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Buying British - The Real Bogush
What is still made in the UK?

....Cars: Although many of the UK Government's ministerial cars are made overseas* - Ford Mondeos, for instance, are made in Belgium - the following cars are assembled in UK plants: Ford Fiesta; Honda Civic and Accord; Nissan Micra, Primera, and Almera; Peugeot 206; Toyota Corolla and Avensis; Vauxhall Astra; all Jaguar, Land Rover, MG and Rolls Royce/Bentley models; and some Vectras...........................

from:

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1804000/180416...m



* perhaps they want to export the environmental damage from new car production?;-(
Re: Buying British - Honest John
The new Fiesta is not assembled in the UK. But some examples of the old Honda CRV were and 100,000 a year of the new one will be, 90% of which are for export. No Rovers on the Bogush list, but he must have included them under MG. And we mustn't forget specialists such as Morgan, TVR and now Noble.

HJ
Re: Buying British - alex
And Reliant ???????? Britian's largest UK owned volume car producer when Rover was German ?
Re: Buying British - Honest John
But what does Reliant make? Imports Ligier Ambras and various other small cars and vans, but I thought the plastic pigs were dead.

HJ
Re: Buying British - Andrew
What about the cars which are built AND designed in the UK?

I expect the list is even shorter......

Andrew
Re: Buying British - The Real Bogush
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

But what about the cars that are designed in the UK, but built overseas.

And what about the cars that are built by UK workers for foreign mangement.

The Japs use UK workers on their UK assembly lines, but run on Japanese management lines.

And I once met a gang of freelance car assembly line "fettlers" (?) who used to fly to Japan every few weeks to fine tune their lines.

Is there a common "thread" developing here?

And I'm reminded of a UK company I used to work for, set up by a big US corp, which was going to roll out its product wordwide. They apparently spent a fortune on consultants to find an appropriate name. When I told I Japanese lady who I worked for she almost had a heart attack.

Well, its not every day someone tells you they work for the devil ;-)
Re: Buying British - alex
Is the plastic pig still not in production then ???


Thursday, 12 July, 2001, 10:30 GMT 11:30 UK
Reliant Robin makes a comeback



The cult three-wheeler is back on the road

The Reliant Robin is getting a new lease of life after the rights to continue making the cult car were bought by a glass-fibre expert.
The Reliant family of vehicles was made famous by the Trotter family in the BBC's Only Fools and Horses series, who drove a Supervan.

Production of the closely-related Robin stopped earlier this year after poor sales.

The first five models made by Les Collier, in his small Suffolk firm, are being launched on Thursday.

The new Robin features leather upholstery, alloy wheels, electric windows and a sun-roof.



I want to make sure the days of the Robin being a joke are over

Les Collier
Mr Collier has already had orders for more than 90 models from Reliant dealers.

He plans to make 250 each year in his factories in Sudbury and Beccles.

The new Robin will cost £9,995 - £2,000 cheaper than its predecessor.

Mr Collier said: "I want to make sure the days of the Robin being a joke are over.



A nice little earner

"It's now going to be a quality car in a niche market."

"Many of the jokes about Robins are simply not fair.

"For instance, the van that Del Boy Trotter drove in Only Fools and Horses was not even a Robin but a Regal."

"We have remodelled the interior, improved the paintwork and are even offering colours that change colour in different lights."


In its heyday in the 1960s over 300 of the fibre-glass vehicles were produced every week and Reliant Motors in Staffordshire was once the second largest all-British car maker.

But production of the car was stopped when sales slumped to just 10 a week.

The car was originally built from aluminium, but became the first mass-production vehicle with a fibreglass body in the 1950s.



Reliant Motors ceased production after poor sales

The 850cc-engined cars can be driven using a motorbike licence.

Mr Collier said they had always been value for money.

"They can do 90 miles an hour, 80 miles to the gallon yet still carry four adults and their luggage.

Mr Collier's firm had mainly produced parts for caravans when he became one of a number of firms bidding for the rights.

"I am a small operator without major overheads but I am certain it will be a success.

"People have laughed at three-wheelers but I am determined to have the last laugh.

Alex
Re: Buying British - Randolph Lee
pages.zoom.co.uk/robinbn1/
and
www.3wheelers.com/bnp.html
Re: Buying British - JohnL
How does one define a British Car?

Lots of cars are assembled ( is that different from manufactured ) in Britain but most of the parts come from abroad. So at least the workers are British even though the company maybe Japannese owned with most of the parts coming from Euroland.

Maybe what really is important is are British jobs being created.
Re: Buying British - Ian Bishop
What about the MINI?
Re: Buying British - ian (cape town)
Only if you have the legs for it.
Re: Buying British - Ronnie Courtney
Oh Mr Ian - URA 1!

Ronnie
Re: Buying British - ian (cape town)
I wonder if you could use minis for drag racing?