. The business was acquired by the Société I.M.I. company (SIMI) in 1980 and during a period when ownership was being transferred to Auverland in 1983/84 the vehicle was briefly marketed as the Autoland . In 1982 Auverland took over the business and after 1985 the vehicle was marketed as such. UMM kept improving

6612-415: The year of the birth of Count Gerald of Aurillac at the castle where his father, also named Gerald, was lord. In 885 he founded a Benedictine monastery which later bore his name. It was in this monastery that Gerbert, the first French pope under the name of Sylvester II , studied. The city was made in a Sauveté area which was located between four crosses and was founded in 898 by Gerald shortly after

6699-512: Was abandoned after the Roman conquest in favour of a new city established on the plain. With the return of instability in the Lower Roman Empire there was a movement towards Encastellation and a new fortified site was established in mid-slope between the former oppidum and the old Gallo-Roman city where the Chateau of Saint-Étienne is today. The history of the city is really only known from 856,

6786-479: Was also carried out haphazardly: The advanced, Hydragas -sprung Princess began life in 1975 sold as an Austin, a Morris and a Wolseley before being rebadged altogether under the new Princess name. The Princess (and the Mini , which BL also turned into a marque in its own right) was sold across the Austin-Morris dealership network, making any distinction between the two even more vague to many customers. Critically,

6873-426: Was arranged into seven divisions under its new chairman, Sir Donald Stokes (formerly the chairman of LMC). At the time of its founding, BLMC was the world's fifth largest vehicle manufacturer after General Motors , Ford , Chrysler and Volkswagen . The seven divisions were: While BMH was the UK's largest car manufacturer (producing over twice as many cars as LMC), it offered a range of dated vehicles, including

6960-478: Was dropped from the Metro, Maestro and Montego by 1988, signalling the end for the historic Austin marque, in a push to focus on the more prestigious (and potentially more profitable) Rover badge. In 1988, the business was sold by the UK Government to British Aerospace (BAe), and shortly afterwards shortened its name to just Rover Group. It subsequently sold the business to BMW , who, after years of investment that ultimately resulted in huge losses, decided to break up

7047-463: Was later expanded in use when the car manufacturing operations were further consolidated into the Austin Rover Group in the 1980s. In 1978, the company was the subject of an important legal development concerning corporate civil liability . In the case of Walton v British Leyland , the court held Leyland liable for negligence owing to a design defect in the wheel bearings of their new model of

7134-645: Was led by Ray Horrocks ) and the Commercial Vehicle Division (which consisted of Land Rover, Leyland Trucks, Leyland Buses and Freight Rover ) – whose chief executive was David Andrews. The holding company BL plc was now chaired by Austin Bide in a non-executive capacity. Around this time, the BL Cars Ltd division renamed itself Austin Rover , shortly before the launch of the Austin Maestro and Ray Horrocks

7221-510: Was one of the strongest-selling cars in the United Kingdom during the 1970s; being the second-most popular new car sold in Britain in 1973, though by the end of production in 1980 it was widely regarded as a dismal product that had damaged the company's reputation. The Austin Allegro (replacement for the 1100/1300 ranges), launched in 1973, gained a similar reputation over its ten-year production life. The company became an infamous monument to

7308-459: Was originally only offered with the longer wheelbase and is called the SCD28. Top speeds for all three models were claimed to be 107.56 km/h (66.83 mph). The English importer also installed the 2.7-litre Perkins 4.165 diesel engine to suit local needs. Right-hand drive models were not offered until 1979. Later on the larger, 2.3-litre Indenor diesel engine replaced the 2.1 used earlier, creating

7395-509: Was positive news for BL at the end of 1976 when its new Rover SD1 executive car was voted European Car of the Year , having gained plaudits for its innovative design. The SD1 was actually the first step that British Leyland took towards rationalising its passenger car ranges, as it replaced two cars competing in the same sector, the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000 . More positive news for the company came at

7482-480: Was replaced by Harold Musgrove as its chairman and chief executive. The emergence of the Austin Rover brand effectively put an end to the separate Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph divisions, since by this time, Jaguar now resided in a separate company called Jaguar Car Holdings and was now led by Sir John Egan , and this was later de-merged from BL completely and privatised in 1984. That same year, with both

7569-641: Was still producing three cars in the large family car sector—the Princess 2 , Austin Maxi and Morris Marina . The Marina was succeeded by the Morris Ital in July 1980 following a superficial facelift, and a year later the Princess 2 received a major upgrade to become the Austin Ambassador , meaning that the 1982 range had just two competitors in this sector. In April 1984, these cars were discontinued to make way for

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