BMC - THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Sound commercial sense, or the merger from hell? Back in 1952 when Austin and Morris were combined into one single conglomerate, the company Public Relations Department line at the time was that the move was necessary because the British Motor Industry needed larger players in order to compete with our overseas competitors. By which we must assume were those primarily based in America - although as the years rolled on, that would also include those in Germany, Italy, France and even Scandinavia as well. But was it the right move? Having studied contemporary magazines and sales literature, Malcolm Bates attempts to get a handle on the thinking behind ‘the merger’ in the context of the commercial vehicle range. Or should that be ‘ranges’?

See, things are already starting to get complicated…

In theory, the idea of Britain’s largest two manufacturers combining to take on the World, must have seemed like a good idea at the time - but was it really a good idea to combine THE two largest? What was behind it was a mix of personal egos, vendetta (in the case of Leonard Lord), company politics (after all, each company had it’s own way of doing things) and what to us today must seem like a really unlikely situation - neither Herbert ‘Pa’ Austin, nor Lord Nuffield - William Morris - had planned what would happen to their respective empires when they grew too old to run them, or had actually passed away. Yes, that’s right, since they were founded, these two major manufacturers were still in effect run like a family corner shop.

While William Morris remained without an heir (and as a result, donated much of his personal fortune to charitable trusts), Herbert Austin did have a son, but he was killed in the trenches during The Great War. You might say this was a death that, had it not happened, might have changed the future