"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone)
10/28/2014 at 17:03 • Filed to: None
1
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"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone)
10/28/2014 at 17:03 • Filed to: None | 1
| 9 |
Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 17:11 |
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That intro was so fucking 90's.
KirkyV
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 17:11 |
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I suspect we'd do an okay job of it, these days; there's a decent bit of mainstream car production going on in modern British factories, and there don't appear to be any significant quality issues. It's just a shame that we've either destroyed, or sold off, all our old marques.
Coty
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 17:16 |
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Isn't because mainstram isn't a thing?
Svend
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 17:38 |
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All the marques are owned elsewhere now but I think if they started now and aligned themselves with the right company (I'm thinking VW, as BMW just wanted the tech and U.K. design knowledge like Ford) who could share platforms and R and D costs it would be viable. VW have shared in engines and platforms while still allowing a degree of autonomy.
djmt1
> KirkyV
10/28/2014 at 17:40 |
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I'm sure there are some Hondas and Vauxhalls in the middle somewhere.
Also damn you been busy.
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KirkyV
> djmt1
10/28/2014 at 17:44 |
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Heh, I hadn't realised I'd done that many. You must've been the next guy up on pretty much every track!
I'd probably be racing right now, but I'm waiting on a takeout curry.
Trevor Slattery, ACTOR
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 17:55 |
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I am a Brit car lover as everyone knows. But for real...I hate the Triumph Stag. Freaking engine was The Suck.
And the all aluminum Buick/Rover 215ci, 3.5l engine is incredible. I don't know why it is not used in hot rod builds more often. It is lighter than the many iron block 4 cylinder engines.
ranwhenparked
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
10/28/2014 at 19:24 |
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Well, the Vauxhall Astra is still made in Britain under a British brand and that's pretty mainstream.
But, yes, the reasons for the failure of the bulk of the British auto industry are varied and stretch back to the 1950s. BMC should have culled brands and dealer networks and consolidated factories immediately after the Austin-Nuffield merger, Jaguar shouldn't have merged with BMC to create BMH, and the government shouldn't have started meddling in the industry by pressuring BMH and Leyland to join up. Once BL was created, collapse was inevitable, and when the collapse happened and the government stepped in, the goal wasn't to turn BL into a slimmed-down, viable business, it was just to preserve as many voters' jobs as possible, so the company was run as a giant social project for years and went further and further down the tubes.
All that doesn't negate the fact that the remains of the company did eventually turn around. From the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s or so, Austin-Rover and Rover was actually a pretty successful company, the problem was that by then, they were a bit too small to truly operate independently and needed to be linked to a bigger organization. When that organization was Honda, everything was great. When BMW bought them, it was all over.
BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> ranwhenparked
10/29/2014 at 07:24 |
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Agreed on all points. I still think something of the British car industry could have been saved if Leyland wasn't forced to merge with BMC. If the government had simply let BMC go under, and then Leyland (then a profitable, dynamic company) could have cherry-picked the profitable operations from the bankrupt BMC and created a properly profitable British conglomerate.
They could cherry-pick the management, cherry-pick the best performing factories and cherry-pick the best marques and models.
If they'd just let it operate as a business, I think it would have survived or even thrived. Hell, at the heart of it the industrial disputes were down to pay (which was noticeably less than contemporary manufacturers like VW). If the company was more profitable, they could have matched that. Hey-presto, less disgruntled workforce. Better build quality. Better international and home market reputation. Better sales :)