Around the world : Overseas operations
Overseas Operations Below is a list of the operations managed by British Leyland International during the early 1970s. I have included the autonomous distribution companies, CKD operations, and...
View ArticleIn production : Seneffe
BL Belgium press kit: Celebration of the 500,000th car assembled in Seneffe, 10 May 1977 // Translation by Dimitri Urbain, original material supplied by André Vermeersch The Seneffe plant is the main...
View ArticleAround the world : Australian Chryslers
Chrysler’s attempted Australian invasion of the UK The history of Australian Chrysler cars in Britain has its roots in America – a truly multi-national tale! The story starts in the pre-war era when...
View ArticleAround the world : Malta
Malta: that beautiful enclave in the Mediterranean is a favourite for tourists all over Europe. Unbeknown to many, it was also host to an assembly operation that saw the construction of Triumphs and...
View ArticleAround the world : South Africa
British car production in South Africa following the end of the Second World War initially amounted to CKD (Completely Knocked Down) production of Austins and Standard Vanguards by local producers....
View ArticleAround the world : Argentina
Briefly popular in Argentina and an iconic addition to the scenery of Buenos Aires, the Siam di Tella story is another of those BMC defeats-from-failure that litters the 1950s and 1960s… Words:...
View ArticleAround the world : Autocars of Israel
Like Sipani in India, Autocars Co Ltd was set up with the help of Reliant, built a range of fibreglass-bodied cars of dubious quality, and would later become involved with the BMC>Rover empire....
View ArticleAround the world : New Zealand
The history of BMC>Rover is certainly not limited to the UK, and at the height of the post-war years of the ‘Empire’, there were production facilities all over the world. Ian Walker comprehensively...
View ArticleBMC 1100/1300 : Australian variations
The Australian market featured a number of interesting variations on the ADO16 theme that we didn't get in the home market. The most fascinating was the five-door Nomad, which might have kick-started...
View ArticleAround the world : Australia
After the formation of BMC, Australia became an increasingly important market for the company, with models imported from the UK giving way firstly to local assembly of CKD (completely knocked down)...
View ArticleAround the world : Spain
Prompted by Spanish government initiatives to promote industrialisation, Rover and BMC independently embarked on Spanish ventures. Authi A couple of years before the merger that would bring Rover and...
View ArticleAround the world : Venezuela
The Chilean BL operation was the first attempt to produce the Mini in South America, but by no means was it the last… Story told by Rodrigo Toledo. The ‘Brick’ moves to Venezuela… AT the time that BMC...
View ArticleAround the world : Denmark
As was the case in the UK, many export markets suffered badly during the 1960s and 1970s. Denmark is a case in point, where the growth and success of the early 1960s gave way to tragedy in later years....
View ArticleAround the world : Ireland
Ireland was an interesting market for BMC>Rover, as for a short while, not only were they importers, but they were a CKD assembly operation. Andrew Ryan takes up the story… The spares and service...
View ArticleAround the world : The Netherlands
The Netherlands saw CKD production of BMC cars, alongside the usual versions imported from the UK and Belgium… Roderik Tonen tells the story. IN 1949 the Dutch Morris importer, J.J. Molenaar, started...
View ArticleAround the world : Yugoslavia
Final assembly of CKD Austin 1300s began at a plant in Novo Mesto during 1969, with the cars arriving from Longbridge almost complete; indeed, the chassis plates of these models identified them as...
View ArticleAround the world : Bulgaria
NOT much has been written about the operation to build Maestros in Bulgaria, but at long last we’re able to put the record straight…. Thanks to an ex-Rover Group executive, we have been able to piece...
View ArticleAround the world : Chile
Chile’s BMC operation remained a specialist small-scale facility throughout its lifetime. However, what marked out Chilean Minis and ADO16s from their counterparts from across the globe was that they...
View ArticleAround the world : Columbia
A little-known incursion by BMC under the marque Austin into the South American continent was the assembly of Austin commercial vehicles and Gipsy off road cars in a factory near Bogotá, in Colombia,...
View ArticleNews : Rover 2600 SDX offered on eBay UK
Keith Adams A rare, South African-specification, CKD-built Rover 2600 SDX has been offered on eBay. The car, which was built in Leyland South Africa‘s Blackheath plant, is freshly imported and ready to...
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