english automotive industry

[Marduk]

Hello,
For my homeworks for next week, i have to prepare, i need to know how is the automotive industry in England now. is there still constructor or are they all sold to others constructor?
Are english people just supercars constructor, or have they nice cars as peugeot do in France?

The question i try to answer and that i have to explain in front of my teacher and my classmates are what is the position of the english automotive industry? Are they still competitive?
So if you know some links or data that can help me, i promise to put my works on the forum to help people who are looking for this type of information.

thks

[Kangaroo Boy]

First I reckon you should look up car brands that started in england, on the net.
Look up Austin,Jagaur,And Rolls Royce,Bentley and Aston Martin..Read about there history.Although Ford owns Aston Martin and Jagaur.Austin was eaten up with Rover then BMW.Rolls Royce is own by bentley???

[astonmartinandy]

Not an easy one to answer as a lot of "English" companies have been bought old by larger companies. As far as I know (correct me if wrong) Lotus is the most prominent UK car firm, and widely regarded as having the best chassis design team in the world, and are owned by Proton.

Recently Ascari have become quite famous for being a new UK manufacturer, but you would have to look at their website. Hope that helps a bit!

[altezza]

here are some websites to start with:

http://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/auto...overview.shtml
http://www.smmt.co.uk/
http://www.autoindustry.co.uk/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/746569.stm

[Marduk]

thks all of you i will check this links immediatly.

[jon_s]

RIGHT!!

Firstly, yes there are British stand alone car companys. Lotus and TVR are the most obvious. BUt then there are small volume manufacturers such as Bristol. Although many companies have been sold to larger companies such as Ford, each respective company still maintains a distinctly English quality. Aston Martin be owned by Ford, but where are all the cars made?? That is right, the UK. This is also true of some other companies. All in all, the English automotive sector has seen better days, but it is still there for people if they can see past the flood of foreign ownerships.

[rob_e1]

Originally Posted by jon_s RIGHT!! Firstly, yes there are British stand alone car companys. Lotus and TVR are the most obvious..

Nope, lotus is owned by proton.

As well as TVR you do have noble, LTI (taxis :roll: ) ascari, vemac, farboud, ultima, bristol, and ROVER is now fully uk owned.

Land Rover, Aston Martin, Jaguar are all ford owned although the cars are all built in britain. Bentley is owned by VW, BMW owns Rolls Royce but again all are british built cars.

The concept of a 'british' car is very hard to define, especially when you have honda and nissan building cars in the uk.

The UK has more automotive engineering knowledge than most other countries which is why there are more f1 teams based in the uk than anywhere else.

For info, Lotus Engineering are involved in a huge number of projects for mainstream manufacturers giving consultancy advice on suspension and engine design.. but contracturally they are not allowed to boast about it (if you were GM, would you admit your engineers need external help )

[deth]

Originally Posted by astonmartinandy Not an easy one to answer as a lot of "English" companies have been bought old by larger companies. As far as I know (correct me if wrong) Lotus is the most prominent UK car firm, and widely regarded as having the best chassis design team in the world, and are owned by Proton.

Lotus is no longer owned by proton. they sold them back their share and the racing division. this is just from what i;'ve heard, although i've also heard a lot of ppl, including evo saying that they are still owned by proton.

[rob_e1]

Deth, don't want to argue, but you are not correct. Proton still own controlling share in lotus cars and lotus engineering. The current CEO is a guy called Victor Kiam, who was appointed by Proton.

There is no such thing as a "racing division" LotusSport and Performance is a department of lotus cars who specialise in servicing and upgrades to road cars, and were involved in the prep of the motorsport elises a few years back when this series was current.

The old F1 cars are maintained by Clive Chapman (son of colin chapman) under a company called "Classic Team Lotus" which has been independent from lotus cars for a very long time.

[rob_e1]

Originally Posted by rob_e1 As well as TVR you do have noble, LTI (taxis :roll: ) ascari, vemac, farboud, ultima, bristol, and ROVER is now fully uk owned.

The other makes i forgot from my earlier post:
marcos, invicta, leading edge, caterham, AC (are they still trading?), westfield, morgan, radical and of course MG (which is part of rover).

[oldsnail]

UK has:
Rover = Phoenix included MG
Vauxhall = GM
Jaguar = FORD
Aston Martin = FORD
Rolls-Royce = BMW
Bentley = Volkswagen
Lotus = Proton
TVR
AC
Caterham
Westfield
Morgan
Marcos
McLaren