British Motor Holdings
# British Motor Holdings

British Motor Holdings Limited (BMH) was a British vehicle manufacturing company known until 14 December 1966 as British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC). BMH was created as a holding company following BMC's takeover of both Jaguar Cars and the Pressed Steel Company in that year.

Thirteen months later, on 17 January 1968, under direct pressure from its national government, BMH merged with Leyland Motor Corporation (Standard-Triumph, Rover and Alvis cars, Leyland trucks and buses, Alvis fighting vehicles) to form British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC).

## History

### 1964 The Wilson government takes control

The Wilson Labour Government (1964–1970) came to power at a time when British manufacturing industry was in decline and decided that the remedy was to promote more mergers, particularly in the motor industry. Chrysler was already buying into the Rootes Group, Leyland Motors had acquired Standard Triumph in 1961 (and would buy Rover in 1967) and had become a major automotive force. The British Motor Corporation (BMC) was suffering a dramatic drop in its share of the home market. Tony Benn, appointed Minister of Technology in July 1966, brought pressure to bear on the industry and one result was BMH's merger with Leyland to form British Leyland.

**Pressed Steel**

In 1965 BMC had purchased Pressed Steel, Britain's major car body manufacturer, and in the third quarter of 1966 it purchased Jaguar Cars. Three months later, to recognise the changed nature of their business, the company name was changed to British Motor (Holdings) Limited on 14 December 1966.

**Jaguar**

From the perspective of Jaguar, the sale to BMC which became firm in September 1966 (when BMC took control of Jaguar) came about for two principal reasons; First, Sir William Lyons, the managing director and co-founder of the company, saw the merger as the best way for Jaguar to ensure supplies of bodies from Pressed Steel, which supplied the company and was now owned by BMC. Second, Lyons, by now 65 and without his son John, who had been killed driving to Le Mans in 1955, did not have a long term succession plan. From the perspective of the BMC, a takeover of Jaguar was attractive because it was successful in the US market, and was thereby profitable at a time when BMC lacked the funds to invest sufficiently in modern production facilities or new models.

At the annual statement to shareholders for 1967, BMH chairman Sir George Harriman reported on Group Overseas Operations that the company had delivered to world markets (i.e. exported) 313,790 cars, commercial vehicles and tractors, including 72,049 manufactured overseas.

**The marques**

British Motor Holdings inherited a plethora of British automotive marques but by now they were the (famously) badge-engineered unified range of one manufacturer incorporating three sports cars, MGB, MG Midget / Austin-Healey Sprite, Austin Healey 3000 plus Jaguar saloons and sports car and its badge-engineered Daimlers, Coventry Climax industrial engines and Guy trucks.

**Estimated production of cars and commercial vehicles in the UK 1965**

| Brand | Quantity | | Share |
| - | - | - | - |
| BMC | 890,000 | | 40.2% |
| Jaguar | 30,000 | | 1.4% |
| BMH | | 920,000 | 41.5% |
| Standard-Triumph | 125,000 | | 5.6% |
| Rover | 25,000 | | 1.1% |
| Leyland | | 150,000 | 6.8% |
| Ford | | 590,000 | 26.6% |
| Vauxhall | | 333,000 | 15.0% |
| Rootes | | 220,000 | 9.9% |
| Rolls-Royce | | 1,200 | 0.1% |
| Total | | 2,214,200 | 100.0% |

In 1965, the year prior to the merger, BMC and Leyland's annual production had reached one million vehicles per annum. By contrast, Jaguar's total production in 1966 was 15,690 vehicles.

### Merger with Leyland

On 17 January 1968 BMH merged with the smaller prosperous Leyland Motors to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) on a one-for-one share exchange, valuing BMH at £201 million. BMH had reported a £3.4 million loss for 1966/7.

## Sources and further reading

* ↑ British Motor Takes That New Label The Times, 15 December 1966; pg. 17 Issue 56815
* ↑ Martin, Robert (18 January 1968). "Leyland and British Motor in £420m merger". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 3. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
* ↑ "Jaguar Group of companies is to merge with The British Motor Corporation Ltd., as the first step towards the sitting up of a joint holding company to be called British Motor (Holdings) Limited." Official statement released at press conference at the Great Eastern Hotel, London, 1966
* ↑ "What is BMH?". Autocar. Vol. 127 nbr 3730. 10 August 1967. p. 1.
* ↑ 90PC OF JAGUAR TAKE BMC The Times, Wednesday, 14 September 1966; pg. 18; Issue 56736
* ↑ "British Motor Holdings". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 December 1967. p. 64. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
* ↑ Karel Williams, John L. Williams, Dennis Thomas, Why Are the British Bad at Manufacturing, page 54, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983, ISBN 0-7100-9561-9
* ↑ Simply the best, www.aronline.co.uk Retrieved on 6 June 2013

vteBritish Leyland – car companies and marques :

Marque

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Jaguar

SS Cars

Jaguar

Jaguar & Daimler

BMH

BLMC / British Leyland

Jaguar & Daimler

Ford (PAG)

Tata

Daimler

Daimler

BSA

BSA

Lanchester

Lanchester

Rover

Rover Company

Rover Company

Rover Company

Austin Rover Group & Land Rover Group (BL plc)

Rover Group (BAe)

Rover Group (BMW)

MG Rover Group (PVH)

Land Rover

Ford (PAG)

Alvis

Alvis

BAE Systems

Standard

Standard

Standard Triumph

Leyland Motors

British Motor Heritage

Triumph

Dawson

Triumph

BMW

Riley

Riley

Nuffield Organization

BMC

BMH

MG

Morris Garages (MG)

Rover Group (BMW)

MG Rover Group (PVH)

SAIC & NAC

SAIC

Morris

Morris

Morris

Wolseley

Wolseley

Austin

Austin

Austin

Vanden Plas

Vanden Plas

Mini

BMW

Princess

BMC

BLMC / British Leyland

Austin-Healey

Austin (BMC) & Donald Healey

Marque

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vteBritish car industry – companies and marques :

Marque

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Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited & Bentley

Rolls-Royce Motors

Rolls-Royce Motors (Vickers)

BMW & VW Group

BMW

Bentley

Bentley

Volkswagen Group

Armstrong Siddeley

Siddeley-Deasy

Armstrong Whitworth

Armstrong Siddeley

Bristol Siddeley

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce plc

Rolls-Royce plc/BMW

Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda

Ford PAG

Aston Martin Lagonda

Lagonda

Lagonda

Jaguar

SS Cars

Jaguar

Jaguar & Daimler

BMH

BLMC / British Leyland

Jaguar & Daimler

Ford (PAG)

Tata

Daimler

Daimler

BSA

BSA

Lanchester

Lanchester

Rover

Rover Company

Rover Company

Rover Company

Austin Rover Group & Land Rover Group (BL plc)

Rover Group (BAe)

Rover Group (BMW)

MG Rover Group (PVH)

Land Rover

Ford (PAG)

Alvis

Alvis

BAE Systems

Standard

Standard

Standard Triumph

Leyland Motors

British Motor Heritage

Triumph

Dawson

Triumph

BMW

Riley

Riley

Nuffield Organization

BMC

BMH

MG

Morris Garages (MG)

Rover Group (BMW)

MG Rover Group (PVH)

SAIC & NAC

SAIC

Morris

Morris

Morris

Wolseley

Wolseley

Austin

Austin

Austin

Vanden Plas

Vanden Plas

Mini

BMW

Princess

BMC

BLMC / British Leyland

Austin-Healey

Austin (BMC) & Donald Healey

Jensen

Jensen Motors

Britcar Holdings

Jensen Cars

Reliant

Reliant

Reliant

Bond

Bond

AC

AC Cars (several ownership & company name changes)

Argyll

Argyll

Argyll

Bristol Cars

Bristol Cars

Caterham

Caterham

Crossley

Crossley

Dutton

Dutton

Dutton

Ginetta

Ginetta

Gordon-Keeble

Peerless & Warwick

Gordon-Keeble

Jowett

Jowett

Blackburn

Lea-Francis

Lea-Francis

Lotus

Lotus

General Motors Europe

Proton

Geely

McLaren

McLaren

Marcos

Marcos

Marcos

Marcos

Morgan

Morgan

Napier

Napier

Turner

Turner

TVR

TVR

Westfield

Westfield

Potenza Sports Cars

GTM

GTM

Vulcan

Vulcan

Vauxhall

Vauxhall Motors

General Motors

General Motors Europe

Opel

Peugeot (PSA)

Stellantis

Hillman

Hillman

Humber

Rootes

Chrysler Europe (Chrysler)

Peugeot (PSA)

Humber

Humber

Singer

Singer

Rootes

Sunbeam

Sunbeam

S.T.D. Motors

Rootes

(as Sunbeam-Talbot) Rootes

Rootes

Talbot

Talbot

Marque

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