British Leyland

British Leyland

Industry	Automotive
Fate	Split
Predecessor	British Motor Holdings (BMH) Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC)
Successor	Rover Group Jaguar Cars Leyland DAF Unipart
Founded	1968
Defunct	1986
Headquarters	Longbridge (Austin Rover), Birmingham Cowley, Oxford 1986–2005: Washwood Heath, Birmingham LDV Vans
Key people	Lord Stokes Michael Edwardes Graham Day
Products	Automobiles
Number of employees	250,000

British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later BL, in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which constituted 40 percent of the UK car market, with roots going back to 1895.

Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, British Leyland had a troubled history. In 1986 it was renamed as the Rover Group, later to become MG Rover Group, which went into administration in 2005, bringing mass car production by British-owned manufacturers to an end. MG and the Austin, Morris and Wolseley marques became part of China's SAIC, with whom MG Rover attempted to merge prior to administration.

Today, MINI, Jaguar Land Rover and Leyland Trucks (now owned by BMW Group, TATA and Paccar, respectively) are the three most prominent former parts of British Leyland which are still active in the automotive industry, with SAIC-owned MG Motor continuing a small presence at the Longbridge site. Certain other related ex-BL businesses, such as Unipart, continue to operate independently.