A brief history of British Leyland

In 1968 British Leyland was formed as a merger of two companies. The first company, Leyland Motors a company at the time known for their commercial vehicles and British Motor Holdings which was the biggest car manufacturer in the United Kingdom.

The merger was an attempt by the British government to try and revive its declining automobile industry. But in 1975 British Leyland actually went bankrupt, only to be bailed out by the British Government which now owned a 95 per cent stake in the company.

Unfortunately the company was plagued by worker strikes, mismanagement and infighting among the various companies that made up British Leyland. The most famous of which is the Austin vs. Morris fight which of course neither won because British Leyland itself collapsed in 1986 with most of its assets being sold off the various foreign competitors including Ford and BMW.

In the end British Leyland was killed by the fact that there were failures in all levels of its management, from the government that owned it. To the shop stewards who decided to sleep on the job after completing their quota. That is what killed Britain’s auto industry.