[cmonstanley]

Originally Posted by GEaston

Stanley - you can't seriously be suggesting that British Leyland produced something that people wanted to buy are you?

Striking and high cost of product was certainly part of the problem but the death of the UK car industry was that we produced absolute crap (Princess, Maxi, Rover SD1, the list is long). Compared to Audi, BMW, or any Japanese brand we were a joke. That industry had to go.

With the unions gone and massive private investment (you might want to read that last sentence again....) what emerged in it's place is the same skilled labour force producing quality cars for foreign owners like the giant Nissan plant at Sunderland. The rest were taken over - Tata owns Landrover/Range Rover, VW bought Bentley, BMW took Rolls Royce or closed (British Leyland, MG, TVR). 80% of UK car production on behalf of the now foreign owners is exported from the UK.

By any measure (jobs, suppliers, inward investment, product quality) this is progress. BBC News - UK car exports hit record despite European market slump

Car producing capital of Europe no less Britain now producing MORE cars than Germany: How the UK has become the car production capital of Europe | Mail Online

but remember them days the majority of people couldnt afford bmws audis .if you go to the dealership holdings giant car parks they are full to capacity with thousands of cars.if the car companies were that well off they wouldnt have asked for state assistance ie ford fiat etc.