The demise of the UK car market
Mercedes Benz are rumoured to be interested in buying British car manufacturers Aston Martin. According to this article by Moneycontrol.com, the German company already provides Aston Martin with its engines and has said that it wishes to support the British car manufacturers in “its further development”.
As Mercedes Benz has failed to neither confirm nor deny the rumours, it remains to be seen whether the German company will actually buy up Aston Martin. As the British car manufacturing company has been struggling financially, experts predict that the acquisition will go ahead.
Stephen Jury of Motors.co.uk discusses the recent news further “This is bad news for British car enthusiasts, who have already had to watch companies like Jaguar and Land Rover be sold off to overseas car manufacturers. The UK used to have a strong heritage of building cars and at one time was known throughout the world for producing luxury and iconic cars like the Land Rover and the Mini.”
The car industry in the UK dates back to 1893 when Frederick Simms who was originally from Hamburg, bough the patent rights to a car engine created by Gottlieb Daimler. Simms was able to start manufacturing cars in the UK in 1896 and his automobiles soon became the vehicle of choice for royalty such as the Prince of Wales.
In 1904 Rover started to make cars and motorcycles but they didn't create the famous Viking Longship Land Rover until 1947. Around the same time that Rover was founded, Vauxhall began making cars in South London and Rolls Royce was founded.
The Second World War meant that many British car factories had to start making ammunition, but once the war was over car manufacturing soared and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan even told the country that 'they'd never had it so good.'
Somehow, British car manufacturers went from being one of the most successful in the world, to being only the sixth biggest in the world by 1974. This was blamed on a mixture of strikes and supplier problems, plus the general consensus was that British companies were producing unappealing new models, compared with slick Italian and French designs.
By the end of the eighties, many British car companies were being sold off. American company Ford bought Jaguar and Land Rover and since then most British car companies have followed suite. In a way it's a shame that British companies were not able to support themselves, but at least they have survived, one way or another.
