The Longbridge plant is an industrial complex in Longbridge, Birmingham, England, currently leased by SAIC as a research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary.[3] Vehicle assembly ended in 2016.
Since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, part of the site has been redeveloped for commercial and residential use.[6]
History of Longbridge car industry
Foundation
White and Pike: 1895–1901
The original site and factory development was undertaken by Birmingham-based copper-plate printers White and Pike Ltd. Looking to consolidate a number of small sites around Birmingham, and diversify into new areas, they chose a series of 20 agricultural fields[7] in Northfield eight miles to the south of the city on the Bristol Road at Longbridge.[8] The site was bounded by Lickey Road, Lowhill Lane, the Midland Railway's main Birmingham to Gloucester mainline, and the Halesowen Joint Railway with the Great Western Railway. The purchase also included Cofton Hill, which rose 70 feet (21m) above its surroundings. Designed by Stark & Rowntree of Glasgow and constructed by James Moffatt & Sons of Camp Hill, the factory was built at a cost of £105,000, opening in the first quarter of 1895. Unfortunately, the venture failed, and the site was repossessed by the bank in 1901.[7]
Herbert Austin, who was born in Buckinghamshire and raised in Yorkshire, escaped his intended railway engineering apprenticeship and learnt his trade under an uncle in Melbourne, Australia. He returned to England in 1893 as manager of an Australian company relocating to Birmingham. In 1901, with the Vickers brothers, he founded and ran Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, which became Britain's largest car manufacturer.[9]
In 1905, he fell out with the Vickers brothers,[9] and looking to found his own motor car company, Herbert Austin undertook numerous exploratory rides around Birmingham in his Wolseley 7.5-horsepower[10] On 4 November 1905, he found the derelict printing works,[10] owned by a financier, E A Olivieri. Friends came forward with financial help, and with additional invoice financing from Frank Kayser of Kayser, Ellison and Company, and William Harvey du Cros of the Dunlop Rubber Company,[11] enabled Austin to buy the site and an additional 8 acres (3.2ha) from Olivieri for £7,500 on 22 January 1906.[7]
"Coming down the alley all aboard" The first Austin, a 25-30, sets out for the Lickey Hills on its first trial run. Herbert Austin at the wheel. Saturday 7 April 1906
Austin and his initial workforce of the Austin Motor Company had, in fact, moved into the derelict buildings before this date, as Austin was so focused on showing his new car at the British Motor Show, to be held in November 1906 at Olympia, London. On paper, the first Austin was described as a 25-30 h.p. high-class touring car with a four-speed gearbox and a chain-driven transmission. Each car had a material and quality guarantee and the first car was produced at the end of March 1906, at a price of £650.[7] Some 50 hands were employed during the first year and they produced about a dozen cars.[8]
By 1908, 1,000 workers were at a factory, which covered 4 acres (1.6ha); a night shift was introduced to help create adequate supply to meet the rising demand for products.[7] By September 1912, workshops covered more than 8 acres, output was running at 1,000 cars a year and employee numbers were 1,800. Austin built their own bodies and their coachbuilding department was one of the largest in the country. They built their own artillery wood wheels and made the hubs for wire-spoked and pressed-steel wheels.[8] In February 1914, the company was floated as a public company and £250,000 of new preference shares were issued to the public and listed on the stock exchanges.[12]
The new funding paid for the construction of additional workshops and the transition of the plant from mechanical drive with its great shafts and belts to electric drive. Two four-cylinder vertical gas engines of 200 horsepower (150kW) each,[12] designed by the Anderson Foundry Co. of Glasgow, coupled to three-phase alternators built by Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget of Sweden, provided the electricity.[7]
World War I
The Longbridge plant was part of a significant rapid mobilisation process, which took place across Europe on the outbreak of World War I. Machines that had been used to build Austin cars were employed to produce munitions, and all the resources of the factory were harnessed to serve the armed forces.
As the demand for weapons and equipment of every kind continued to increase, the factory was expanded. The area between the existing buildings and the Midland Railway mainline were built on. The expansion also enabled the 1915 construction of Longbridge railway station within the boundaries of the works, allowing the Midland Railway to run workers' trains direct from Birmingham New Street.[7]
By 1917, the factory site trebled in size, and possessed its own flying ground at Cofton Hackett, south of the main works, which was operated by the newly formed Austin Aero Company. The employees, many of whom were women, rose to over 22,000 during the peak years.
Between 1914 and 1918, over 8,000,000 shells were produced along with 650 guns, 2,000 aeroplanes, 2,500 aero engines, and 2,000 trucks.[13] In recognition of this, Herbert Austin was knighted in 1917 and he was also honoured by Belgium for employing 3,000 Belgian refugees at Longbridge.[14]
North works: 1917
With the need to expand capacity, the company bought Longbridge farm. Located north of the existing site, it became known as Longbridge North works, bounded again by the railways, Bristol Road, and Longbridge Lane. After the farm buildings had been demolished and the River Rea placed in a covered culvert, the company began development in June 1916:[7]
Machine shop 850ft × 270ft finished by December 1916
Forge which became operational in March 1917
Mess room seating 4,000
Administrative blocks
Power house, equipped with 12 Lancashire boilers, which powered three 1500kW turbo generators to supply 386 electric motors
1919
The works and plant had grown to over 10 times their prewar size; no peace-time products were being made. The Armistice terminated the war suddenly, contracts were cancelled at very short notice.
Major wartime additions to plant included a large steel foundry, a very large sheet-metal pressings shop, and a very large and complete hardening and heat-treatment shop.[15]
Before the end of the war, plans were announced for concentrating on the production of a 20 hp car when peace returned. In addition, the engine used for the 20 hp model was adapted for an Austin tractor, running on kerosene, which won many agricultural awards between 1919 and 1921. A 13-ton truck was also produced, using the same engine.
For a short time Austin Aero Company's postwar programme also included a range of aeroplanes. The Austin Greyhound two-seater fighter was one, and the Austin Ball single-seater another. Then, a single-seater biplane with folding wings was sold at £500, with a fourth called the Austin Whippet.
After 1921, Austin became interested in smaller vehicles, including a 12 hp car and the tiny, and still familiar, Austin 7. In many ways, the car was a miniature version, scaled down with the characteristic simplicity of Lord Austin's products.
Bren guns and mortars were manufactured in West Works, in the area later known as West 4 Upper.
Trentham buildings, Number 2 paint shop, was still referred to as the Beaufighter line by some people during the 1970s.
The building known as the Flight Shed in Cofton Lane was where the airframes received their final quality check and wings were fitted to Hurricane fighters. Lancaster wings were fitted as the aircraft left the shed. Hurricanes were lifted up the raised airfield on a motorised skid. The skids were still there at the rear of the Flight Shed during the 1980s. Lancaster bombers were transported by road to RAF Elmdon for flight testing.
Having such a concentration of wartime production meant that the area was a prime target for bombers. Erdington was made famous for being the first part of England to be bombed by the Germans, who had presumably been trying to hit Longbridge.
After the war
Photo taken at Longbridge in 1948Austin A40 Sports, {circa 1951, final assembly at Longbridge with bodies manufactured not at Jensen's West Bromwich factory, but at another factory in Pensnett, near Dudley by Jensen Motors
After the war, Leonard Lord took over as chairman. He laid plans for a rapid expansion, new models, and overseas marketing. In June 1946, the millionth Austin was produced. It was painted in a matte cream and signed by the chairman and the workpeople at a special celebration.
Austin collaborated with Jensen Motors to manufacture the Austin A40 Sports, an aluminium-bodied, four-passenger convertible — with bodies manufactured by Jensen - not at their West Bromwich plant - but at another site in Pensnett, near Dudley - and transferred to Longbridge for final assembly. Later Austin collaborated with the Donald Healey Motor Company on the Healey 100.
The British Leyland company ran into financial difficulties and was refinanced by the government in 1975. The government thus became the dominant shareholder, but unlike most nationalised industries, British Leyland (later called BL) remained a public company.
Derek Robinson, or "Red Robbo" as he was dubbed by the media, became synonymous with the strikes that severely affected production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s. Between 1978 and 1979, the then government-owned British Leyland attributed 523 disputes to Robinson, the factory convenor at Longbridge. However, Robinson's responsibility for these incidents, most of which were brief stoppages led by individual shop stewards, has been overstated.[16] He was eventually sacked amid intense press attacks. Many of the votes for strikes were cast in Cofton Park opposite Q-Gate.
Expansion work at Longbridge was completed in 1979 to allow a new assembly line for the forthcoming new supermini car, which was launched in 1980 as the Austin Metro. The Metro was in production virtually unchanged for 10 years, becoming one of the most popular cars ever to be produced at the plant. The major part of the expansion was the erection of "New West Works", where the body shells were assembled, with extensive robotic input - a first for British Leyland. The shells were then carried on an enclosed conveyor over the Bristol Road to the Car Assembly Buildings in South Works, where the cars were assembled and tested. This arrangement endured until car production at Longbridge ceased in 2005. Indeed, the overhead conveyor bridge was one of the first features to go when demolition of the plant began.
By the 1980s, BL had been severely rationalised, and many businesses and other factories within its empire had either been closed or sold off. It had also entered into a collaborative deal with Japanese firm Honda, which gave BL a new lease on life and Honda entry into the UK market.
The Austin Metro, which was introduced in 1980 and discontinued in 1990 when it was relaunched as an updated model under the Rover marque, was easily the most successful product to be produced at Longbridge in the final quarter of the 20th century.
In 1988, the Longbridge plant, along with the rest of Austin Rover, was sold to British Aerospace, which renamed it as the Rover Group in 1989.
In 1989, a new Longbridge-built model was launched, the second-generation Rover 200 (the original version had been launched in 1984). The 200 series was sold in the hatchback, coupe, and cabriolet body styles, and also formed the basis of the Rover 400 saloon and estate. It was consistently one of the most popular small family cars sold in Britain throughout its production life, and remained a common sight on British roads for many years after it ceased production. The 200 and 400 were replaced by all-new models in 1995, this time being completely separate model ranges, with the new Rover 400 being derived from the Honda Civic.
In 1994 BMW, fearful of their small size relative to their rivals in a progressively globalised car market, bought Rover Group and the Longbridge plant passed into the hands of BMW, but continuing heavy losses alarmed BMW shareholders, and in 2000, Rover Cars and the Longbridge factory were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, which renamed it MG Rover Group, in a management buyout for the token sum of £10.
At the time, many financial commentators claimed that the plant was not modern enough and that the company would surely run out of money within a few years. In April 2005, this happened; the Phoenix Consortium put the MG Rover group into administration, leaving more than 6,000 workers without jobs. Another factor in MG Rover's meltdown was the fact that it had not launched an all-new model since the Rover 75 more than six years earlier. In contrast, the likes of Ford and Vauxhall, and indeed most other Western European mass-market carmakers, had replaced most if not all of their model ranges since the late 1990s.
Nanjing and SAIC ownership
Longbridge gates in 2006.
Chinese automobile company Nanjing acquired the remaining assets of MG Rover, including the lease to the Longbridge plant, three months after it went into receivership. In August 2008, MG TF production restarted, some three years after the collapse of MG Rover, using only part of the old Austin works, Austin's original South Works. Most of the rest of the site has since been demolished for redevelopment, including a new local centre, south of Longbridge Lane.
MG Motor UK HQ - SAIC UK Technical and Design Centre
The scaled-down car plant at Longbridge had less production capacity than before. More than half the factory site was sold off and cleared, and the land restored to provide land for homes and businesses with a target of creating 10,000 jobs and 1,450 homes.[17]
Nanjing Automotive Corporation was acquired by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) during late 2007 into 2008, resulting in the Longbridge site coming under the ownership of SAIC. The UK engineering function known as SAIC Motor Technical Centre UK (SMTC) was moved from its site in Leamington into the Longbridge during 2008. In 2010, the SMTC was unveiled showing the engineering areas and styling studio.[18]
During this time, the engineers at Longbridge had worked on the MG 6, which was based on the Roewe 550 to make it ready for UK launch. MG Motors was created as the UK manufacturing company for SAIC, and in April 2011, began manufacturing the MG 6 from semiknocked-down (SKD) kits that come from the SAIC Lingang Plant China. The cars arrive from China, essentially complete, requiring only the fitting of engine and front suspension, nose trim, and wheels at Longbridge, which no longer has functional body welding/assembly or paint shops. Production of the MG TF was discontinued around this time, with a mere 906 having been built at Longbridge since production restarted almost three years previously.[19] Production of the MG 3 supermini began at Longbridge in 2012, and by 2014, the plant employed around 400 workers, up from just over 200 people who were there when production restarted.[20]
The new MG GS SUV was due to be launched in May 2016, and body kits were arriving in a readymade format. The rear suspension as found on the VW Tiguan was to be fitted in Longbridge, as well as the engine and UK-specification dashboard. Any factory extras such as HID headlights, would also be stored and fitted at the Longbridge plant. Various parts of the 4x4 system, including parts to the rear axle, would have been fitted in the UK.
On 23 September 2016, MG announced that all car production had ceased at Longbridge. Henceforth, all MG vehicles would be imported into the UK.[21]
Starting on 19 January 2020, the last surviving assembly buildings CAB1 and CAB2, and the paint shop are to be mostly demolished to make way for further new housing, although parts of the buildings are to be retained. The former production facility will now only be used to sell cars and research and development of future models.
Popular culture
Shortly before MG Rover went into administration in 2005, The Chemical Brothers' video for their single "Believe" contained scenes filmed inside the Longbridge factory.[22]
Also, images from the Longbridge production line and from the Mini were used to introduce the United Kingdom's entry in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest hosted at the city of Birmingham.[23]
MG is a British automotive marque founded by Cecil Kimber in the 1920s, and M.G. Car Company Limited was the British sports car manufacturer that made the marque famous. Best known for its open two-seater sports cars, MG also produced saloons and coupés, with engines up to three litres in size and 3.5 L in the case of the MGB GT V8. The marque is now owned by Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor Corporation Limited.
Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory. Largely self-financed through his enormous profits, Morris did borrow some money from the public in 1926, and later shared some of Morris Motors' ownership with the public in 1936. The new capital was then used by Morris Motors to buy many of his other privately held businesses.
The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including Aston Martin, Bentley, Caterham Cars, Daimler, Jaguar, Lagonda, Land Rover, Lister Cars, Lotus,MG, McLaren, Mini, MOKE, Morgan, Rolls-Royce and TVR. Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and Vauxhall Motors. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Dennis Eagle, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks, TEVVA and London Electric Vehicle Company.
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to Phoenix Venture Holdings in 2000.
The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris and Austin businesses.
The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limited, keeping its separate identity. The marque Austin was used until 1987 by BMC's successors British Leyland and Rover Group. The trademark is currently owned by the Chinese firm SAIC Motor, after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive which had acquired it with MG Rover Group in July 2005.
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 renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.
The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986, which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business, Land Rover Group, Freight Rover vans and Leyland Trucks. The Rover Group also owned the dormant trademarks from the many companies that had merged into British Leyland and its predecessors such as Triumph, Morris, Wolseley, Riley and Alvis.
Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and design firm. Leonard Lord represented BMC and Donald Healey his firm.
The Austin Rover Group was a British motor manufacturer. It was created in 1982 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). Previously, this entity had been known as BL Cars Ltd which encompassed the Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph divisions of British Leyland. After a major restructuring of BL's car manufacturing operations, Jaguar regained its independence whilst the Triumph and Morris marques were retired. The new, leaner car business was rechristened as the Austin Rover Group and focused primarily on the Austin and Rover marques. The Morris and Triumph marques continued briefly within ARG until 1984 when both were dropped.
Rednal is a residential suburb on the south western edge of metropolitan Birmingham, West Midlands, England, 9 miles southwest of Birmingham city centre and forming part of Longbridge parish and electoral ward. Historically it was part of Worcestershire.
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is 10+1⁄4 miles southwest of the city centre of Birmingham and 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Worcester. In 2011, the village had a population of 1,893 but with housing development on the former Austin Rover site, this is expected to double over the five years to 2023. The village is served by two main bus services, these being the 20 and 145/145A operated by National Express and Diamond Bus respectively.
The MG F and MG TF are mid-engined, rear wheel drive roadster cars that were sold under the MG marque by three manufacturers between 1995 and 2011.
Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within it.
Nanjing Automobile is a state-owned enterprise with a history that dates from 1947, making it the oldest of the Chinese automobile manufacturers although the comparatively younger FAW Automotive was the first to make cars.
British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Group in the United Kingdom to form the British Motor Corporation. Following further corporate changes in the UK in the late 1960s, BMC Australia was absorbed into the newly established British Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia, the name of which became Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia in 1972, and then JRA Limited in March 1983.
MG Motor UK Limited, trading as MG or MG Motor, is an automotive company headquartered in London, and owned by the Shanghai-based Chinese state-owned carmaker SAIC Motor. The company markets cars under the MG marque, a British marque that was established in Oxford, UK in 1924.
Plant Oxford located in Cowley, southeast Oxford, England, is a BMW car assembly facility where Mini cars are built. The plant forms the Mini production triangle along with Plant Hams Hall where engines are manufactured and Plant Swindon where body pressings and sub-assemblies are built.
Solihull plant is a car manufacturing factory in Lode Lane, Lode Heath, Solihull, UK, owned by Jaguar Land Rover. The plant sits on a 300-acre (120 ha) site and employs over 9,000 people in manufacturing.
Rover is a British automotive brand that was used for over a century, from 1904 to 2005. It was launched as a bicycle maker called Rover Company in 1878, before starting to manufacture autocars in 1904. The brand used the iconic Viking longship as its logo. The rights to the brand are currently part of Jaguar Land Rover, which continues to produce Land Rovers, but no Rover automobiles are currently in production and the brand is considered dormant.
References
Lambert, Z.E. and Wyatt, R.J., (1968). Lord Austin the Man, London:Sidgwick & Jackson.
Sharratt, Barney, (2000). Men and Motors of the Austin: The Inside Story of a Century of Car Making at Longbridge. Sparkford: Haynes Publishing. ISBN1-85960-671-7.
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