143-580: The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986 (formerly British Leyland ), which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business (comprising the Austin , Rover , Mini and MG marques ), Land Rover Group , Freight Rover vans and Leyland Trucks . The Rover Group also owned the dormant trademarks from
286-519: A Braille representation of the notes denomination), colour-shifting ink (on the DM ;500 and DM 1000 denominations), a see-through registration device and ultraviolet-visible security features. First to be issued were the DM 100 and DM 200 denominations on 1 October 1990 (although the banknote shows " Frankfurt am Main , 2. Januar 1989"). The next denomination was DM 10 on 16 April 1991, followed by DM 50 on 30 September 1991. Next
429-534: A diesel engine option being offered for the first time. The successful Discovery 'family' 4x4 was launched in Europe in 1989 and became Europe's top-selling 4x4 within 18 months. The Discovery brought with it an advanced diesel engine, which was soon fitted to the other models in the range. This period saw Land Rover rationalise its operations, closing down satellite factories and increasing parts-sharing between models (axles, transmissions and engines were all shared, and
572-527: 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
715-457: A classier interior. It was very popular in the compact executive market, but could not match the ever-popular BMW 3 Series . This was down in part to the pricing and model restrictions BMW (Rover group's owner) had placed on the 600 series and its very close ties with the more downmarket Honda Accord. Production ended in early 1999 to make way for the new 75 model. Unlike the Metro, which had received
858-717: A colorless inorganic oxide mixture applied to the security thread. Banknotes featuring that were designated BBk Ia within the Bundesbank. All banknotes of the third series bore the penalty for counterfeiting and forgery on the upper right corner of the reverse, from German penal code section 146: " Wer Banknoten nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus/Freiheitsstrafe nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. " ("Who falsifies or counterfeits banknotes, or procures falsified or counterfeit banknotes and releases them into circulation,
1001-543: 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,
1144-495: A four-door saloon which would become the Rover 400. It used a new range of 16-valve K Series petrol engines as well as a Peugeot 1.9 diesel and 1.8 turbodiesel both fitted to the Phase 1 Peugeot 405. Sales were stronger than its successors and its launch coincided with a winding-down in production of the similarly sized Maestro , which finally ceased production at the end of 1994 having spent
1287-452: A greatly expanded market for German exports. Overnight, consumer goods appeared in the stores, because they could be sold for higher prices. While the availability of consumer goods is seen as a giant success story by most historians of the present, the perception at the time was a different one: prices were so high that average people could not afford to shop, especially since prices were free-ranging but wages still fixed by law. Therefore, in
1430-489: A lease-back deal. SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a £1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, the National Development and Reform Commission held the opinion that if BMW could not make a success of Rover, then it would be hard for SAIC to do so. Although the joint venture was not yet finalized, MG Rover sold the rights to manufacture Rover's 25 and 75 models and
1573-509: A major reengineering and was rebadged a Rover, the two last bastions from the British Leyland era had become increasingly uncompetitive in the marketplace and were kept in production merely to cater for the budget end of the market and for sale to fleets, as the newer Rover badged models were pushed further upmarket compared to rivals from Ford and General Motors ( Vauxhall / Opel ). The MG and high specification variants were both dropped from
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#17328487334201716-762: A mint mark, indicating where the coin was minted. D indicates Munich, F Stuttgart, G Karlsruhe and J Hamburg. Coins minted during the Second World War include the mint marks A (Berlin) and B (Vienna). The mint mark A was also used for German mark coins minted in Berlin beginning in 1990 following the reunification of Germany. These mint marks have been continued on the German euro coins . Between 1 July 1990 (the currency union with East Germany ) and 1 July 1991, East German coins in denominations up to 50 pfennig s continued to circulate as Deutsche Mark coins at their face value, owing to
1859-527: A month later, although the licensing agreements surrounding the manufacture of the collaboratively developed Rover 200 , 400 , 600 , and 800 models remained in place. Millions of pounds of investment by BMW failed to turn the company into profit. It has been estimated that the entire Rover bankruptcy cost BMW fifteen billion Marks . In March 2000, BMW announced it planned to sell the Rover Group. Following bids from Alchemy Partners and Phoenix Consortium ,
2002-423: 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
2145-635: A rate of 1:1 for the first M 4,000 and 2:1 for larger amounts. Before reunification, each citizen of East Germany coming to West Germany was given Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money), a per capita allowance of DM 100 in cash. The government of Germany and the Bundesbank were in major disagreement over the exchange rate between the East German mark and the German mark. France and the United Kingdom were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence
2288-549: A rather short life. While previously damaged notes could be replaced from reserve stocks, this stock was also coming to an end, necessitating a reprint. Typical security features at the time were guilloches, a multi-level head watermark and a security thread. Note numbers that fluoresced under UV light and green, yellow, and blue. 27 fluorescent fibers embedded in the paper appeared on most banknotes; however, some specimens without these features were in circulation. Starting in 1976, banknotes were equipped with machine-readable feature -
2431-463: 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
2574-485: A significant dip in sales. These strong sales were not as high as the ever-popular Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra . The Rover 200 had been around since 1988 as the Longbridge-built Honda Concerto , which offered a higher level of equipment but only achieved a fraction of its sales. In April 1990, Rover launched the Rover 400 range. The 400 was essentially a four-door version of the 200 hatchback, but
2717-601: 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
2860-540: A small number of D-Mark coins or bills, e.g. Gib mir mal ein paar Märker ("Just give me a few marks") and Die lieben Märker wieder ("The lovely money again", with an ironic undertone). The subdivision unit is spelled Pfennig ( masc. ; [ˈpfɛnɪç] ), which unlike Mark does have a commonly used plural form: Pfennige ( [ˈpfɛnɪɡə] ), but the singular could also be used instead with no difference in meaning. (e.g.: ein (one) Pfennig , dreißig (thirty) Pfennige or dreißig (thirty) Pfennig ). The official form
3003-539: 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
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#17328487334203146-611: 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
3289-634: 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
3432-410: A temporary shortage of small coins. These coins were legal tender only in the territory of the former East Germany. In colloquial German the 10pf coin was sometimes called a groschen (compare: groat ). Likewise, sechser ('sixer') could refer to a coin of 5pf. Both colloquialisms refer to several pre-1871 currencies of the previously independent states (notably Prussia ), where a groschen
3575-474: A year. Land Rover and the Solihull assembly plant were sold to Ford Motor Company , becoming part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group , ultimately reuniting it with Jaguar which had been divested from British Leyland in 1984 and purchased by Ford in 1989. All remaining Rover volume production at Cowley (essentially now just the Rover 75 as the Rover 600/800 ranges had already been discontinued by this point),
3718-751: 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
3861-535: Is compared to other currencies, as in its 53-year history, the purchasing power of the German mark was reduced by over 70%. The first Deutsche Mark coins were issued by the Bank deutscher Länder in 1948 and 1949. From 1950, the inscription Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) appeared on the coins. These coins were issued in denominations of 1pf, 2pf, 5pf, 10pf, and 50pf. The 1pf and 2pf coins were struck in bronze clad steel (although during some years
4004-494: Is intended for circulation. Commemorative silver DM10 coins have also been issued which have periodically found their way into circulation. Unlike other European countries, Germany retained the use of the smallest coins (1pf and 2pf) until adoption of the euro. denomination below denomination below The weights and dimensions of the coins can be found in an FAQ of the Bundesbank . Unlike other countries (such as Australia) there
4147-802: Is liable to imprisonment for at least two years". The third series banknotes entered circulation on 10 February 1961, with the DM 20 note. DM 100 and DM 50 followed next year, and DM 5 and DM 10 in 1963. High-denomination DM 1000 and DM 500 followed in 1964 and 1965, respectively. The banknotes were printed exclusively in West Germany; in Bundesdruckerei in West Berlin and in Giesecke+Devrient in Munich . The third series banknotes ceased to be legal tender on 30 June 1995, when
4290-547: Is part of a proper name, while the noun "Mark", like all German nouns, is always capitalized. The English loanword "Deutschmark" has a slightly different spelling and one syllable fewer (possibly due to the frequency of silent e in English, or due to English's lack of adjectival endings), and a plural form in -s . In Germany and other German speaking countries, the currency's name was often abbreviated as D-Mark ( fem. , [ˈdeːmaʁk] ) or simply Mark ( fem. ) with
4433-584: The Deutsche Bundesbank . The Deutsche Mark earned a reputation as a strong store of value at times when other national currencies succumbed to periods of inflation . It became a source of national pride and an anchor for the country's economic prosperity, particularly during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder in the 1950s. The population in the Saar Protectorate rejected in a referendum
Rover Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
4576-402: 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
4719-603: 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
4862-622: 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
5005-681: The French franc . On 9 July 1959 the Deutsche Mark replaced the Saar franc at a ratio of 100 francs = DM 0.8507. The Deutsche Mark played an important role in the reunification of Germany. It was introduced as the official currency of East Germany in July 1990, replacing the East German mark ( Mark der DDR ), in preparation for unification on 3 October 1990. East German marks were exchanged for Deutsche Marks at
5148-641: The German gold mark was based on gold rather than silver (at 2.79 marks per gram of fine gold), a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks = 1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. The first mark, known as the Goldmark , was introduced in 1873. With the outbreak of World War I , the mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the Papiermark , especially as high inflation , then hyperinflation occurred and
5291-492: 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
5434-511: The MG F was launched. Powered by a 1.8 16-valve mid-mounted engine, it was an instant hit with buyers thanks to its distinctive styling and excellent ride and handling. It was a huge success in the roadster renaissance of the late 1990s, despite some buyers being let down by lacklusture build quality and reliability. The MG name was revived on passenger cars in 2001 when the ZR, ZS and ZT models launched, based on
5577-578: 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
5720-612: The Ostmark —literally Eastmark ) was introduced a few days afterwards in the form of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes with adhesive stamps to stop the flooding in of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes from the West. In July 1948, a completely new series of East German mark banknotes was issued. Later in 1948, the Bank deutscher Länder ("Bank of the German States") assumed responsibility, followed in 1957 by
5863-528: The Powertrain Ltd business to SAIC for £67M, to help keep the business afloat in the face of falling sales. After MG Rover Group's financial crisis and talks of acquisition or investment by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) failed in early 2005, the MG Rover Group suspended production and went into receivership on 7 April 2005. Following liquidation , Nanjing Automobile Corporation bought
Rover Group - Misplaced Pages Continue
6006-598: 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
6149-577: The Soviet Union to stop it. However, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification. The German mark had a reputation as one of the world's most stable currencies; this was based on the monetary policy of the Bundesbank . The policy was "hard" in relation to the policies of certain other central banks in Europe. The "hard" and "soft"
6292-564: 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
6435-462: The 1970s. The strategy going forward, therefore, was to concentrate on the upmarket Rover brand instead. Two vehicles originally badged as Austins, the Montego saloon and Maestro hatchback, became "marque-less" with bonnet badges the same shape as the Rover longship badge but without "Rover" written on them. Instead any badging just showed the model of the car. When the Austin Metro was facelifted for
6578-589: The 1990 model year, it was rebadged as the Rover Metro. On 31 January 1994, BAe sold its 80% stake in the company on to German vehicle manufacturer BMW for £800 million (a takeover which caused uproar in the House of Commons ), the name changing again in 1995 to BMW (UK) Holdings Limited. The Japanese manufacturer Honda , who owned the remaining 20% stake, terminated the long-standing alliance with BL/Rover which had been in existence since 1980 and also sold its shares to BMW
6721-448: The 2pf was issued in solid bronze) while 5pf and 10pf were brass clad steel and the 50-pfennig was in cupronickel . In 1950, cupronickel DM1 coins were released, while a cupronickel DM2 and a .625 silver DM5 were released in 1951. Cupronickel replaced silver in the DM5 in 1975. The DM2 and DM5 coins have often been used for commemorative themes, though typically only the generic design for the DM5
6864-522: 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
7007-525: The Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters. The US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS 1067 (in effect until July 1947), which forbade the US military governor "to take any steps to strengthen German financial structure". As a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U.S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency . The Deutsche Mark
7150-615: 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
7293-403: The Bundesbank decided to issue a new series of Deutsche Mark banknotes. The colours for each denomination remained unchanged from the previous series but the designs underwent significant changes and a DM 200 denomination was introduced. Famous national artists and scientists were chosen to be portrayed on the new banknotes. Male and female artists were chosen in equal numbers. The buildings in
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#17328487334207436-488: The Bundesbank in Germany. Banknotes and coins can even be sent to the Bundesbank by mail. In 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with one poll from 2011 showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currency's restoration (although only a minority believed this would bring any economic benefit). Polls in the early 2020s indicated only a minority of Germans supported reintroduction of
7579-618: The DM 5 coin used to be also called a Heiermann , whereas in Bavaria the DM 2 coin was called Zwickl and this expression is now used for the €2 coin in the region. There were four series of German mark banknotes: The notes with a value greater than DM 200 were rarely seen. A reserve series (BBk II) was commissioned on 1 July 1960, consisting of DM 10, DM 20, DM 50 and DM 100 banknotes. 670 million BBk II banknotes in value of 25 billion marks were printed. The notes were printed between 1963 and 1974 in fear if
7722-577: The Deutsche Mark. A mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, the most common being the North German thaler and the South German gulden . By 1857, both currencies were linked to the Vereinsthaler , a silver coin containing 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams of pure silver. Although
7865-673: The Discovery used the same chassis and many body panels as the Range Rover ). The Ninety/One Ten range was fitted with the new diesel engine and renamed the Defender in 1990. An all-new Range Rover was launched in 1994, together with an improved Discovery which maintained high sales. A fourth model, the 'mini- SUV ' Freelander was introduced in late 1997 and replaced the Discovery as Europe's best-selling 4x4 vehicle. The MG badge-engineering project (first implemented by Austin Rover in 1982 with
8008-541: The Eastern Bloc would start systematically counterfeiting the BBk I series of banknotes to cripple the economy, then they would quickly be replaced by emergency notes. Another reserve series for West Berlin (BBk IIa) was commissioned on 1 July 1963, consisting of DM 5, DM 10, DM 20, DM 50 and DM 100 banknotes. 115 million West Berlin banknotes were printed, total value 4 billion marks. 15 billion marks worth of
8151-399: The Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year. On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1. In 1999, the Deutsche Mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until
8294-406: 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
8437-527: The MG division, including a collection of dormant marques and the intellectual property rights and technical designs of MG and Rover-branded vehicles as well as the Longbridge plant were sold to the Phoenix Consortium , led by John Towers , an ex-Rover Group executive. BMW retained the historic Morris Motors assembly plant in Cowley and the Pressed Steel plant in Swindon to build the forthcoming new Mini family of vehicles, which had been developed at Longbridge by Rover Group and were due for launch within
8580-408: The Maestro/Montego ranges in 1991 so as not to overlap with the more expensive Rovers. Both had already lost their Austin badging in 1987 and were now known simply by their model names. Although the Montego had received a package of revisions for the 1989 model year, the Maestro remained essentially unchanged until 1992 when it received the Montego's revised dashboard. The Maestro/Montego production line
8723-544: The Metro) ended in 1991 despite some reasonable success for its Austin Maestro and Austin Montego ranges (the MG Metro had been discontinued after the facelift in 1990). The MG badge was revived in 1992 on the MG RV8 – an updated MG MGB which made use of a 3.9 V8 Range Rover power unit, but lacked modern refinements that were expected in similarly priced sports car of its era. The car didn't sell as strongly as earlier MG sports car, and production had ended by 1995. The "real" rebirth of MG sports cars occurred in 1995, when
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#17328487334208866-437: 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
9009-442: 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
9152-424: The Nazis, and which the Allies had not removed. He did this, as he often confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American, British, and French occupation authorities were closed that day. He was sure that if he had done it when they were open, they would have countermanded the order. The introduction of the new currency was intended to protect western Germany from a second wave of hyperinflation and to stop
9295-499: The Rover 25, 45 and 75 models respectively. Rover Group sponsored the Scottish football team Dundee United from 1994 to 1996. The first match of the sponsorship was Dundee United's Scottish Cup triumph in 1994, the club's first ever success in the competition. Template:British Leyland/contents British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd ( BLMC ), following
9438-399: 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
9581-453: The Rover marque was a property licensed from BMW. The rights to the Riley and Triumph marques, along with former Rover Group trademarks Metro and Maxi, were also strategically retained by BMW, as it believed these names are associated with the heritage of sports saloon car manufacturers, or with the heritage of Mini. MG Rover's best year for car sales was their first full year of business, in 2001 – when they sold over 170,000 cars. Following
9724-453: The U.S. and Britain launched an airlift of food and coal and distributed the new currency in West Berlin as well. Since the 1930s, prices and wages had been controlled, but money had been plentiful. That meant that people had accumulated large paper assets, and that official prices and wages did not reflect reality, as the black market dominated the economy and more than half of all transactions were taking place unofficially. The reform replaced
9867-400: 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
10010-425: The UK by Apple 2000 Ltd, located in Culford , Bury St Edmunds . These vehicles, which were sold between 1998 and 2001, were similar to the Ledbury Maestro, but can be differentiated by their left-hand drive windscreen wipers and door mirrors. Because these were fully-built cars that were imported back to the UK, Apple 2000 Maestros have Rover VINs. The Land Rover arm of the Rover Group expanded dramatically after
10153-410: The advance of forgery technology, the Bundesbank decided to introduce additional security features on the most important denominations (DM 50, DM 100 and DM 200) as of 1996. These were a hologram foil in the center of the note's obverse, a matted printing on the note's right obverse, showing its denomination (like on the reverse of the new euro banknotes ), and the EURion constellation on
10296-495: The background of the notes' obverses had a close relationship to the person displayed (e.g., place of birth, place of death, place of work), as well as the second background picture (Lyra and the musician Schumann). The reverses of the notes refer to the work of the person on the obverse. The new security features were: a windowed security thread (with the notes' denominations in microprinting), watermarks, microprinting, intaglio printing (viewing-angle dependent visibility as well as
10439-606: The banknotes were held in Bundesbank's custom-built underground bunker in Cochem in Rheinland-Pfalz , the rest was stored in Bundesbank's vault in Frankfurt . In 1957, with Bank deutscher Länder and the states' central banks merging to form the Bundesbank, new banknotes were being designed, as "Bank deutscher Länder" on the previous series was no longer correct. The previous series' notes had been made out of less durable paper and had
10582-569: 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
10725-641: 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
10868-462: The car manufacturing subsidiary Austin Rover Group Limited shortened its name to Rover Group Limited . By this time, only the Rover, Land Rover and MG brands were still active – Austin had already been dropped in 1987, because it was felt by Graham Day's new management that many of the other marque names within the former BL had been tarnished by their association with the poor quality cars of
11011-480: The classic Mini , Rover 25 , Rover 45 , Rover 75 and MG F along with car-derived van derivatives of the 25. The Mini was only built under temporary license during the first five months of MG Rover's existence. In 2001, the MG ZR , MG ZS and MG ZT (based on the Rover 25 , Rover 45 and Rover 75 respectively) are launched as sporting alternatives to the standard Rover models. The range further expanded in 2003 with
11154-577: The collapse of a proposed venture with Malaysian carmaker Proton , in June 2004 Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation signed a joint venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover, with the projection to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between the Longbridge site and locations in China. MG Rover sold parts of Longbridge to St. Modwen Properties for £57.5M in
11297-564: The currency became exclusively made up of paper money. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark (RM) from 15 November 1923, and the Reichsmark (ℛ︁ℳ︁) in 1924. During the first two years of occupation the occupying powers of France, United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union were not able to successfully negotiate a possible currency reform in Germany. Due to the strains between
11440-449: 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
11583-588: 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
11726-652: The economy. The currency reforms were simultaneous with the $ 1.4 billion in Marshall Plan money coming in from the United States, which primarily was used for investment. In addition, the Marshall plan forced German companies, as well as those in all of Western Europe, to modernize their business practices, and take account of the wider market. Marshall plan funding overcame bottlenecks in the surging economy caused by remaining controls (which were removed in 1949), and opened up
11869-564: 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
12012-428: The final years of its life as a budget alternative to the more upmarket Rover 200. Coupe and cabriolet versions of the 200 were later launched in 1992 and these were sold alongside the all-new 1995 model and continued until that model was upgraded to become the Rover 25 in 1999. The 1989 Rover 200 was a strong seller throughout its life and its successor continued this trend, though its final year of production (1999) saw
12155-404: The following year. The 1995 Rover 400 was a more substantial and popular alternative to other large family cars than its successor was, offering impressive equipment levels, but a relative shortage of interior space because it was nearer in size to cars in the next category down. The Rover 400 was facelifted in 1999 to become the Rover 45 , and at the same time the estate version of the original 400
12298-453: The fourth series notes had been in circulation for 3–5 years. There were a total of five issues of the third series, main differences being the dates, and signatures of the Presidents and Vice Presidents of Bundesbank: The design of German banknotes remained unchanged during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During this period, forgery technology made significant advances and so, in the late 1980s,
12441-648: 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
12584-549: The introduction of euro notes and coins on 1 January 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon the introduction of the euro—in contrast to the other eurozone states, where the euro and legacy currency circulated side by side for up to two months. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 1 March 2002. The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in cash form may be changed into euros indefinitely, and one may do so in person at any branch of
12727-428: The kits that were not shipped to Bulgaria. These kits were built up and converted to right-hand drive . The conversions involved a brand new dash, right-hand drive wipers, and a steering column. These cars had a list price of £4995, which meant they were the cheapest new cars on sale in Britain between 1998 and 2001. Ledbury-built Maestros all had non-Rover VIN numbers. A number of former Bulgarian cars were also sold in
12870-496: The late 1980s. The Range Rover was officially introduced to the American market in 1987 after years of only being available as a grey-market vehicle . The first NAS Range Rover was sold on 16 March 1987, with demand far exceeding supply; Range Rovers were often resold for far more than their retail price. This was after its repositioning as a luxury vehicle, with higher equipment levels and options such as an automatic transmission and
13013-414: The latter term also often used in English. Like Deutsche Mark , D-Mark and Mark do not take the plural in German when used with numbers (like all names of units), the singular being used to refer to any amount of money (e.g. eine (one) Mark and dreißig (thirty) Mark ). Sometimes, a very colloquial plural form of Mark , Märker [ˈmɛʁkɐ] was used either as hypocoristic form or to refer to
13156-659: The launch of the smallest model, the Indian-built CityRover , built as part of a venture with TATA , the Rover Streetwise , a restyled version of the Rover 25 with SUV -like styling, and a flagship model, the MG XPower SV , based on the Qvale Mangusta . Although the new company owned the intellectual property rights for MG and Rover-branded vehicles, including the Rover 75 that was developed under BMW ownership,
13299-491: The many companies that had merged into British Leyland and its predecessors such as Triumph , Morris , Wolseley , Riley and Alvis . The Rover Group was owned by British Aerospace (BAe) from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, BAe sold the remaining car business of Rover Group plc to the German company BMW . The group was then broken up in 2000, when Ford acquired the Land Rover division, with the Rover and MG marques continuing with
13442-496: 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
13585-424: The marques that had formed Rover Group, and ownership of the Longbridge plant became a SAIC controlled facility. Despite BMW agreeing to sell the Rover marque to SAIC, Ford bought the rights to the Rover name from BMW for approximately £6 million. As part of its purchase of Land Rover from BMW, Ford had acquired an option of first refusal to buy the Rover brand name if MG Rover Group ceased trading. Ford thus reunited
13728-928: The merged companies at different sites for many years. However, any benefits from the broader number of models were far outweighed by higher development costs and greatly reduced economies of scale. Potential benefits associated with rationalising parts usage were lost, as for example, the company made two completely different 1.3-litre engines (BMC A series and the Triumph 1.3-litre), two different 1.5-litre engines (BMC E series and Triumph), four different 2-litre engines (4-cylinder O series, 4-cylinder Triumph Dolomite, 4-cylinder Rover and 6-cylinder Triumph) and two completely different V8 engines (Triumph OHC 3-litre V8 and Rover 3.5-litre V8). Examples of competing cars were: Deutschmark The Deutsche Mark ( German: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈmaʁk] ; "German mark "), abbreviated " DM " or " D-Mark " ( [ˈdeːˌmaʁk] ),
13871-483: 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
14014-553: 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
14157-470: 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
14300-454: The much smaller MG Rover Group until 2005. Ownership of the original Rover Group marques is currently split between BMW (Germany), SAIC (China), and Tata Motors (India), the latter owning the Rover marque itself with its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover owning much of the assets of the historic Rover company. The Rover Group plc was formed by renaming BL plc in 1986, soon after the appointment by Margaret Thatcher of Canadian Graham Day to
14443-532: The new Honda Civic based Rover 400 series. In September 1995, production of the Maestro was moved to Varna , Bulgaria , where it was sold in complete knock down (CKD) kit form by Rodacar AD. By April 1996, around 2,000 vehicles had been produced before the company ceased its operations due to high import costs of the components and low demand for the cars. In May 1997, Parkway Services based in Ledbury purchased 621 of
14586-558: 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
14729-455: 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
14872-410: The note's reverse. Furthermore, the colours were changed slightly to hamper counterfeiting. The German name of the currency is Deutsche Mark ( fem. , German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈmaʁk] ); its plural form in standard German is the same as the singular. In German, the adjective "deutsche" (adjective for "German" in feminine singular nominative form) is capitalized because it
15015-406: The old money with the new Deutsche Mark at the rate of one new per ten old. This wiped out 90% of government and private debt, as well as private savings. Prices were decontrolled, and labor unions agreed to accept a 15% wage increase, despite the 25% rise in prices. The result was the prices of German export products held steady, while profits and earnings from exports soared and were poured back into
15158-566: 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
15301-563: 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
15444-453: The original Rover Company marques, primarily for brand-protection reasons. When Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover businesses were sold to TATA Motors in 2008, Rover, along with the historically prestigious Daimler and Lanchester marques were transferred to TATA Motors. Although the Rover 800 went on sale shortly after BL plc changed its name to Rover Group in July 1986, it had been developed in conjunction with Honda (whose corresponding model
15587-651: 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
15730-735: 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
15873-665: The position of chairman and managing director of BL. After divesting of its commercial vehicle and bus manufacturing divisions ( Leyland Trucks , Leyland Bus and Freight Rover ), and the spares and logistics firm Unipart , the company then consisted of the car manufacturing arm Austin Rover Group and the Land Rover Group . This group was privatised in 1988 by the sale of the company to British Aerospace (BAe) for £150 million, who retained Day as joint CEO and chairman, and made Kevin Morley MD of Rover cars. The group changed its name again in 1989 to Rover Group Holdings Limited, whilst
16016-566: The proposal to turn it into a "European territory". Despite French pre-referendum claims that a "no" vote would mean that the Saar would remain a French protectorate it in fact resulted in the incorporation of the Saar into the Federal Republic of Germany on 1 January 1957. The new German member state of the Saarland maintained its currency, the Saar franc , which was in a currency union at par with
16159-529: The rampant barter and black market trade (where cigarettes were used as currency). Although the new currency was initially only distributed in the three western occupation zones outside Berlin, the move angered the Soviet authorities, who regarded it as a threat. The Soviets promptly cut off all road, rail and canal links between the three western zones and West Berlin , starting the Berlin Blockade . In response,
16302-552: 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,
16445-435: The reverse, which read Deutsche Bundesbank (instead of Bundesrepublik Deutschland ), as the Bundesbank was the issuing authority in this case. A total of one million gold DM 1 coins were minted (200,000 at each of the five mints) and were sold beginning in mid-2001 through German coin dealers on behalf of the Bundesbank . The issue price varied by the dealer but averaged approximately US$ 165. German coins bear
16588-550: The rights to the MG marque, and the leftover assets of MG Rover. A 33-year deal was signed in February 2006 between Nanjing Auto and St. Modwen Properties covering the lease of 105 acres (a quarter of the total area of the Longbridge plant) but including the two main car assembly plants, the paint shop and administrative offices at a rent of around £1.8 million a year. In December 2007, Nanjing and SAIC announced their merger, which reunited some of
16731-460: The sale. The agreed "dowry" from BMW included a £427million interest-free loan and stocks of cars. MG Rover's short-term plan was to expand the MG range with sporting versions of existing Rovers, introduce new versions of the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models, reengineer and redesign the MG F, and eventually replace the entire model range with new cars developed through a joint venture with another carmaker. The MG Rover range initially consisted of five cars:
16874-405: The status of legal tender but were rarely seen outside of collectors' circles. On 27 December 2000, the German government enacted a law authorizing the Bundesbank to issue, in 2001, a special .999 pure gold DM 1 coin commemorating the end of the German mark. The coin had the exact design and dimensions of the circulating cupro-nickel DM 1 coin, with the exception of the inscription on
17017-604: The summer of 1948 a giant wave of strikes and demonstrations swept over West Germany, leading to an incident in Stuttgart where strikers were met by US tanks ("Stuttgarter Vorfälle"). Only after the wage-freeze was abandoned, Deutschmark and free-ranging prices were accepted by the population. In the Soviet occupation zone of Germany (later the German Democratic Republic ), the East German mark (also named "Deutsche Mark" from 1948 to 1964 and colloquially referred to as
17160-523: 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
17303-481: 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
17446-479: 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,
17589-426: 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
17732-551: Was discontinued after a dismal crash test performance that saw demand fall dramatically. Its demise marked the passing of the last design from the British Leyland era of the company with production ceasing at the end of 1997. Rover entered the compact executive market in April 1993 with its 600 range. Sold only as a four-door saloon, the 600 was based on the Honda Accord but used Rover engines as well as Honda engines (Honda used Rover's diesel engine in their European Accord) and had
17875-478: 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
18018-560: Was dropped. May 1990 saw Rover give the decade-old Metro a major reworking, which most notably included internal and external restyling, as well as new 1.1 and 1.4 K-Series petrol engines. The new Metro offered some of the best standards of specification in any supermini at the time, and it sold well until being replaced by the Rover 100 (essentially another update of the original 1980 design) in December 1994. The Rover 100 remained in production for three years, selling reasonably well, until it
18161-493: Was effectively closed in 1993 (leading to the eventual sale and demolition of the old Morris Motors' works at Cowley in which it was located), and the last cars were essentially hand built on a purpose-built line. By 1994 the Montego saloon was only available to special order, and the Maestro was produced in basic 'Clubman' trim with either 1.3 petrol or 2.0 diesel power. Both models were discontinued in December 1994, being replaced by
18304-603: Was in respect to the aims of inflation and political interference. This policy was the foundation of the European Central Bank 's present policy towards the euro. The German mark's stability was greatly apparent in 1993, when speculation on the French franc and other European currencies caused a change in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism . However, it should be remembered that "hard" is relative only if it
18447-463: 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
18590-645: 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
18733-539: Was moved to Longbridge, as BMW demolished the Cowley and Swindon plants before starting construction of Plant Oxford , the new home of MINI production. Much smaller than its predecessors, the MG Rover Group struggled as it continued the heritage of building cars at the Longbridge plant . Adhering to UK regulations, BMW guaranteed that Phoenix Venture Holdings (initially named MG Rover Holdings) would have enough money to keep MG Rover Group in business for at least 3 years following
18876-549: Was no attempt or proposal suggested for the withdrawal of the 1pf and 2pf coins. Both coins were still in circulation in 2001 and supermarkets in particular still marked prices to the nearest pfennig. This penchant for accuracy continues with the euro (while Finland or the Netherlands for example, price to the nearest 5 cents) with the 1-cent coin still encountered in Germany. There were a considerable number of commemorative silver DM 5 and DM 10 coins , which actually had
19019-405: Was officially introduced on Sunday 20 June 1948 by Ludwig Erhard . Large amounts were exchanged for 10 ℛ︁ℳ︁ to 65pf. In addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM 60 in two parts, the first being DM 40 and the second DM 20. A few weeks later Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls which had been originally implemented by
19162-453: 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
19305-509: 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
19448-480: 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
19591-502: Was slightly longer and offered more storage space. It also replaced the saloon version of the previous 200. It was sold as an alternative to the likes of the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier , but was never able to match the success of these cars. An estate version of the 400 was launched in 1994 called the Tourer and continued alongside the all-new Honda Civic-based model that was launched
19734-591: 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
19877-436: Was subdivided into 12 pfennig s, hence half a groschen into 6. After 1871, 12 old pfennig s would be converted into 10pf of the mark, hence 10pf coins inherited the groschen name and 5pf coins inherited the sechser name. Both usages are only regional and may not be understood in areas where a groschen coin did not exist before 1871. In particular, the usage of sechser is less widespread. In northern Germany
20020-510: Was the Legend ). It was initially available as a saloon with a fastback version launching in 1988. It sold well among buyers in the executive market, with a facelift in November 1991 and the introduction of a coupe version a few months later. However, it stagnated after a replacement targeted for the 1992 model year was cancelled. Many of its duties as a flagship were performed by the 600. The 800 series
20163-472: Was the DM 20 note on 20 March 1992 (printed on 2 August 1991). The reason for this gradual introduction was, that public should become familiar with one single denomination, before introducing a new one. The change was finished with the introduction of the DM 5, DM 500, and DM 1000 denominations on 27 October 1992. The DM 500, and DM 1000 denominations were rarely seen in circulation due to value and all were introduced in one step. With
20306-463: Was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the " Deutschmark " ( / ˈ d ɔɪ tʃ m ɑːr k / DOYTCH -mark ). One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs . It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 to replace the Reichsmark and served as
20449-449: Was updated again in 1996 which gave the car a chrome and silver grille and a lot more standard kit. By its demise in 1999, it was looking considerably dated and was replaced with the 75. The Rover Group's first significant new car launch was the Rover 200, which was introduced in October 1989. Unlike its predecessor, it was a three or five-door hatchback, the former to launch later, instead of
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