Austin Rover
 |
|
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Fate | renamed |
| Successor | Rover Group Ltd |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Longbridge, Birmingham, West Midlands, England |
|
Key people
|
Harold Musgrove Graham Day |
| Products | Automobiles |
| Parent | British Leyland (1982–1986) |
| Subsidiaries |
Austin Motor Company Rover Company |
The Austin Rover Group (abbreviated ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was formed in 1981 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). It was the result of a comprehensive restructuring programme intended to rescue BL from almost-certain oblivion, and with the Triumph, Morris, Riley and Wolseley marques then effectively defunct, the new, leaner car business was rechristened as the Austin Rover Group and focused primarily on the Austin and Rover marques. The Morris and Triumph marques continued briefly within ARG until 1984 when both were dropped.
In 1989, ARG assumed the name of its parent company Rover Group plc, from which point the two entities were generally considered one and the same, although they continued to be legally separate - Rover Group plc was a holding company also owned Land Rover following the divestment of Unipart and Leyland Trucks, whilst Rover Group Limited was the mass market car manufacturing business.
Following the financial collapse of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1975 and the stark Ryder Report on the ailing firm, the resulting government bail-out and nationalisation saw the company being renamed to British Leyland (BL). The car manufacturing subsidiary of BL became Leyland Cars, and later BL Cars Ltd, and it was this entity which ultimately became Austin Rover.
However, the huge industrial relations problems, ineffectual management and product duplication that had plagued the company up to the nationalisation continued throughout the late 1970s. The problems centred on Longbridge union leader and shop steward Derek Robinson (nicknamed "Red Robbo" by the British press). Robinson had assumed a greater level of control over BL than any of its senior managers, and his network of union leaders in the various BL plants had the power to end production if he had instructed them to do so.
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