About 45-years ago the British automotive industry was at its peak and they had truly global brands like MG, Triumph, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini to mention a few. At the same time, German car brands were working twice harder to keep their industries alive (after the war) and trying hard to establish themselves in ASIAN markets.
It was the simple and fun loving 1974, first generation Volkswagen Golf (one of the bestselling cars of all time) that started the change in fortunes for the German automotive market outside of Europe followed by the prestigious branding of the 3-pointed star (Mercedes Benz) in every ASEAN market. The Golf and all Mercedes-Benz models found fans in every country it arrived in…including Malaysia where Ford of Britain, Mini and Morris Garage were selling best (mostly due to its former British rule). This all changed when the established British car manufacturers grew too arrogant and complacent with their product offering and the German brands worked extra hard to keep consumers happy and excited.
Today, the British car industry is a small and somewhat diminishing shadow of its former glory and yes there are still about 1.5 million cars being produced by British engineers, British product planners and British designers in England but they are mostly owned by German automotive giants and one Indian industrial group.
Mini and Rolls Royce are owned by the BMW Group, Bentley is part of the Volkswagen Group and Jaguar with Land Rover is owner by the Tata Group. Many other British car brands have retired completely and some are in transition.
So why do you suppose the British car industry went into ruin and losses? We believe, looking at the past models from Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover and even Mini (while they were still in British ownership) it was clear that their former English owners were not bothered at all about investing in new technology, better reliability and higher quality and instead felt that they could just continue to ‘dump’ their cars on Britain’s former colonies which would continue to support their castles in the countryside. The tide changed and very drastically and the next automotive revolution will come from China where today there are already 500 or so registered automotive manufacturers in the country and there are more coming up very fast to challenge the European brands and buy up American brands (happening very soon) with battery technology and electric motor innovation happening faster that we can type this article.
