Motor Britain

 

Motorcycles of the United Kingdom

 


 

Action BF 05 Lowe's Diecast 1:24TH Scale
             BEAULIEU, Hampshire, U.K. -- The glory that was once Great Britian's home-grown auto industry is brought back to life at the National Motor Museum located here on England's southern coast not far from Portsmouth.

All of the famous names in British racing and automobiles are on display in lovingly restored cars ranging from the Morris Mini, MG and Minor to vintage Rolls-Royce, Hillman, Rover, Austin, and Triumph models.

Great Britain remains a major producer of cars and trucks, but these days little is left of what was once a flourishing and uniquely British industry. Decades of management complecency, labor turmoil, poor quality and reliability, and shrinking export markets have taken their toll.

That's been true in some respects since Ford Motor Co. set up operations here 82 years ago. Ford is the U.K.'s market leader and in recent years has snatched up two of this island nation's most famous marques: Jaguar Cars Ltd. and Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. General Motors Corp. acquired Vauxhall Motor Co. Ltd. in the 1920s and Group Lotus plc, another British legend, in the late 1980s. GM now wants to sell Lotus, however.

More recently, Japanese automakers have landed on Britian's beaches to build cars for the domestic and European markets. Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. was first in 1984, followed by Toyota Motor Corp. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. via its relationship with Rover Group Ltd., and separately on its own, also has a growing presence here.

 Highlights

               Rover is the U.K.'s only domestically based high-volume builder of passenger cars, but it has become increasingly reliant on Honda for engineering development and other support. A Rover spinoff, Land Rover, still is independent and dominates the luxury sport/utility vehicle (SUV) market. Then there's Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. and its Bentley sibling, the enduring niche players in the tiny market for extremely expensive luxury cars.

This industrial metamorphosis has prompted many British parts and components suppliers, such as Lucas Industries plc, T&N plc and GKN plc, to expand internationally starting in the 1970s -- a process that continues. Their goal has been to compensate for shrinkage of their traditional customer base and, of course, to capitalize on new opportunities.

Although home-owned automotive production has shifted hands, a hardy band of specialized engineering, design, development and testing groups have held on and flourished thanks to myriad global trends that dovetail with their expertise.

Some compete with each other, while others work together on joint projects. Most, like the suppliers, have established offices, technical support facilities and in some instances manufacturing facilities around the globe, with the United States on nearly everyone's list. Customers for their services and consulting now are found worldwide, and their thumb prints -- and more -- can be found on a broad range of vehicles from GM's Saturn to Mazda Motor Corp.'s Miata, just to name two.

Their technical prowess runs the gamut from engine development and manufacturing to components engineering and production, and from building full prototypes to vehicle conversions and in-lab and on-track testing. The Motor Industry Research Assn.'s full-line test and proving grounds at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, is a primary resource used by automakers and the independent shops as well.

Most -- like Vickers plc's Cosworth Engineering, Lotus and Ricardo Consulting Engineers Ltd. -- long have enjoyed worldwide recognition for their technical capabilities. But until fairly recently they generally lacked strong business skills and adequate financing.

Their prospects have multiplied as the large automakers have downsized their engineering and technical staffs, sending more work to outside shops. Shorter new-product cycles also play a role as Britian's independent firms take on pieces, of or even full responsibility, for engineering new vehicles.

In many cases they combine forces, spreading the work among themselves based on what each can bring to the effort. It helps that most of the folks involved, although often direct competitors, know each other. Because they generally are smaller organizations, they also have speed and perhaps a tad more creatively on their side than, say, an automaker's 2,000-person engineering staff. And, of course, they have the necessary motivation: Their pocketbooks depend on satisfying their customers.

The growth in automotive regulation also has worked to their advantage, and they've made the necessary investments to capitalize on the engineering, developing and testing of safety and exhaust emissions systems.

Several other global automotive trends have enhanced their propects. Labs throughout the U.K. are pressing ahead with noise-vibration-harshness (NVH) solutions, supporting automakers' efforts to satisfy customers and gain an advantage over their competitors. They also are involved in numerous environmental projects, including design for disassembly (DFD).

Although British engineers have been renowned for their drafting-board acuity for years, brag points these days focus on the number of "screens" -- computers -- each firm has in operation. Like their automaker customers, they are pushing the technological envelope. Shop talk is likely to include allusions to futuristic topics such as "virtual reality" -- using computers to simulate designs almost identical to what they look like in the real world.

The downside to all of this is their dependence on their customers. They can, and in some case have been, hurt by economic downturns. When cash is tight there's tendency for automakers to either postpone projects or bring them back inhouse. Mergers and consolidations also can hurt.

A whirlwind tour of British independent organizations providing services for the world's automakers elicits these snapshots.