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Shading

Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying the level of darkness. Shading tries to approximate local behavior of light on the object's surface and is not to be confused with techniques of adding shadows, such as shadow mapping or shadow volumes, which fall under global behavior of light.

In drawing
Shading is used traditionally in drawing for depicting a range of darkness by applying media more densely or with a darker shade for darker areas, and less densely or with a lighter shade for lighter areas. Light patterns, such as objects having light and shaded areas, help when creating the illusion of depth on paper.

There are various techniques of shading, including cross hatching, where perpendicular lines of varying closeness are drawn in a grid pattern to shade an area. The closer the lines are together, the darker the area appears. Likewise, the farther apart the lines are, the lighter the area appears.

Powder shading is a sketching shading method. In this style, stumping powder and paper stumps are used to draw a picture. (This is also in color.) The stumping powder is smooth and doesn't have any shiny particles. The paper to be used should have small grains on it so that the powder remains on the paper.

In computer graphics
In computer graphics, shading refers to the process of altering the color of an object/surface/polygon in the 3D scene, based on things like (but not limited to) the surface's angle to lights, its distance from lights, its angle to the camera and material properties (e.g. bidirectional reflectance distribution function) to create a photorealistic effect.

Shading is performed during the rendering process by a program called a shader.

Surface angle to a light source
Shading alters the colors of faces in a 3D model based on the angle of the surface to a light source or light sources.

The first image below has the faces of the box rendered, but all in the same color. Edge lines have been rendered here as well which makes the image easier to see.

The second image is the same model rendered without edge lines. It is difficult to tell where one face of the box ends and the next begins.

The third image has shading enabled, which makes the image more realistic and makes it easier to see which face is which.

Types of lighting
When a shader computes the result color, it uses a lighting model to determine the amount of light reflected at specific points on the surface. Different lighting models can be combined with different shading techniques — while lighting says how much light is reflected, shading determines how this information is used in order to compute the final result. It may for example compute lighting only at specific points and use interpolation to fill in the rest. The shader may also decide about how many light sources to take into account etc.

Ambient lighting
An ambient light source represents an omni-directional, fixed-intensity and fixed-color light source that affects all objects in the scene equally (is omni-present). During rendering, all objects in the scene are brightened with the specified intensity and color. This type of light source is mainly used to provide the scene with a basic view of the different objects in it. This is the simplest type of lighting to implement, and models how light can be scattered or reflected many times, thereby producing a uniform effect.

Ambient lighting can be combined with ambient occlusion to represent how exposed each point of the scene is, affecting the amount of ambient light it can reflect. This produces diffused, non-directional lighting throughout the scene, casting no clear shadows, but with enclosed and sheltered areas darkened. The result is usually visually similar to an overcast day.

Point lighting
Light originates from a single point and spreads outward in all directions.

Spotlighting
Models a spotlight: light originates from a single point and spreads outward in a cone.

Area lighting
Light originates from a small area on a single plane. (A more realistic model than a point light source.)

Directional lighting
A directional light source illuminates all objects equally from a given direction, like an area light of infinite size and infinite distance from the scene; there is shading, but cannot be any distance falloff. This is like the sun.

Distance falloff
Theoretically, two surfaces which are parallel are illuminated virtually the same amount from a distant unblocked light source such as the sun. The distance falloff effect produces images which have more shading and so would be realistic for proximal light sources.

The left image doesn't use distance falloff. Notice that the colors on the front faces of the two boxes are exactly the same. It may appear that there is a slight difference where the two faces directly overlap, but this is an optical illusion caused by the vertical edge below where the two faces meet.

The right image does use distance falloff. Notice that the front face of the closer box is brighter than the front face of the back box. Also, the floor goes from light to dark as it gets farther away.

Calculation
Distance falloff can be calculated in a number of ways:
 * Power of the distance – For a given point at a distance x from the light source, the light intensity received is proportional to $1/ x ^{ n }$.
 * None ($n = 0$) – The light intensity received is the same regardless of the distance between the point and the light source.
 * Linear ($n = 1$) – For a given point at a distance x from the light source, the light intensity received is proportional to $1/ x$.
 * Quadratic ($n = 2$) – This is how light intensity decreases in reality if the light has a free path (i.e. no fog or any other thing in the air that can absorb or scatter the light). For a given point at a distance x from the light source, the light intensity received is proportional to $1/ x ^{2}$.
 * Any number of other mathematical functions may also be used.

Shading techniques
During shading a surface normal is often needed for lighting computation. The normals can be precomputed and stored for each vertex of the model.

Flat shading
Here, the lighting is evaluated only once for each polygon (usually for the first vertex in the polygon, but sometimes for the centroid for triangle meshes), based on the polygon's surface normal and on the assumption that all polygons are flat. The computed color is used for the whole polygon, making the corners look sharp. This is usually used when more advanced shading techniques are too computationally expensive. Specular highlights are rendered poorly with flat shading: If there happens to be a large specular component at the representative vertex, that brightness is drawn uniformly over the entire face. If a specular highlight doesn't fall on the representative point, it is missed entirely. Consequently, the specular reflection component is usually not included in flat shading computation.

Smooth shading
In contrast to flat shading where the colors change discontinuously at polygon borders, with smooth shading the color changes from pixel to pixel, resulting in a smooth color transition between two adjacent polygons. Usually, values are first calculated in the vertices and bilinear interpolation is used to calculate the values of pixels between the vertices of the polygons. Types of smooth shading include Gouraud shading and Phong shading.

Gouraud shading

 * 1) Determine the normal at each polygon vertex.
 * 2) Apply an illumination model to each vertex to calculate the light intensity from the vertex normal.
 * 3) Interpolate the vertex intensities using bilinear interpolation over the surface polygon.

Problems:
 * Due to lighting being computed only at vertices, the inaccuracies (especially of specular highlights on large triangles) can become too apparent.
 * T-junctions with adjoining polygons can sometimes result in visual anomalies. In general, T-junctions should be avoided.

Phong shading
Phong shading is similar to Gouraud shading, except that instead of interpolating the light intensities the normals are interpolated between the vertices and the lighting is evaluated per-pixel. Thus, the specular highlights are computed much more precisely than in the Gouraud shading model.

 * 1) Compute a normal N for each vertex of the polygon.
 * 2) Using bilinear interpolation compute a normal, Ni for each pixel. (Normal has to be renormalized each time.)
 * 3) Apply an illumination model to each pixel to calculate the light intensity from Ni.

Deferred shading
Deferred shading is a shading technique by which computation of shading is deferred to later stage by rendering in two passes, potentially increasing performance by not discarding expensively shaded pixels. The first pass only captures surface parameters (such as depth, normals and material parameters), the second one performs the actual shading and computes the final colors.

Other approaches
Both Gouraud shading and Phong shading can be implemented using bilinear interpolation. Bishop and Weimer proposed to use a Taylor series expansion of the resulting expression from applying an illumination model and bilinear interpolation of the normals. Hence, second-degree polynomial interpolation was used. This type of biquadratic interpolation was further elaborated by Barrera et al., where one second-order polynomial was used to interpolate the diffuse light of the Phong reflection model and another second-order polynomial was used for the specular light.

Spherical linear interpolation (Slerp) was used by Kuij and Blake for computing both the normal over the polygon, as well as the vector in the direction to the light source. A similar approach was proposed by Hast, which uses quaternion interpolation of the normals with the advantage that the normal will always have unit length and the computationally heavy normalization is avoided.

Computer vision
In computer vision, some methods for 3D reconstruction are based on shading, or shape-from-shading. Based on an image's shading, a three-dimensional model can be reconstructed from a single photograph.

title: Shading


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Laurence Saunders

Lawrence Saunders (1519 – 8 February 1555) was an English Protestant martyr whose story is recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Early life
Saunders was the son of Thomas Saunders (d. 1528) of Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire, by Margaret, the daughter of Richard Cave (d. 1538) of Stanford, Northamptonshire, and his first wife, Elizabeth Mervin. He had five brothers, the judge Sir Edward Saunders (d.1576), the lawyer and merchant Robert Saunders (d.1559), Joseph Saunders, and the merchants Blase Saunders (d.1581) and Ambrose Saunders (d.1586), and three sisters, Sabine, wife of the merchant John Johnson, Christian (d.1545), wife of Christopher Breten, and Jane, wife of Clement Villiers.

Saunders was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge. After graduating BA in 1541 he was apprenticed to Sir William Chester, but soon abandoned mercantile pursuits and continued his studies, proceeding MA in 1544 and obtaining a doctorate in theology. In the early years of the reign of Edward VI he obtained a licence to preach. Being a man of much ability he was very popular, and was appointed reader at Fotheringhay and later at Lichfield Cathedral. In 1553 he was granted the living at All Hallows Bread Street in London where George Marsh was his curate.

Trial and death
On 15 October 1553 he preached at Northampton, warning the congregation that 'the errors of the popish religion' would be restored to the church by Queen Mary I and that England was threatened with the visitation of God for her 'lukewarm indifference in the cause of Christ, and the privileges of his glorious gospel'. In October 1554 he was arrested by the order of the bishop of London after having given a sermon at All Hallows Bread Street. After three months imprisonment he was arraigned on 29 January 1555, and convicted of heresy. He was taken to Coventry, and burned at the stake on 8 February 1555. Before being chained to the stake, he kissed it, saying, 'Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life!' The martyrdom of Saunders was said to have been the start of Joyce Lewis's conversion and her later martyrdom.

While at Lichfield, Saunders had married a woman named Joanna, by whom he had a son, Samuel. After her husband's death Joanna left England in the company of Robert and Lucy Harrington. Lucy Harrington died shortly thereafter, and by 18 June 1556 Joanna had married Robert Harrington.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Laurence Saunders


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Roo Borson

Ruth Elizabeth Borson, who writes under the name Roo Borson (born January 20, 1952, in Berkeley, California) is a Canadian poet who lives in Toronto. After undergraduate studies at UC Santa Barbara and Goddard College, she received an MFA from the University of British Columbia.

She has received many awards for her work, including the Governor General's Literary Award, 2004, and the Griffin Poetry Prize, 2005 for Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida. She currently lives in Toronto with poet Kim Maltman, and with Kim Maltman and Andy Patton is a member of the collaborative performance poetry ensemble Pain Not Bread.

Works

 * Landfall (1977), ISBN 0-920110-32-0
 * Rain (1980), ISBN 0-920806-19-8
 * In the Smoky Light of the Fields (1980), ISBN 0-88823-024-9
 * A Sad Device (1981), ISBN 0-86495-011-X
 * The Whole Night, Coming Home (1984), ISBN 0-7710-1579-8 (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
 * The Transparence of November / Snow (1985), ISBN 0-919627-30-7 (with Kim Maltman)
 * Intent, or, The Weight of the World (1989), ISBN 0-7710-1588-7
 * Night Walk (1994), ISBN 0-19-541082-3 (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
 * Water Memory (1996), ISBN 0-7710-1589-5
 * Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei (2000), ISBN 1-894078-09-8 (by Pain Not Bread)
 * Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida (2004), ISBN 0-7710-1591-7 (winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award, the 2005 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize and the 2005 Pat Lowther Award)
 * Personal History (2008) ISBN 1-897141-21-1
 * Rain; road; an open boat (2012), ISBN 0-7710-1298-5
 * Box Kite: Prose Poems by Baziju (2016), ISBN 9781770899629 (with Kim Maltman)
 * Cardinal in the Eastern White Cedar (2017), ISBN 978-0771012242

title: Roo Borson


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Automotive industry in the United Kingdom

The automotive industry in the United Kingdom is now best known for premium and sports car marques including: Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Range Rover, Mini and Lotus. Specialised sports car companies include: Ariel, BAC, Morgan, Caterham, AC Cars, Gordan Murray, TVR, Noble, Radical, Ginetta, Ultima Sports, Westfield, Lister, Arash and David Brown. Volume car manufacturers with a major presence in the UK include: Nissan, Toyota, Mini and Vauxhall. Commercial vehicle manufacturers active in the UK include Alexander Dennis, Dennis Eagle, IBC Vehicles, Leyland Trucks, TEVVA and the London Electric Vehicle Company.

In 2018 the UK automotive manufacturing sector had a turnover of £82 billion, generated £18.6 billion in value to the UK economy and produced around 1.5 million passenger vehicles and 85,000 commercial vehicles. In that year around 168,000 people were directly employed in automotive manufacturing in the UK, with a further 823,000 people employed in automotive supply, retail and servicing.

The UK is a major centre for engine manufacturing, and in 2018 around 2.71 million engines were produced in the country. The UK has a significant presence in auto racing and the UK motorsport industry currently employs around 38,500 people, comprises around 4,500 companies and has an annual turnover of around £6 billion.

The origins of the UK automotive industry date back to the final years of the 19th century. By the 1950s, the UK was the second-largest manufacturer of cars in the world (after the United States), and the largest exporter. However, in subsequent decades the industry experienced considerably lower growth than competitor nations such as France, Germany and Japan, and by 2008 the UK was the 12th-largest producer of cars measured by volume. Since the early 1990s, many British car marques have been invested in by international companies including BMW (Mini and Rolls-Royce), Tata (Jaguar and Land Rover) and Volkswagen Group (Bentley).

Famous and iconic British cars include the Aston Martin DB5, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Bentley 4½ Litre, Jaguar E-Type, Land Rover Defender, Lotus Esprit, McLaren F1, MGB, original two-door Mini, Range Rover, Rolls-Royce Phantom III and Rover P5. Notable British car designers include David Bache, Dick Burzi, Laurence Pomeroy, John Polwhele Blatchley, Ian Callum, Colin Chapman, Alec Issigonis, Charles Spencer King and Gordon Murray.

1880 to 1900
The inception of the British motor industry can be traced back to the mid-1880s when there were several key developments. One development was when Frederick Simms, a London-based consulting engineer, became friends with Gottlieb Daimler, who had, in 1885, patented a successful design for a high-speed petrol engine. Simms acquired the British rights to Daimler's engine and associated patents and from 1891 successfully sold launches using these Cannstatt-made motors from Eel Pie Island in the Thames. In 1893 he formed The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited for his various Daimler-related enterprises.

In June 1895, Simms and his friend Evelyn Ellis promoted motor cars in the United Kingdom by bringing a Daimler-engined Panhard & Levassor to England and in July it completed, without police intervention, the first British long-distance motorcar journey from Southampton to Malvern.

Simms' documented plans to manufacture Daimler motors and Daimler Motor Carriages (in Cheltenham) were taken over, together with his company and its Daimler licences, by London company-promoter H J Lawson. Lawson contracted to buy The Daimler Motor Syndicate Limited and all its rights and on 14 January 1896 formed and in February successfully floated in London The Daimler Motor Company Limited. It then purchased from a friend of Lawson a disused cotton mill in Coventry for car engine and chassis manufacture where, it is claimed, the UK's first serial production car was made.

George Lanchester produced one of the first British cars between 1895 and 1896 having a single-cylinder 1306cc engine, he went on to sell the first car with disc brakes. In 1891 Richard Stephens, a mining engineer from South Wales, returned from a commission in Michigan to establish a bicycle works in Clevedon, Somerset. Whilst in the United States, he had seen the developments in motive power and by 1897 he had produced his first car. This was entirely of his own design and manufacture, including the two-cylinder engine, apart from the wheels which he bought from Starley in Coventry. This was probably the first all-British car and Stephens set up a production line, manufacturing in all, twelve vehicles, including four- and six-seater cars and hackneys, and nine-seater buses.

Early motor vehicle development in the UK had been effectively stopped by a series of Locomotive Acts introduced during the 19th century which severely restricted the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on the public highways. Following intense advocacy by motor vehicle enthusiasts, including Harry J. Lawson of Daimler, the worst restrictions of these acts, (the need for each vehicle to be accompanied by a crew of three, and a 2 mi/h speed limit in towns), was lifted by the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896. Under this regulation, light locomotives (those vehicles under 3 tons unladen weight) were exempt from the previous restrictions, and a higher speed limit – 14 mi/h was set for them. To celebrate the new freedoms Lawson organised the Emancipation Run held on 14 November 1896, the day the new Act came into force. This occasion has been commemorated since 1927 by the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

1900 to 1939
The early British vehicles of the late-nineteenth century relied mainly upon developments from Germany and France. By 1900 however, the first all-British 4-wheel car had been designed and built by Herbert Austin as manager of The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. In 1901, backed by (Vickers Limited) brothers 'Colonel Tom' and Albert Vickers [la], Austin started what became Wolseley Motors in Birmingham and was the UK's largest car manufacturer until Ford overtook them in 1913.

The great bulk of the pioneering car producers, many of them from the bicycle industry, got off to a shaky start. Of the 200 British makes of car that had been launched up until 1913, only about 100 of the firms were still in existence. In 1910, UK vehicle production was 14,000 units. By 1913, Henry Ford had built a new factory in Manchester and was the leading UK carmaker, building 7,310 cars that year, followed by Wolseley at 3,000, Humber (making cars since 1898 in Coventry) at 2,500, Rover (Coventry car maker since 1904) at 1,800 and Sunbeam (producing cars since 1901) at 1,700, with the plethora of smaller producers bringing the 1913 total up to about 16,000 vehicles. Car production virtually came to an end during the war years 1914–1918, although the requirements of war production led to the development of new mass-production techniques in the motor industry.

By 1922, there were 183 motor companies in the UK, and by 1929, following the slump years, there were 58 companies remaining. In 1929, production was dominated by Morris (founded by William Morris in 1910 in Oxford) and Austin (founded by Herbert Austin in Birmingham in 1905 after he left Wolseley) which between them produced around 60% of total UK output. Singer (Coventry motorcycle manufacturer started building cars in 1905) followed in third place that year with 15% of production.

In 1932, the UK overtook France to become Europe's largest car producer (a position which it retained until 1955). In 1937, the UK produced 379,310 passenger cars and 113,946 commercial vehicles. To celebrate the granting of his peerage, William Morris upon becoming Viscount Nuffield, reorganised his motor vehicle companies in 1938, which by then included not only Morris Motors and MG, but also Wolseley and Riley (bicycle company founded in Coventry in 1890 and making cars since 1913), into the Nuffield Organization. In 1939, the top producers were Morris: 27%, Austin: 24%, Ford: 15%, Standard (founded in Coventry in 1903): 13%, Rootes (which had acquired Humber and Sunbeam): 11%, Vauxhall (building cars since 1903, acquired by GM in 1925): 10%.

1939 to 1955
During the Second World War, car production in the UK gave way to commercial and military vehicle production, and many motor vehicle plants were converted to aircraft and aero engine production. Following the war, the UK Government had nationalised the steel industry; where priority was given to supplying foreign-revenue-raising export businesses. In 1947, steel was available only to businesses which exported at least 75% of their production. This, coupled with the inevitably limited competition from continental Europe, and with demand for new vehicles in America and in Australia being greater than the American industry alone could supply, resulted in British vehicle exports reaching record levels and the UK became the world's largest motor vehicle exporter. In 1937, the UK provided 15% of world vehicle exports. By 1950, a year in which 75% of British car production and 60% of its commercial vehicle production was exported, the UK provided 52% of the world's exported vehicles.

This situation remained until the mid-1950s, by which time the American industry production had caught up with American demand, and European production was recovering. By 1952, the American-owned producers in the UK (Ford and GM's Vauxhall) had between them a 29% share of the British market, which exceeded the share of either of the UK's two top domestically owned manufacturers. It was in that context that Viscount Nuffield agreed to the merger of his company, the Nuffield Organization, with Austin, to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Thus BMC, comprising Austin, Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley was formed in 1952 and commanded a 40% share of the British market. German production was increasing yearly, and by 1953 it had exceeded that of France, and by 1956 it had overtaken that of the UK.

1955 to 1968
By 1955 five companies produced 90% of the UK's motor vehicle output: BMC, Ford, Rootes, Standard-Triumph and Vauxhall. Of the dozen or so smaller producers Rover and Jaguar were strong niche producers. By 1960 the UK had dropped from being the world's second largest motor vehicle producer into third place. Labour-intensive methods, and wide model ranges hindered opportunities to reduce manufacturing costs – the UK's unit costs were higher than those of their major Japanese, European and American competitors. Although rationalisation of motor vehicle companies had started, full integration did not occur. BMC continued to produce vehicles under the marque names of its incorporated companies, many of which competed with each other. Standard-Triumph's attempts to reduce costs by embracing a modern volume production strategy almost led to their bankruptcy in 1960, the result was that they were purchased by the commercial vehicle manufacturing company Leyland Motors. In 1966, BMC and Jaguar came together, to form British Motor Holdings (BMH). Leyland had achieved some sales success with Leyland-Triumph and in 1967 it acquired Rover. By 1966 the UK had slipped to become the world's fourth largest motor vehicle producer. Following a gradual process which had begun in 1964, Chrysler UK (CUK) had fully acquired Rootes by 1967. In the context of BMC's wide, complex, and expensive-to-produce model range, Ford's conventionally designed Cortina challenging for the number one spot in the domestic market, and the heavy reliance of the British economy on motor vehicle production, in 1968 the Government brokered the merger of the successful Leyland-Triumph-Rover and the struggling BMH, to form Europe's fourth-largest car maker, the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). The new company announced its intention to invest in a new volume car range, and to equip its factories with the latest capital-intensive production methods.

BMC's Mini, designed by Alec Issigonis, had revolutionized the small car market in 1959, and the car remained among the UK's best selling cars for more than 20 years after its launch, the last version finally rolling off the production line on 4 October 2000 after a run of 41 years. The Rootes Group launched the similar-sized Hillman Imp four years later, but by the end of the 1960s Ford and Vauxhall had yet to launch a comparable product, and even with foreign imports slowly starting to gain ground on the British market, Italy's Fiat 500 was one of the few comparable alternatives to the virtual monopoly of the Mini and Hillman Imp in this sector of the market.

Also designed by Alec Issigonis was the Morris Minor, which was heavily updated in 1956 having originally gone into production in 1948. It earned a reputation for low running costs, good reliability and competitive pricing, and continued to sell well throughout the 1960s in spite of the popularity of BMC's 1100/1300 range which was launched in 1962, The Morris Minor was also the first British car to reach one million in production in 1961 with this record number reached a special model of the Morris Minor was created and sent to all of the main dealerships under the name "Morris Million".

Ford's competitor in this sector was the Anglia, which featured unconventional styling but was still one of the country's most successful cars from its launch in 1959 up to the end of production in 1967, after which it was replaced by the Escort. Other British competitors in this sector were the Vauxhall Viva and Hillman Minx.

Larger family cars enjoyed strong sales in the 1960s, namely the Ford Cortina (launched in 1962), Austin/Morris 1800 (1964) and Vauxhall Victor (1957). Later in the 1960s, the Rootes Group launched a new competitor in this growing sector of the market - the Hillman Hunter.

The Rover P6, launched in 1963 and the first winner of the European Car of the Year award, was arguably the most popular luxury model in the UK during the 1960s.

The iconic Jaguar E-Type sports car, designed by Malcolm Sayer, with a top speed of 145 mph and the choice of a coupe or roadster bodystyle, was launched in 1961 and would remain in production until 1975. Cheaper sports cars also enjoyed strong sales during the 1960s, including the MG B and Triumph Spitfire which were launched in the early part of the decade, and the Ford Capri which was launched just before the decade's end.

The 1960s saw a slow but sure increase in the popularity of foreign cars on the British market. Volkswagen of West Germany had imported the iconic Beetle to Britain since 1953; this car was first launched in 1937 as a "people's car" for the German market under the Nazi regime. Its arrival on the UK market less than a decade after the end of World War II was met with hostility, with many examples being vandalised soon after being distributed, but it quickly became popular, with nearly 10,000 being sold in 1959. Volkswagen also began importing examples of its people carrier and van models, and by 1963 had sold 100,000 cars in Britain. Renault of France had actually built UK market versions of its cars at a site in Acton, West London, from 1902 until 1962, but its popularity actually increased after the end of UK production, helped by the arrival of the Renault 4 minicar in 1961 and the world's first production hatchback model, the Renault 16, in 1965. By the end of the decade, it had launched a smaller hatchback model, the Renault 6, and a mid-range saloon, the Renault 12, and was continuing to grow in popularity. Renault's French rival Peugeot also enjoyed success in the 1960s with its 404 saloon and even more so with its successor, the 504, which was launched in 1968. This set the scene for even more sales for foreign carmakers on the UK market during the next two decades, as their market share continued to grow.

Japanese cars also started to appear on the UK market during the 1960s, although they were a rare on British roads until exploding in popularity during the early 1970s. The Daihatsu Compagno was the first Japanese car to be sold in Britain when imports began during 1964. This car was not popular with British buyers and was withdrawn from sale within a few years, although Daihatsu would return to the UK market in the early 1980s. A year later, Toyota became the second Japanese carmaker to import cars to Britain. It was followed shortly afterwards by Nissan (which used the Datsun brand for the UK market) and Mazda. Honda was also enjoying great success on the motorcycle market by this stage, although it didn't start importing passenger cars to the UK until 1972.

1968 to 1987
By 1968, UK motor vehicle production was dominated by four companies: BLMC, Chrysler (UK), Ford, and Vauxhall (GM). The Rootes Group had taken on the name Chrysler UK after its takeover by the American car giant Chrysler, which had also taken over French carmaker Simca.

The national champion, BLMC (British Leyland from 1968), was handicapped in its attempts to modernise by internal rivalries. Unattractive new products (particularly the Austin Allegro and Morris Marina) which were widely criticised by the motoring press, retention of legacy marques and models, labour disputes, quality issues, supplier problems and inefficient use of new equipment thwarted the dream of efficient high volume production. Increased overseas competition and high unit costs led to lowered profits, which in turn jeopardised investment plans. Although the cars continued to sell well in Britain, they were less popular on overseas markets. As well as that, the company often produced several cars to compete in the same market sector. For instance, it produced four competitors for the Ford Cortina at the same time - the Morris Marina, Austin Maxi, Triumph Dolomite and the Princess.

Japanese cars, particularly the Datsun badged cars built by Nissan enjoyed a strong surge in popularity during the first half of the 1970s, while French carmaker Renault and West German carmaker Volkswagen also enjoyed an upturn on the British market, helped by the arrival of well-received new cars, particularly the Renault 5 in 1972 and the Volkswagen Golf in 1974.

The fortunes of foreign carmakers on the British market were also assisted by the fact that most British manufacturers adopted the hatchback bodystyle, mostly featuring front-wheel drive, considerably later than their continental rivals. For instance, the arrival of the front-wheel drive Volkswagen Golf hatchback in 1974 came four years before any of the four British-based carmakers had launched an equivalent car. By the time the first small British-built hatchback, the Vauxhall Chevette, was launched in 1975, the French Renault 5 had already been in production for three years. However, British Leyland's larger Austin Maxi had been sold with a hatchback and front-wheel drive since its 1969 launch, although it sold similar-sized cars like the Morris Marina and Triumph Dolomite alongside it as a rear-wheel drive saloon alternative, with the Dolomite being sold further upmarket than the Marina. For buyers wanting six-cylinder and larger four-cylinder engines, the Princess was launched in 1975. Chrysler launched the Alpine for this market sector in 1975, featuring front wheel drive and a hatchback, but kept the Hunter in production alongside it until 1979 for buyers who still preferred rear-wheel drive and a saloon or estate bodystyle.

At the luxury end of the market, British Leyland was actually one of the first manufacturers in the world to put a hatchback on an upmarket car when it launched the Rover SD1 in 1976. This car signalled the beginning of rationalisation at British Leyland, with the SD1 replacing two model ranges - the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000/2500.

The popularity of Nissan's range of Datsun-badged cars in the 1970s was largely down to their low prices, cheap running costs, good equipment levels and a reputation for better reliability than most British cars, although these cars also went on to gain a reputation for being prone to rust.

BLMC's share of the UK market dropped from 40% to 32% between 1971 and 1973, with its new Morris Marina and Austin Allegro family cars selling well on the British market but not proving popular on many export markets, with the motoring media being critical of the styling of these new models as well as questions regarding the level of quality.

By 1974, the UK's position as a world motor vehicle manufacturer had dropped to sixth place. In 1974, both BLMC and Chrysler UK appealed to the UK Government for financial help. The Government rejected the idea of a merger between the two companies, and instead Chrysler UK received a loan and BLMC was subjected to a series of studies to determine its future. The Government's official BLMC enquiry, led by Lord Ryder, suggested that BLMC's strategy was sound, but required huge state investment to improve productivity by providing mechanisation and improving labour relations.

Despite the effective nationalisation of BLMC as British Leyland (BL) in 1975, the recovery never happened. Chrysler sold its European interests (including those in the UK) to Peugeot in 1978, to allow it to concentrate on its own difficulties in the United States. The UK interests were renamed Peugeot-Talbot, with production of the Chrysler-developed cars continuing, with the last Rootes-developed car, the Avenger, being discontinued in 1981. Peugeot also developed a saloon version of the Alpine called the Solara, and also launched the larger Tagora, which had been in development by Chrysler when it sold its European operations. It also replaced the entry-level Sunbeam with the Peugeot based Samba in 1981.

As in most other developed countries, the 1970s saw major changes to the cars produced in the UK. Front-wheel drive, which had been pioneered by BMC on several new models between 1959 and 1965, now became a common feature on family cars after decades of producing only rear-wheel drive models. The hatchback bodystyle, which had debuted in Europe on the French Renault 16 in 1965, became more popular, with many of Britain's best-selling cars being available with a hatchback by the early-1980s.

Many Ford and Vauxhall models were also being produced at their parent company's continental factories by 1980. Ford had switched Capri and Granada production to Germany by this stage, while production of its new Fiesta supermini was divided between Britain, West Germany and a new plant in Spain from its 1976 launch. General Motors had not only decided to make its Vauxhall and Opel badged cars mechanically identical during the 1970s, but it had also imported some of its Vauxhall-badged cars from Opel factories in West Germany and Belgium, and its Corsa supermini (Vauxhall Nova in the UK) was solely assembled at a factory in Zaragoza, Spain, which opened in 1982. British Leyland's overseas outposts in countries like Italy (where cars were produced under the Innocenti brand) were gradually closed down or sold to other carmakers, so by the 1980s; it was entirely a British-based operation.

By the end of the 1970s, Ford, Peugeot-Talbot and Vauxhall (GM) were well-integrated with their parent companies' other European operations. BL stood alone in the UK as an increasingly junior player. As part of the drive for increased productivity in the late-1970s, BL reduced its workforce and number of plants, and strived to centralise its management activities. The city of Coventry suffered particularly badly, with many thousands becoming unemployed after the closure of the Triumph car factory in the city in 1980.

In 1979, BL struck a collaboration deal with Honda to share the development and production of a new mid-sized car (Triumph Acclaim/Honda Ballade), which was launched in 1981. The new car combined Honda engine and transmission designs with a BL body, as did its successor model - the Rover 200 Series - in 1984. The next plan was to work on a new luxury car together, the end product being the Rover 800 Series, which arrived in 1986.

Although UK politics changed in 1979 with the election of the Conservative Party, the UK Government continued to support BL with funds for the development of a new mass-market model range (Mini Metro, Maestro, Montego and another Honda collaboration the Rover 800), which were all launched between 1980 and 1986. The Metro was the most successful of these cars.

Car assembly, with the exception of Jaguar, was concentrated into two central plants – Longbridge and Cowley. In July 1986, BL was renamed the Rover Group.

By the mid-1980s, front-wheel drive was now the standard on mass market cars, with most new models having a hatchback bodystyle as at least an option. Although Ford had adopted front-wheel drive for its new Spanish built Fiesta supermini in 1976 and the third generation Escort in 1980, it had curiously retained rear-wheel drive for its larger Sierra (the Cortina replacement) in 1982, although the Sierra did feature a hatchback bodystyle and was not available as a saloon until 1987. In 1983, it recognised the continuing demand for smaller and medium-sized family saloons by introducing the Orion, which was based on the Escort floorpan.

The supermini sector had expanded rapidly since the early-1970s. BMC's Mini had remained popular beyond its twentieth anniversary, but successor organisation British Leyland had started work on a more modern and practical alternative by the mid-1970s, the final result being the Austin Metro in 1980 - the new car featured more modern styling and a hatchback bodystyle. Chrysler Europe had axed the long-running Hillman Imp (launched by the Rootes Group in 1963) in 1976 and replaced it with the Chrysler Sunbeam hatchback a year later. General Motors had already adopted this bodystyle with the Vauxhall Chevette (which was also available as a saloon or estate) and Ford with the Fiesta. Comparable foreign products like the Fiat 127, Renault 5 and Volkswagen Polo were also proving popular in the UK.

Ford had now divided its European operations between its British factories and other European plants in Spain, Belgium and West Germany. General Motors had started importing some of its West German and Belgian built Opel products to the UK to be badged as Vauxhalls, and by 1983 its Nova supermini (badged as the Opel Corsa on the continent) was built solely in its Spanish factory. Peugeot was dividing production of most of the Talbot badged vehicles between the Ryton plant near Coventry (the Linwood plant in Scotland closed in 1981) and its French factories by the early-1980s, and started producing its own models at Coventry in 1985 after deciding to axe the Talbot marque due to falling sales.

Foreign carmakers continued to gain ground on the British market during the 1980s, with the likes of Renault, Peugeot, Citroen (France), Volvo (Sweden), Volkswagen (West Germany) and Fiat (Italy) proving particularly popular.

The Russian-built Lada, first sold in the UK in 1974, also sold well, despite its outdated Fiat-sourced design; with buyers mostly being attracted by its low price. By the late-1980s, with the four-wheel drive Niva and a front-wheel drive hatchback, the Samara, complementing the long-running Riva, Lada sales in Britain had amounted to more than 30,000 a year (some 1.5% of the new car market), but tailed off after 1990 as a result of growing competition and a lack of new model launches. Imports to Britain finally ceased in 1997 due to Lada's difficulties in meeting emissions requirements. Skoda also enjoyed similarly decent sales of its well-priced rear-engined saloon cars during the 1970s and 1980s, going from strength to strength in the 1990s following its takeover by Volkswagen and the launch of new model ranges with modern technology and styling. Zastava's Yugo-badged cars, based on Fiat designs from the 1970s, also sold reasonably well in Britain during the 1980s, but the carmaker was forced to halt imports in 1992 due to sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia as a result of the civil war there. Polish carmaker FSO imported its version of the Fiat 125 to Britain from 1975, later launching a hatchback model (the Polonez) alongside it. However, by 1998, Skoda was the only Eastern European carmaker still exporting cars to Britain, now competing with budget-priced Asian cars from the likes of Daewoo, Kia, Hyundai and Proton.

Nissan had axed the Datsun brand by 1984 and used its own name on all cars, and in 1986 opened a factory in Britain near Sunderland, which produced the mid-range Bluebird hatchbacks and saloons, although it was the Japanese-built Micra which was the company's best-selling car in Britain during the 1980s.

The decade also saw the arrival of purpose-built people carriers on the British market, starting with the Japanese Mitsubishi Space Wagon in 1984, and then the market-leading Renault Espace in 1985, but by the end of the decade this type of vehicle still had only a very small share of the British market and there were still no British-built people carriers available, although a few seven-seater estate models including Austin Rover's Montego were being produced.

The decade also saw a fall in demand for sports cars, perhaps due to the rising popularity of "hot hatchbacks" (high performance versions of hatchback cars), and so a number of manufacturers pulled out of the sports car market. British Leyland finished production of its MG and Triumph sports cars early in the decade, with no replacement. General Motors had launched coupe versions of its Cavalier mid-range model in the 1970s, but did not produce any equivalent models of the MK2 Cavalier which arrived in 1981. It did, however, continue to offer the German-built Opel Manta to British buyers until the end of production in 1988, replacing it with the Calibra (also built in Germany) a year later. Ford had enjoyed success in the 1970s with its Capri coupe, but this declined in popularity after 1980 and when production ended in 1986, there was no direct replacement.

As well as the rebranding of the former Rootes Group and its eventual integration into Peugeot, the 1980s also saw the disappearance of several long-established car brands. Production of MG sports cars finished when the Abingdon factory closed in 1980, although the brand was quickly revived on higher performance versions of the Metro, Maestro and Montego. 1980 also saw the closure of the Triumph factory at Canley, Coventry, although the marque survived until 1984 - the same year that the Morris marque was discontinued after more than seventy years. The Morris Ital's successor, the Montego, was sold under the Austin and MG brands, while the Triumph Acclaim's successor was sold as the Rover 200 Series. By 1988, however, the Austin marque had also been phased out, with the former Austin-badged products now being incorporated into the Rover brand.

General Motors enjoyed an upturn in Britain during the 1980s, as its Vauxhall-badged cars increased their market share and the company's image also improved. At the beginning of 1980, it replaced the Viva with a new front-wheel drive range of hatchback and estates - the Astra, which was built in Britain and also in Opel factories on the continent. The MK2 Cavalier was launched in 1981, and became the company's best selling car of the decade. Its replacement for the Chevette was the Nova, a rebadged version of the Spanish built Opel Corsa, which was launched in 1983. The MK2 Astra was voted European Car of the Year shortly after its launch in 1984, as was the flagship MK2 Carlton (Opel Omega on the continent) two years later.

1987 to 2001
In July 1986, Nissan became the first Japanese carmaker to set up a production facility in Europe, when it opened a new plant in Sunderland. The plant initially produced the Bluebird and from 1990 its successor, the Primera, with the MK2 Micra joining it in 1992. Toyota opened a new plant in Burnaston near Derby at the beginning of 1992.

Peugeot started production of the Peugeot 309 hatchback at Ryton (originally a Rootes Group factory) in October 1985, followed by the Peugeot 405 two years later. During the 1990s, production of the 306 and 206 also began at Ryton.

Honda's venture with Austin Rover/Rover Group saw a number of different designs shared between the two marques. The venture came to an end in February 1994 when British Aerospace sold Rover Group to the German carmaker BMW for £800 million. The takeover meant that, for the first time in 112 years, the United Kingdom no longer had a British-owned volume car maker. BMW's ownership of the Rover Group saw the development of several newer, more upmarket models, giving the British brand an image to match that of its parent company. BMW also revived the MG marque in 1995 on a new affordable sports car, the MGF, as well as strengthening Land Rover's position in the off-roader market. In March 2000 BMW controversially announced the break-up of the Rover Group. It retained the rights to the Mini marque, while selling Land Rover to Ford. The MG and Rover marques were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, who branded the remains of the group as MG Rover and concentrated all production at the Longbridge plant. After the split from Rover, Honda continued making the Civic range in the UK at a new plant in Swindon.

Ford acquired Aston Martin for an undisclosed sum in September 1987 and Jaguar for US$2.38 billion in November 1989. Production of the new small Jaguar, the X type, started at Halewood in late 2000. By the end of the century, Ford had also acquired Land Rover.

In 1998 Vickers plc put Rolls-Royce Motors, including Bentley, up for auction. Volkswagen Group won the auction with a bid of US$780 million, but Rolls-Royce plc, which had the right to block a transfer of the Rolls-Royce name to non-British owners, agreed to sell the rights to BMW for US$65 million. It was subsequently agreed that control of the Rolls-Royce marque would pass from Volkswagen to BMW in 2003.

In 1995, Ford finally entered the decade-old people carrier market with its Galaxy, which was built in Portugal alongside the identical Volkswagen Sharan and Seat Alhambra as part of a venture between Ford and Volkswagen. Vauxhall entered this sector of the market a year later with the American-built Sintra, but this was not popular with British buyers and was discontinued after just three years when the smaller, German-built Zafira was launched, and proved far more popular than Vauxhall's original entry into the MPV market.

The affordable sports car market enjoyed a revival in the 1990s after going into virtual hibernation in the 1980s. Sparked by the popularity of the Japanese-built Mazda MX-5 after its launch in 1989, Rover began development on a new sports car in the early 1990s, finally launching the MG F two-seater roadster in 1995, 15 years after the demise of the last volume MG sports cars. The 1996 Lotus Elise also enjoyed relatively strong sales in this market sector, as did the Vauxhall VX220 (based on the Elise) which was launched in 2000. Ford, which had exited the sports car market by 1987 with the demise of the Capri to concentrate on faster versions of its best-selling hatchbacks and saloons, returned to this market sector in 1994 with the American-built Probe, and then enjoyed more success with its smaller Puma between 1997 and 2002.

2001 to 2011
In May 2000 Ford announced that passenger car assembly as its Ford Dagenham plant would cease in 2002, ending 90 years of Ford passenger car assembly in the UK. At the same time Ford announced that it would invest US$500 million in the expansion of a diesel engine factory at the site, making Dagenham its largest diesel engine center worldwide and creating about 500 new jobs to offset the 1,900 lost in vehicle assembly for a total loss of 1,400. In December 2004 Ford announced a further investment of £169 million in the Dagenham plant, increasing annual output to one million diesel engines.

The closure of Vauxhall's Luton car assembly plant in March 2003 left Ellesmere Port as the sole Vauxhall assembly plant remaining in the UK. General Motors also retained the former Bedford works in Luton for producing vans such as the Vivaro and the Movano as well as Renault and Nissan badged variants. In April 2007, it was confirmed that the Ellesmere Port would produce the next generation Astra from 2010.

Losses at Jaguar led to closure of the company's Browns Lane plant in Coventry in 2004. Spare capacity at Halewood allowed Land Rover Freelander production to be transferred there in 2006.

MG Rover spent the early part of the 2000s investigating possible ventures with other carmakers in order to develop a new range of cars. Proposed links with foreign organisations including Malaysian carmaker Proton failed to materialise, and by late 2004 Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor had shown an interest in taking over the Longbridge-based firm – which was now hundreds of millions of pounds in debt. Talks broke down and the firm went into receivership in April 2005 with the loss of more than 6,000 jobs. Three months later, the firm's assets were purchased by another Chinese carmaker – Nanjing Automobile – and Longbridge partially re-opened over the summer of 2007 with an initial workforce of around 250 preparing to restart production of the MG TF which was relaunched in August 2008.

In April 2006 Peugeot closed its Ryton plant and moved 206 production to Slovakia. In 2007, Ford sold Aston Martin to a British-led Consortium backed by Middle East investors, retaining a small stake in the company and agreeing to continue the supply of components including engines. In 2008 Ford sold Jaguar Land Rover to Tata Motors of India for £1.15 billion. In November 2009, Dutch sportscar maker Spyker Cars announced that it would be moving production from Zeewolde to Whitley, Coventry, and UK production began in February 2010.

In March 2010 McLaren Automotive unveiled its MP4-12C model, alongside plans to produce around 4,000 cars per year at its Woking factory by the middle of the decade. At the Paris Motor Show in September 2010 Lotus Cars unveiled five new models due to go on sale by 2016, alongside plans for an investment of £770 million over 10 years, the complete redevelopment of its Hethel factory and an increase in production from under 3,000 cars per year to 6,000 to 7,000. In December 2010 it was announced that Renault had sold its remaining 25% shareholding in its eponymous Formula 1 team to Lotus Cars, and that the team would be renamed Lotus Renault in 2011.

2011–2019
In January 2011 BMW announced that it would be extending the Mini range with the launch of two new two-door sports crossover vehicles based on the Mini Paceman concept car, with a coupe version to enter production in 2011 and a roadster in 2012. In March 2011 Jaguar Land Rover announced that it would be hiring an additional 1,500 staff at its Halewood plant, and signed over £2 billion of supply contracts with UK-based companies, to enable production of its new Range Rover Evoque model. In April 2011 the MG Motor subsidiary of SAIC Motor announced that mass production had resumed at the Longbridge plant, as the first MG 6 to be produced in the United Kingdom came off the production line. In May 2011 Jaguar unveiled plans to build the C-X75 petrol-electric hybrid supercar in the UK from 2013, with production to be in association with Williams Grand Prix Engineering; Jaguar announced the cancellation of the project in December 2012 due to the ongoing global economic crisis.

In May 2011, Aston Martin Lagonda confirmed that it was planning to revive the Lagonda marque, with the launch of two or three new models. In an interview with Reuters in the same month, Carl-Peter Forster, the Chief Executive of Tata Motors, revealed that Jaguar Land Rover would be investing over £5 billion in product development over the succeeding five years.

In June, Nissan announced that the replacement for its Qashqai model would be designed and built in the UK, in a total investment of £192 million safeguarding around 6,000 jobs. In June BMW announced an investment of £500 million in the UK over the subsequent three years as part of an expansion of the Mini range to seven models. In September 2011, Jaguar Land Rover confirmed that it would be investing £355 million in the construction of a new engine plant near Wolverhampton, to manufacture a new family of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. Later in the same month it was announced that the Jensen marque would be revived, with a new version of the Interceptor to be built by CPP Holdings at the former Jaguar factory Browns Lane in Coventry. In November, Toyota announced plans to make the UK its sole European manufacturing base for hatchback versions of its next C-segment family car, resulting in the investment of over £100 million in its Burnaston plant and the creation of around 1,500 new jobs.

In September 2013 it was announced that a new National Automotive Innovation Campus would be built at the University of Warwick's main campus at a cost of £100 million, with £45 million to be contributed by Jaguar Land Rover.

In the half-year from January to June 2014, the UK had its best year in new car sales in 9 years. 1.28 million new cars were sold during the period, a rise of 10% compared to the same period in 2013. In 2014, more than 1.5 million cars were produced, the highest since 2007.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures show a total of 2.31 million new cars were registered in 2019, down 2.4% from the year before. It was the third consecutive year of decline, and the SMMT expects that trend to continue in 2020.

In the year 2019, the best selling vehicle in the UK was Ford Fiesta, followed by Volkswagen Golf, Ford Transit, Ford Focus, and Vauxhall Corsa.

from 2020
In 2019, Honda announced that its Swindon plant will close by 2021.

In June 2019, Ford announced that it would close its Ford Bridgend Engine Plant by September 2020 due to a lack of demand for the "Dragon" engine produced there. The plant was closed on 25th September 2020.

In March 2021, Aston Martin announced that their electric sports models would be manufactured at their car plant in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Assembly plants
There are numerous small companies manufacturing a small number of cars such as David Brown Automotive, Lister Cars, Lightning Car Company and Atalanta Motors.

Production data
(* estimated figure)

Production forecast
The Financial Times has forecast that annual UK vehicle production will exceed its historic peak level (achieved in 1972) by 2017. Their forecasted production levels for 2014 to 2017 are: 2014: 1,724,000 units; 2015: 1,864,000 units; 2016: 1,993,000 units and 2017: 2,062,000 units.

Car design
The UK has a strong design and technical base, with several foreign companies basing some of their research and development resource in the UK, including:

 * Ford Dunton Technical Centre, Essex
 * Jaguar Land Rover Technical Centre, Gaydon
 * Jaguar Land Rover HQ and Design Centre, Whitley
 * General Motors Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire
 * Nissan Design Europe, London
 * Nissan Technical Centre Europe, Cranfield
 * SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre, Birmingham

Independent designers and design companies include:
 * Gordon Murray Design
 * International Automotive Design
 * Ogle Design
 * Peter Stevens Designs
 * Shado (Stephen Harper)

Motorsport

It has been estimated that there are about 4,000 companies in the UK involved in the manufacturing industry related to motorsport.

Formula One motor racing has made its home in the UK, with seven of the ten teams competing in the 2021 season based in or having their European headquarters in England:
 * Haas F1 Team, Banbury
 * McLaren – Woking
 * Mercedes AMG Formula One Team – Brackley
 * Aston Martin – Silverstone
 * Red Bull Racing – Milton Keynes
 * Alpine F1 Team – Enstone
 * Williams Grand Prix Engineering – Grove

Formula One engine suppliers:
 * Cosworth – Northampton
 * Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains – Brixworth
 * Honda – Milton Keynes

Other major motorsports teams and organisations:
 * Lister Cars - Cambridge
 * Carlin Motorsport - Farnham
 * Ford World Rally Team – Cumbria
 * Ilmor Engineering - Brixworth
 * M-Sport – Cockermouth
 * Prodrive – Banbury (Runs Aston Martin Racing, formerly Subaru's WRC Team and Ford Performance Vehicles)
 * RML Group - Wellingborough
 * Strakka Racing - Northamptonshire
 * Sumo Power - Rye
 * Team Dynamics - Pershore
 * Triple Eight Racing - Buntingford

Inactive marques
Currently inactive British automotive marques include: Allard, Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, Austin, Autovia, Daimler, DeLorean, Gilbern, Gordon-Keeble, Healey, Hillman, Humber, Jensen, Jowett, Lanchester, Lea-Francis, Morris, Napier, Reliant, Riley, Rover, Singer, Standard, Sterling, Sunbeam, Sunbeam-Talbot, Talbot, Triumph, TVR, Vanden Plas, Wolseley Motors.

Dealership groups
There has been significant consolidation of car dealerships in the UK, leading to several large and notable dealership groups. As of June 2021, Sytner Group is the largest with a turnover of GB£4.92 billion. • Arnold Clark Automobiles

• Carcraft

• Ford Retail Group

• Group 1 Automotive (US owned group)

• Inchcape plc

• Jardine Motors Group (part of Hong Kong based Jardine Matheson)

• JCT600

• Listers Group

• Lookers

• H.R. Owen

• Pendragon plc

• Perrys Motor Sales

• https://sell2swansway.com/ Sell 2 Swansway

• Robins & Day (owned by PSA Peugeot Citroën)

• Stoneacre Motor Group

• Sytner Group (owned by US company Penske Corporation)

• Vertu Motors

• Wessex Garages

• Chapelhouse Motor Group

• Marshall Motor Group

Car market
Despite the loss of mass-market British marques, car models that are built in the UK are generally popular in the UK sales charts, examples being the Nissan Qashqai.

2.45 million cars were sold in the UK, with the Volkswagen Group having a 20.8% share, Ford Motor Company having 13.2% and General Motors having 11.3%. Subcompact and compact cars were the most popular sizes although SUVs were gaining a significant foothold. The Fiat 500 was the best selling A-segment product, Ford Fiesta the best selling in the B-segment, Ford Focus best selling in the C-segment and BMW 3 Series best selling in the D-segment.

In 2019, the best selling car model in the UK was Ford Fiesta followed by Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus.


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Sylvester Graham

Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. His preaching inspired the graham flour, graham bread, and graham cracker products. Graham is often referred to as the "Father of Vegetarianism" in the United States of America.

Early life
Graham was born in 1794 in Suffield, Connecticut, to a family with 17 children. His father was 72 years old when Graham was born and his mother was mentally ill. His father died when Graham was two, and he spent his childhood moving from one relative's home to another. One of his relatives ran a tavern where Graham was put to work. His experience with drunkenness there led him to hate alcohol his whole life and forswear drinking, which made him an exception among his peers at the time.

He was often sick, and missed a great deal of schooling. He worked as a farmhand, cleaner, and teacher before deciding on the ministry as an antidote for his poor health. He entered Amherst Academy in his late 20s to become a minister, as his father and grandfather had been. He withdrew from school a year later, because his histrionic manner was scorned by his fellow students.

The expulsion caused Graham a nervous breakdown. To recover, he moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island. There, he met and married Sara Earl, who had nursed him back to health. He studied theology privately, and in 1828 began working as an itinerant preacher at the Bound Brook Presbyterian Church in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

Career
In 1830, Graham accepted a position at the Philadelphia Temperance Society. He left six months later to focus on preaching health.

Graham's appointment and conversion to vegetarianism came as the 1829–1837 cholera pandemic was breaking in Europe, and Americans were terrified that it would reach the United States. Accepted medical opinion was that the best way to prevent contracting cholera was to eat plenty of meat, drink port wine, and avoid vegetables. People also believed that cholera was a plague, a punishment from God.

The Philadelphia Temperance Society was led not by ministers, as most other temperance societies were, but by doctors who were primarily concerned with the health effects of consuming alcohol. Moving in that company, Graham may have met two of the other fathers of American vegetarianism: William Metcalfe, an English minister who established a vegetarian church in Philadelphia, and William A. Alcott, a Philadelphia doctor who wrote extensively about vegetarianism and wrote the first American vegetarian cookbook. Graham taught himself about physiology and apparently arrived at his own conclusion that meat was just as much an expression of and spur to gluttony as alcohol was, that they corrupted both the body and soul of individuals and harmed families and society.

His belief was influenced by the book Treatise on Physiology by François-Joseph-Victor Broussais, published in Philadelphia in 1826, that claimed what people ate had enormous influence on their health. Graham's interest was also captured by the books written by the German chemist, Friedrich Accum, called Treatise on Adulteration of Foods, and Culinary Poisons, in which he denounced the use of chemical additives in food and especially in bread, and Treatise on the Art of Making Good and Wholesome Bread. Wheat flour at that time was often doctored to hide odors from spoilage, to extend it, and to whiten it, and bread was made from very finely ground flour (which Graham viewed as "tortured") and brewers yeast (used to make beer).

Like other members of the temperance movement, Graham viewed physical pleasure and especially sexual stimulation with suspicion, as things that excited lust leading to behavior that harmed individuals, families, and societies. Graham was strongly influenced by the Bible and Christian theology in his own idiosyncratic way. He believed that people should eat only plants, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and believed that plague and illness were caused by living in ways that ignored natural law. He urged people to remain calm, and not allow worry or lust to shake them from living rightly – perhaps one of the first people to claim that stress causes disease.

From these views, Graham created a theology and diet aimed at keeping individuals, families, and society pure and healthy – drinking pure water and eating a vegetarian diet anchored by bread made at home from flour coarsely ground at home so that it remained wholesome and natural, containing no added spices or other "stimulants" and a rigorous lifestyle that included sleeping on hard beds and avoiding warm baths. The regimen has been described as an early example of preventive medicine. The emphasis on milling and baking at home was part of his vision of America in which women remained at home and nursed their families into health and maintained them there, as his wife had done for him.

Graham believed that adhering to such diet would prevent people from having impure thoughts and in turn would stop masturbation, thought by Graham to be a catalyst for blindness and early death. His piece On Self-Pollution, published in 1834, contributed to the masturbation scare in antebellum America. He believed youthful masturbation was dangerous to children's health because of the immaturity of their reproductive organs.

As a skilled and fiery preacher, his peculiar message, combining patriotism, theology, diet, lifestyle, and messages already prevalent from the temperance movement, captured the attention of the frightened public and outraged bakers and butchers, as well as the medical establishment. When the cholera epidemic reached New York in 1832, people who had followed his advice appeared to thrive, and his fame exploded. He published his first book in 1837, Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making, which included a history of bread and described how to make Graham bread. It was reprinted in 2012 by Andrews McMeel Publishing, as a selection of its American Antiquarian Cookbook Collection. His lectures in New York and Boston that year were thronged; the Boston lecture was disrupted by a threat of riots by butchers and commercial bakers.

Grahamism
As his fame spread, "Grahamism" became a movement, and people inspired by his preaching began to develop and market Graham flour, Graham bread, and graham crackers. He neither invented nor endorsed any specific product, nor did he receive any money from their sale. Graham influenced other Americans including Horace Greeley and John Harvey Kellogg, founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Grahamite boarding-houses were established in the 1830s. The Grahamites applied dietetic and hygienic principles to everyday life including cold baths, hard mattresses, open windows, a vegetarian diet with Graham bread and drinking cold water. Animal flesh was banned from Grahamite homes but eggs were allowed to be eaten at breakfast and were an important component of Grahamite diets.

American Physiological Society
In 1837, Colonel John Benson, Graham and William Alcott founded the American Physiological Society (APS) in Boston to promote Grahamism. Alcott was first President of the Society. After a year, the Society was reported to have had 251 members, including 93 women. It lasted just three years.

Laura J. Miller commented that the Society was "the most visible association promoting natural foods principles until the American Vegetarian Society was founded in 1850". Many of the APS members suffered from chronic disease and became vegetarian. It has been described as "likely the first exclusively vegetarian organization in the United States". It was also the first American natural hygiene organization. A notable member of the APS was Mary Gove Nichols, who gave health lectures to women.

In 1837, Graham and David Cambell founded The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity. It was "designed to illustrate by facts, and sustain by reason and principles the science of human life as taught by Sylvester Graham". It was edited by Campbell, Secretary of the APR (1837–1839) and five volumes were published. In 1840, the journal merged with the Library of Health, edited by Alcott.

American Vegetarian Society
In 1850, Alcott, William Metcalfe, Russell Trall, and Graham founded the American Vegetarian Society in New York City, modeled on a similar organization established in Great Britain in 1847.

Death
Graham died of complications after receiving opium enemas, as directed by his doctor, at the age of 57 at home in Northampton, Massachusetts. His early death was the source of criticism and speculation. Historian Stephen Nissenbaum has written that Graham died "after violating his own strictures by taking liquor and meat in a last desperate attempt to recover his health".

Russell Trall, who had visited Graham, noted that he had strayed from a strict vegetarian diet and was prescribed meat by his doctor to increase his blood circulation. Trall wrote that before his death Graham regretted this decision and "fully and verily believed in the theory of vegetable diet as explained in his works".

After his death, vegetarians distanced themselves from Grahamism. However, his vegetarian message was disseminated far into the 20th century.

Food historians cite Graham as one of the earliest food faddists in America.

Selected works
Of his numerous publications, the best known are:

 * Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making (1837, and reissued in 2012 by Andrews McMeel Publishing)
 * Lectures on the Science of Human Life (Boston, 1839), of which several editions of the two-volume work were printed in the United States and sales in England were widespread
 * Lectures to Young Men on Chastity.
 * A lecture on epidemic diseases generally: and particularly the spasmodic cholera (1833)
 * A lecture to young men on chastity: intended also for the serious consideration of parents and guardians (1837)

title: Sylvester Graham


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MG Rover Group

MG Rover Group was a British carmaker that existed between 2000 and 2005. It 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.

MG Rover went into administration in 2005 and its key assets were purchased by Nanjing Automobile Group, with Nanjing restarting MG sports car and sports saloon production in 2007. During that year Nanjing merged with SAIC Motor (the largest vehicle manufacturer in China). During 2009 the UK subsidiary was renamed MG Motor UK. The MG TF was manufactured at the former MG Rover Longbridge plant and sold within the UK from 2008 to 2010. In 2011 the first all new MG for 16 years (the MG 6) was launched in the UK (assembled at the Longbridge factory). During 2013 a supermini was added to the line up (the MG 3), this went on to help MG Motor become the fastest growing car manufacturer within the UK in 2014.

The Rover brand, which had been retained by BMW and licensed to MG Rover, was sold to Ford, which had bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000. The rights to the dormant Rover brand were sold by Ford, along with the Jaguar Cars and Land Rover businesses, to Tata Motors in 2008.

MG Rover Group was formally dissolved on 28 May 2023, more than 18 years after it was originally put into administration in April 2005.

History
MG Rover was formed from the parts of the former Rover Group volume car production business which BMW sold off in 2000 due to constant losses and a declining market share. BMW had acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace in 1994 and had since sold the Land Rover business to Ford, and split off the MINI business as a new BMW subsidiary based in Cowley. MG Rover took control of the volume component of the former Rover Group (itself the remaining rump of British Leyland, which in turn had its roots in the even older British Motor Corporation, formerly Austin and Morris), which by now consisted solely of the Longbridge plant in Birmingham. Of the Rover Group's other two major plants; Solihull had already been divested as part of the sale of Land Rover to Ford, whilst the Cowley and Swindon plants were retained by BMW for the production of the new MINI family of vehicles. As part of these changes, all remaining Rover volume production at Cowley (essentially now just the Rover 75 as the Rover 600/800 ranges had already been discontinued by this point), was moved to Longbridge, whilst MG Rover would be allowed to continue manufacturing the original Mini at Longbridge until the new MINI was launched by BMW a year later.

Phoenix Consortium ownership
When BMW sold off its interests, MG Rover was bought for a nominal £10 in May 2000 by a specially assembled group of businessmen known as the Phoenix Consortium. The consortium was headed by ex-Rover Chief Executive John Towers.

When Phoenix took over, their first loss for the last eight months of 2000 were reported to be around £400m. By 2004, the company had reduced the losses to around £80m but never made a profit. MG Rover's best year for car sales was their first full year of business, in 2001 – when they sold over 170,000 cars. In 2004 their sales had declined to around 120,000.

The company ceased trading on 8 April 2005, with debts of over £1.4 billion, after a proposed alliance with SAIC collapsed.

In relation to this, accounting firm Deloitte was fined £14 million (US$22 million) in September 2013 for failing to manage conflicts of interest. Deloitte had acted as corporate finance advisers to firms involved with MG Rover and the Phoenix Consortium, including tax advice while Deloitte audited MG Rover. An independent tribunal refused to grant the right to appeal a finding that Deloitte failed to consider public interest, as of November 2013.

Aborted deal with SAIC of China
In June 2004, it was learned that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation had signed a joint venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover. This led to much speculation among the British media suggesting the Chinese company was poised to launch a takeover. Later that year, in November, news broke of an agreement between the two companies to create a joint venture company to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between MG Rover's Longbridge site and locations in China. SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a £1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, this agreement had to be ratified by the Chinese government, specifically its National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The Commission held the opinion that if BMW could not make a success of Rover, then it would be hard for SAIC to do so.

On 8 December 2004, Tata of India, which had cooperated over the export of the Tata Indica as the CityRover, threatened to cease its agreement with MG Rover if the SAIC tie-up went ahead, according to the Indian press. Tata claimed the report was inaccurate two days later.

In January 2005, it was revealed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had intervened to support the alliance between MG Rover and SAIC. MG Rover could not give a date on which the agreement would be finalized.

In April 2005, it was reported that the partnership deal with SAIC was in trouble because the British Government had decided to withdraw its offer of a £120 million loan to keep the deal going. On 7 April 2005 the company announced that it was suspending production because of component shortages. Later in the day, it was announced by Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, that the company was being placed in receivership. Her statement was based on a conversation with MG Rover chairman, John Towers. It was later denied by MG Rover Group, although the company admitted that it had engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm, to advise on its current financial situation. In the event, MG Rover placed itself in administration on 8 April 2005, a different status from receivership under British law.

On 8 April 2005, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Richard Burden, Labour M.P. for Birmingham Northfield visited Tony Woodley at the offices of the Transport and General Workers' Union in Birmingham and stated that there might be some hope for the future of the company, although not the original deal agreed with SAIC. In the media, any news about MG Rover was overshadowed by the Pope's funeral and the problems of the register office marriage of the Prince of Wales and his bride.

On 10 April 2005, MG Rover announced that they had received a £6.5M loan from the British Government. This would cover workers' wages for one week while buy-out proposals were made to SAIC. The same week, SAIC denied it had ever made an offer to buy MG Rover and threatened to sue anyone who attempted to make the 25 and 75 models. SAIC purchased the technical rights to manufacture Rover's 25 and 75 models, and for the Powertrain Ltd business, for £67M. It did not acquire the Rover name, which was still owned by BMW at the time (See 'Brands' below).

Financial ruin
On 15 April 2005, it was announced that SAIC had once again rejected pleas to buy out the company. With no other rescue deal in the pipeline, the administrators were not in a position to seek further funding from the government and announced that redundancy notices to Longbridge staff (who numbered more than 6,000) would be issued.

As well as the job losses at Longbridge, the months which followed the collapse of MG Rover resulted in many job losses in the supply chain, as well as jobs in MG Rover dealerships, as these businesses either went bankrupt, were faced with having to make job cuts, or in the case of some dealerships switched to different brands.

By the end of April 2005, Sir Richard Branson had reportedly expressed an interest in buying the remaining assets of the company for the purpose of reviving the marque in order to enter the hybrid automobile market, and several other parties were also rumoured as wishing to buy the remnants. These included two Russian businessmen, although one of them denied any interest in buying the company's assets. The Iranian state-owned car manufacturer, SAIPA who had worked with MG Rover installing the K series engine in a car for the Iranian market that was based on the old Mazda 121 and Kia Pride, were also rumoured to be potential buyers.

SAIC had claimed that it had already acquired intellectual property rights in some Rover products for £67 million in the autumn of 2004, including the Rover 25, the Rover 75 and the Rover Powertrain K-series engine, but the Administrators advised that there was still interest in saving some other parts of the company, including MG, and 13 May 2005 was set as the deadline for bids from potential investors.

On 20 May 2005, the Administrators announced that, after considering numerous proposals, they had entered talks with two unnamed "overseas companies" with a view to restarting one or more of the Longbridge production lines. Nevertheless, the following week they informed creditors that they by then expected the company to proceed instead to a creditors' voluntary liquidation, setting the date for a preliminary Creditors' Meeting to be held in Birmingham on 10 June 2005. At that meeting, creditors learned that so little of value was left in the company that there would probably be negligible or even no repayment of its outstanding debt and that, although three bidders were then still negotiating to acquire the company intact as a going concern, the Administrators had instructed their agents to prepare for the piecemeal sale of the very few remaining assets in the event that satisfactory negotiations for the sale of the entire business were not concluded.

On 14 July 2005, it was reported that Magma Holdings, a financial group including former Ford Motor Company and General Motors executives, working in conjunction with SAIC, would be making an offer for the assets of both MG Rover and engine maker Rover Powertrain which, if successful, would see at least some production being restarted at Longbridge, and that talks with the other two interested parties – China's Nanjing Automobile Group and Project Kimber (a consortium of Birmingham businessmen led by David James) – were still in progress.

More than 6,000 workers at MG Rover lost their jobs when the company went into liquidation. As many as 25,000 jobs were reported to have been lost in related supply industries, meaning that the total number of job losses brought on by MG Rover's collapse was somewhere in the region of 30,000.

Nanjing
On 18 July, Magma Holdings and SAIC formalized their bid with a reported offer of £60M, with a number of additional conditions. However, that offer was not well received, and on 22 July, the Administrators announced that the principal remaining assets of the group had been sold to the Nanjing Automobile Group for around £53M, with a deposit of around $5M. Nanjing Automobile Group indicating that their preliminary plans involved relocating the Powertrain engine plant to China and splitting car production into Rover lines in China and MG lines in the West Midlands (though not necessarily at Longbridge), where a UK R&D and technical facility would also be developed. But on 27 August, The Daily Telegraph reported that the balance of around £47M, due on 22 August had not been paid. Citing confidentiality, the Administrators declined to comment.

Because the Rover 45 range produced at Longbridge had still had significant Honda content, originating from the companies' legacy partnership with Rover and British Leyland, Honda executives moved quickly to terminate the licensing agreement and removed tooling and assembly equipment for the car from Longbridge.

Nanjing Automobile started shipping equipment from Longbridge to China on 15 September and, according to a report in The Times on Saturday, 17 September, were close to a deal with SAIC under which they would manufacture the Rover 25 and Powertrain engines while SAIC would produce a stretched Rover 75. Nanjing Automobile Group was reported to be in exclusive negotiations with GB Sports Cars, a venture by former Rover managers, to re-establish MG production at Longbridge.

In late October, key ex-workers received letters from Nanjing Automobile Corp offering 10 months' work dismantling plant at Longbridge for reassembly in China while talks with GB Sports Cars continued. However, after announcing that the UK government had not offered any substantial assistance in either grants or loans, Nanjing Automobile was also reported to have begun negotiations with at least two other potential partners, including "a wealthy San Francisco family", and, in early November, Nanjing committed to making every effort "to resume production [at Longbridge] at the beginning of 2007".

In August 2008, more than three years after the facility had closed due to MG Rover's bankruptcy, assembly at Longbridge of a lightly revised MG TF roadster for the European market, from Chinese-built semi-knocked-down (SKD) kits, restarted.

SAIC Motor merged with Nanjing Automobile in 2007, whilst nearly three-quarters of the massive Longbridge factory had been demolished and its land sold off - the old South Works is the only part of the plant which has survived. By 2011 MG Motor UK as it is now known started production of the first all new MG in 16 years, the MG6. In 2013 a new super-mini was added to the line up, the MG3. This was launched in summer 2013 and during 2014 helped in making MG Motor the fastest growing vehicle manufacturer within the UK. During the spring of 2015 a new MG6 was launched and plans for a new SUV were unveiled for the following year.

Official reports
The UK Government commissioned reports into the collapse of the company. The National Audit Office reported in March 2006 on the financial support provided to the company. It commended the DTI's contingency planning in 2004, but questioned whether the loan made in April 2005 achieved value for money.

The DTI commissioned accountants BDO Stoy Hayward to report on the collapse of the company; this took four years to complete at a cost of £14.8 million. The firm issued its report to business minister Peter Mandelson in July 2009, and it was published on 11 September 2009. The report revealed that five executives took £42m in pay and pensions from the troubled firm as it collapsed. This was possible as Techtronic, the company that held the 427 million pound loan from BMW and was owned by the Phoenix Four, charged MG Rover interest and therefore made a profit. The report focused its criticism on the Phoenix Four and chief executive Kevin Howe who oversaw its collapse.

Other findings included evidence of a personal relationship between Nick Stephenson and a consultant who he paid more than £1.6m in the 15-month period up to April 2005. Meanwhile, "Evidence Eliminator" software installed by Mr Beale deleted documents which were likely to have been relevant to the investigation. The investigators further accused Mr Beale of giving "untruthful" evidence during interviews.

Conservative business spokesman Kenneth Clarke said it was right the report criticised the Phoenix Four, whose behaviour was "disgraceful". Lord Mandelson said the Phoenix group had not shown an "ounce of humility" about the firm's demise and they owed an apology to the firm's employees and creditors.

The Serious Fraud Office declined to mount an investigation into the matter, but Mandelson instructed lawyers to prepare a case to disqualify the key figures at Phoenix from future company directorships. In May 2011, the Phoenix Four were disqualified as acting as company directors for varying lengths of time, totalling 19 years.

Sales
The MG Rover range initially consisted of five cars: the Mini, Rover 25, Rover 45, Rover 75 and MG F along with car-derived van derivatives of the 25. The Mini was only built under temporary licence during the first five months of MG Rover's existence, and since the 1980s had only been built in limited numbers. After production finished, previous owner BMW regained the rights to use the brand, and did so on an all-new car that was launched in 2001: MINI.

The Rover 25 and Rover 45 were recently facelifted versions of visibly ageing mid-1990s designs, but production figures had been slightly decreased due to a fall in demand, even though the Rover 25 had been Britain's best-selling car of the month in April 2000. Both cars still had significant Honda content within their design (for example, the 25 still used underpinnings based on the 1989 Honda Concerto and the related Series II Rover 200, whilst the 45 was essentially a rebadged Honda Civic/Domani outfitted with a K-series engine) - a legacy from Rover's one time partnership with Honda, which necessitated paying the Japanese company significant royalties on every car sold which further dented the profitability of those models.

The acclaimed Rover 75 was little over a year old, and after a slow start sales were rising. An estate version was launched following the shift of production from Cowley to Longbridge. The replacement for the MG F, the MG TF sports car was, inevitably, a relatively low-volume product, but it had consistently been the most popular car in its sector since its 1995 launch.

The Rover 25 and Rover 45 endured disappointing sales throughout MG Rover's existence, though their MG ZR and MG ZS sports variants proved popular from their launch in 2001. The Rover 75 and its MG ZT sports variant enjoyed more popularity.

The range further expanded in 2003 with the launch of the smallest model, the Indian-built CityRover, built as part of a venture with Tata, and a flagship model, the MG XPower SV, based on the Qvale Mangusta. Both cars, however, failed to achieve the sales figures that MG Rover had hoped for.

Vehicles
MG Rover made the following vehicles during its lifetime:

Timeline

 * May 2000: MG Rover was formed as the part of the former Rover Group's mass-market car business which BMW sold to the Phoenix Consortium for a nominal £10. BMW retains the Mini arm of the company and the Land Rover arm of the company is sold to Ford for £1.85 billion. Production of the Rover 75 is switched from Cowley to Longbridge following BMW's decision to retain the Cowley plant.
 * 2001: MG Rover buy the factory and the rights to the platform of the Mangusta car from Qvale of Italy for an estimated £10 million.
 * 2001: The Rover 75 Tourer is launched.
 * 2001: The MG ZR, MG ZS and MG ZT (based on the Rover 25, Rover 45 and Rover 75 respectively) are launched as sporting alternatives to the standard Rover models.
 * 2002: A revised version of the MG F is launched as the MG TF.
 * 2002: MG Rover agrees to collaborate with Tata of India, with the intention of importing the Tata Indica to Europe from next year under the Rover brand.
 * 2002: MG Rover also goes into talks with Brilliance China Auto with plans to build MG Rovers in a plant in China
 * 2003: MG Rover launches the new MG XPower SV and SV-R sportscars, prices start at around £65,000. The car is based on the Qvale Mangusta and uses the Ford 4.6-litre V8 engine with two different power outputs.
 * 2003: MG Rover launches the new CityRover - a small 5-door hatchback city car, based on the Tata Indica, the first product of the collaboration with Tata Motors. The car is built in India.
 * 2003: MG Rover launches V8 variants of the Rover 75 and the MG ZT.
 * 2003: MG Rover launch a restyled version of the Rover 25, the Rover Streetwise. Referred to as an "urban on-roader", it has SUV-like styling.
 * 2003/04: MG Rover sell the Longbridge factory to St. Modwen Properties on a lease-back basis to raise funds.
 * 2004: MG Rover launches facelifted versions of the Rover 25/45/75 and MG ZR/ZS/ZT with revised front and rear ends, with the intention of replacing these models with all-new replacements from 2006. Rover 25/45/Streetwise and MG ZR/ZS also get revised fascias.
 * 2004: MG Rover enters in talks with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) about a possible collaboration, following the collapse of a proposed venture with Malaysian carmaker Proton.
 * 2004: MG Rover sell design rights to the Rover 25 and 75 to SAIC to raise money to help keep the business afloat in the face of falling sales.
 * 2005: Negotiations on possible joint venture with SAIC stall, and MG Rover collapses. Price Waterhouse Coopers called in as administrators. MG Rover car production ends and the Longbridge plant closes with the loss of more than 6,000 jobs.
 * 2005: Nanjing Automobile Group acquires the entire assets of MG Rover.
 * 2005/06: Nanjing Automobile Corporation announces plans to build cars at Longbridge after signing a deal to lease the site for 33 years.
 * 2006: SAIC sets up a new marque called Roewe after it failed to buy the Rover marque, and later launches a model based on an extended Rover 75 platform, called the Roewe 750.
 * 2006: Ford buys the rights to the Rover marque, meaning that only the MG marque can be used on the new range of Nanjing-built cars.
 * 2007: Nanjing Automobile Corporation restarts MG TF production in China.
 * 2007: SAIC and Nanjing Automobile Corporation announce a tie-up and on the 26 December NAC becomes a part of SAIC.
 * 2008: Production of the limited edition MG TF LE500 commences at the Longbridge plant.
 * 2009: Production of the standard MG TF 135 commences at Longbridge.
 * 2010: Final assembly of the MG6 from Chinese kits starts at Longbridge
 * 2010: MG TF production ends due to falling demand
 * 2011: MG 6 Fastback production commences
 * 2016: MG production at Longbridge ends

Sponsorship
MG Rover sponsored Aston Villa Football Club from 2002 to 2004, with Villa's home kit advertising Rovers and the away kit advertising MGs. Also, the company had sponsored the popular ITV murder drama series Midsomer Murders, in which a range of MG Rover cars were presented.

Brands
All of the following brands were controlled by MG Rover, and were formerly the property of British Leyland.

 * 1895 Wolseley
 * 1905 Austin
 * 1912 Morris
 * 1913 Vanden Plas as a coachbuilder and as a car brand (outside the US & Canada)
 * 1923 MG was created by Cecil Kimber based on Morris components
 * 1930 American Austin a brand name created by Austin for US market
 * 1947 Princess was created by Vanden Plas as a luxury car name
 * 1987 Sterling created as a separate brand in the US by the Rover Group

The Rover brand was used under licence from BMW, and was sold to Ford following the collapse of MG Rover; it was subsequently bought in 2008 by TATA.

The MG XPower brand was created by MG Rover for their motorsport subsidiary, MG Sport and Racing Ltd. in 2001. It was subsequently used for the MG XPower SV sportscar, a higher powered version of the Qvale Mangusta, in 2005. After the demise of MG Rover, assets of MG Sport and Racing relating to the XPower SV were acquired from PWC, the Administrators, by the newly formed MG Sports and Racing Europe Ltd. However this company's use of the "MG" trademark resulted in a legal dispute with Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation, which had also acquired assets of the defunct MG Rover Group. This case was won by Nanjing in February 2010.

title: MG Rover Group


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Talk:Alberto Ascari

Internal Favors
Can someone explain to me what "internal favours" means in this context? And how it would relate to stopping a race car?
 * I think it was meant to say "internal failures". But the text was removed in November 2004 anyway. DH85868993 (talk) 09:27, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Fastest laps
I have changed 'succession' to 'successive races' - I assume that was what was meant, rather than six progressively faster 'fastest laps' all in one race, as I took it to mean at first. MRacer (talk) 17:55, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

Antonio
Forgive my ignorance, but how did Antonio win "13 championship Grand Prix" when he died in the first year of the World Manufacturers' Championship which appears to be the first 'Grand Prix' championship? He might very well have won 13 Grand Prix, but then Alberto probably won twenty five-plus without the championship qualifier (Wikipedia in general having a very one-eyed approach to non-championship GPs, sadly - for example, no mention is made of the form of Ascari in the Lancia early in 1955 at Turin, Pau and Naples). I can't see how these numbers are the same without some heavy juggling, though I'm open to correction Baron Von Joy (talk) 15:25, 13 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I've removed the statement. I've also removed the statement that they both drove car number 26 - in those days car numbers changed from race to race, so the fact that they both drove a car number 26 during their career is mere coincidence. DH85868993 (talk) 10:38, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks! It amazes me people need to reach when there are already enough uncanny coincidences. While I've heard it in several places elsewhere it'd be nice to pin down what event Antonio had an escape in four days before his death too... Baron Von Joy (talk) 19:35, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Done a minor tarting up, largely tidying up a few paragraphs. There's some good nuggets in Racers about his father putting him in a car at an early age and his son's brief motorsport career I'll try to dig out at some point. Baron Von Joy (talk) 20:22, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Re-opening this discussion after eight years: "Both father and son had won 13 championship Grands Prix and drove car number 26. Both were killed four days after surviving serious accidents..." was added in two edits in September 2007, here and here. The identical wording is found in this BBC profile of July 2012. The same wording, without the "car number 26", is to be found in this profile on the F1 website. However, there seems to be no reliable source for those facts that does not look like it was taken from Wikipedia. I have done a lot of searching while editing the Antonio Ascari article, and I cannot find any mention of an incident – serious or trivial – four days before his death. Since the "13 Grands Prix" and the "car number 26" were removed eight years ago, I'm removing the "four days" now on the same grounds. 2001:BB6:4713:4858:6CA4:B4D2:9B7D:851F (talk) 17:23, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Turns out the "13 championship Grands Prix" had been added back, citing the F1 site. It's definitely untrue; Antonio only won four Grands Prix, and only the last of those, in 1925, was in a championship season. I've removed it again. 2001:BB6:4713:4858:6CA4:B4D2:9B7D:851F (talk) 17:35, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Alberto Ascari. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20131105054108/http://www.indy500.com/stats/drivers.php?drivername=Alberto%20Ascari to http://www.indy500.com/stats/drivers.php?drivername=Alberto%20Ascari

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 04:36, 8 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Doesn't work. Replaced it with one which works. DH85868993 (talk) 12:18, 8 February 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Alberto Ascari