Rather like the British Empire under Queen Victoria’s reign, BMC managed to assemble a huge overseas operation, with factories in far-flung areas such as New Zealand and South Africa.
Some were simple CKD assembly operations, but others were almost autonomous organizations, that produced their own range of cars, carefully tailored to meet local demand. This section deals with some of the cars and the factories that were part of this sprawling empire, and its rise and fall can clearly be seen in these pages.
Australia
Australia was a key market in the BMC days, with local production serving not only the Antipodes but also many Asian and the Pacific countries. By the 1970s, however, Leyland Australia was fighting a losing battle, and by 1975, production there had come to an end. |
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Bulgaria
1994 saw an agreement reached between Rover and the Bulgarian government to produce Maestros at a new factory in Varna. Poor sales and marketing and aggressive competition from Skoda saw the venture fail in a matter of months. |
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Chile
Chile faced economic growth following the World Cup held there in 1962. Car producers were keen to get in on the act, and it comes as no surprise that BMC were at the forefront of this... |
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Colombia
For a few years in the early 1960s, a range of Austin trucks and the Austin Gipsy off-road vehicle were built in Colombia. However, it appears the local conditions – both physical and political – soon made the operation unviable. |
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India
1947 saw India's independence from the UK - very quickly, Standard-Triumph got in on the act of supplying cars and their technology to the sub-continent... |
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Israel
Originally set up by Reliant, the Israeli firm Autocars later forged an alleigance with Truiumph which eventually saw it become an "overseas associate" of the Leyland combine, before finally operating as an independent company. |
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Italy
Everyone's heard of the Innocenti Mini, but that was just one of a number of locally-adapted BMC/BL models built under the Anglo-Italian partnership that lasted some 15 years. |
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New Zealand
If you thought that the Triumph Acclaim marked Leyland's first association with Honda, you'll be surprised to learn that BL and Honda models were rolling off the same production line in the mid-1970s. Here, Ian Walker, who has been with Honda New Zealand for over 20 years, comprehensively charts the history of the various "BMC>Rover" marques in NZ... |
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South Africa
South Africa will be remembered for producing some unique BMC>Rover products. Unlike Spain and Italy, this transplant operation survived into the 1980s. |
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Spain
Before they were brought together by the formation of BLMC in 1968, Rover and BMC had each established their own production facilities in Spain... |
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Venezuela
The story of Venzuela's glass fibre-bodied Mini Cord... |
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Overseas Operations
Below is a list of the operations managed by British Leyland International during the early 1970s. I have included the autonomous distribution companies, CKD operations, and associated manufacturers. If you know of any not included or can provide further information on any of the below, please contact me with any information you might have.
At the absolute zenith of BMC>Rover's career, in 1968, they maintained 60 factories in the UK and 66 overseas, and foreign production amounted to 340,000 vehicles per year. Indigenous manufacture and partial manufacture took place in Australia, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Ireland, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, South and Central Africa, Spain and Turkey. As of 2003, that amounts to one factory, just south of Birmingham.
European Operations:
| Austria | British Leyland Austria KG Messrs. Arge Auto | Dist. |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | NV Leyland Industries, NV BL Belgium (SA) Messrs SAMAF, Brussels Sogida S.A. | Prod. Dist. Dist. |
| Denmark | Leyland DAB A/S DOMI A/S Sogida S.A. Malines (Assembly plant) | Dist. |
| Finland | Oy Suomen Autoteollisuus AB Oy Veho Ab | Dist. |
| France | BL France SA, Leyland Industrial SA | Dist. |
| Germany | A Bruggemann & Co GmbH, Deutsche Leyland GmbH | Dist. |
| Ireland | British Leyland (Ireland) | CKD |
| Italy | Leyland Innocenti Autoveilcoli Spa | Prod. |
| Malta | Car Assembly Ltd | CKD |
| Netherlands | BL Nederland CV, BL Import NV, Leyland Motor Corporation NV | Dist. |
| Norway | British Leyland Norge A/S | Dist. |
| Portugal | BL de Portugal Automoveis Lda, Triumph SA J.J.Goncalves, Opporto | CKD |
| Spain | Automoviles de Turismo Hispano Ingleses SA (Authi) SACAI | Prod. Dist. |
| Sweden | British Leyland (Sweden) AB | Dist. |
| Switzerland | BL Switzerland AG | Dist. |
| Yugoslavia | IMV - Industrija Motornih Vozil, Industry of Motor Vehicles | CKD |
Overseas Operations
| Algeria | Messrs S.A.D.I.V.A. (Société Algérienne d´Importation de Véhicules Automobiles) | Dist. |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia Ltd | Prod. |
| Cambodia | Société Khmere de Représentation et de Navigation | Dist. |
| Canada | British Leyland Motors Canada Ltd | Dist. |
| Chile | British Leyland del Chile SA | Prod. |
| Colombia | Colomotores, Bogotá | CKD |
| Costa Rico | Land Rover Ltd | CKD |
| Ecuador | Austin Morris Ecuador | CKD |
| East Africa | Leyland Albion (East Africa) Ltd | CKD |
| Ghana | Leyland Motors (Ghana) Ltd | Dist. |
| Hong Kong | Metro Cars Ltd | Dist. |
| India | Ashok Leyland, Ennore Foundries, Standard Motor Products of India Ltd | Prod. |
| Iran | SS Leyland Motors Iran, SS Leyland Diesel Iran | CKD |
| Jamaica | John Crook Ltd | Dist. |
| Malawi | Leyland Motor Corporation (Malawi) Ltd | Dist. |
| Morocco | Austin Morris Morocco | CKD |
| New Zealand | NZ Leyland Corporation Ltd | Prod. |
| Peru | British Leyland del Peru SA | Dist. |
| Southern Rhodesia | Austin Motor Co. (Pvt.) Ltd | CKD |
| South Africa | Leyland Motor Corporation SA Ltd Transvaal, Messrs. R. Lucas and F. Payne Motors Ltd | Prod. Dist. |
| Sudan | Sudan Warehousing Co. Ltd | Dist. |
| Tanzania | Leyland Albion (Tanzania) Ltd | CKD |
| Trinidad | Austin Morris Ltd, Land Rover Ltd | CKD |
| Turkey | BMC Sanayi ve Ticaret AS | Prod. |
| Uganda | Leyland Albion (Uganda) Ltd | CKD |
| Uraguay | Austin Morris, Uraguay SA; Frank Surgery SA | CKD |
| USA | British Leyland Motors Inc | Dist. |
| Zaire | Industrie Nationale Zairoise des Automobiles Leyland | CKD |
| Zambia | Aveling-Barford, Leyland-Motors, Rover (Zambia) Ltd | CKD |
Key to terms:
Prod: Production facility, where entire cars were built from scratch.
CKD: Cars assembled from kits exported from the UK.
Dist: Distribution network, managed locally.
A licence to build...
Several BMC>Rover cars have enjoyed an afterlife in far-flung territories. In these cases, the tooling was sold to a third-party operation after the UK production ended, and cars would then be maufactured under licence to meet local needs, usually with rather different running gear. |
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