A true classic of 20th century British car manufacturing, the Morris Minor almost made an unlikely comeback in the early 2000s.
Thanks to a source with unique internal access at that time, Coach has revealed a bold top-secret plan by Anglo-Chinese MG Rover to bring back the iconic vintage car.
In a moment that could have been, if a Chinese-led consortium with big ideas had managed to take over the failing MG Rover, the much-loved engine could have returned to our roads in 2005.
Autocar has revealed that the Morris Minor almost made a top-secret comeback in the early 2000s. Morris faced bankruptcy in 2005 and a consortium led by Shanghai Automotive Corporation (SAIC) and consultancy Magma Holdings founded by the former boss of Ford of Europe, Martin Leach, was bidding to take it over. If Leach had won, he would have set in motion his plan to bring the Minor back. Autocar believes the British classic car renaissance would look like the above
The Morris Minor is one of the most successful British-made cars in history and an icon of UK car manufacturing. A convoy of minors toured the shopping center to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee
This would have been the third resurrection of the Morris Minor over the years.
The first Minor, a small four-seater car with an 850 cc engine, was manufactured by Morris Motors Limited between 1928 and 1934.
The second life Minor became one of the most famous classic cars in British history. Between 1948 and 1971, the new Minor was a success in sales: it was the first British car to exceed one million sales.
In a recent survey of Britons, the Morris Minor was voted the fifth most iconic British-made car of all time, with the Mini in first place.
Autocar described the Minor as “a major way Britain got back on the road after the Second World War”.
In addition to the best-selling four-door sedan and trailer versions, the Minor was available in convertible (Tourer), station wagon (Traveller) versions, as well as van and pick-up variants.
There was a Minor for everyone.
But now a third resurrection that has never been carried out has just come to light.
This 1967 Minor (pictured in 1977) passed through each generation of a family and shows the capable nature of the British automobile. Autocar called the Minor “a major way Britain got back on the road after the Second World War”.
Mechanically, Morris Minors have always been simple and easy to operate and repair, making them economical and reliable. Today, minors tend to cost between £10,000 and £20,000 depending on condition and year.
In 2005, MG Rover, a British car manufacturer that existed in the first five years of the 21st century, was facing bankruptcy.
Two joint bidders for the company’s remains were China’s Shanghai Automotive Corporation (SAIC) and consultancy Magma Holdings, run by the late Martin Leach, former head of Ford of Europe and Maserati.
This consortium was one of three bids competing for the remains of the MG Rover.
The winning bidder would receive the hardware to build the Rover models 25, 45 and 75. The K Series engine was also up for grabs.
At the time, The Guardian reported on Magma’s plans to “form a new company to restart production of the Rover 75 sedan at MG Rover’s car production plant in Longbridge, Birmingham.”
Even more tempting was that the winning bidder could obtain the rights to the Morris and Austin names, as well as MG and Rover.
But what the press didn’t know was Magma’s secret plan to recover the Morris Minor.
Only Richard Bremner of Autocar was aware of the desire to revive Morris, thanks to a phone call from Martin Leach himself.
MG Rover Group was a British car manufacturer that existed between 2000 and 2005. It went into administration in 2005 and was bought by Nanjing Automobile Group.
MG Rover manufactured the MG TF from 2002, updating the popular MG F 2000 model. When MG went into administration in 2005, production of the TF was stopped.
Bremner, then obliged to maintain confidentiality, now reports in Autocar that he received a call “a couple of months” after the company [MG Rover] It collapsed in April 2005.
“Martin Leach, former head of Ford of Europe and later Maserati, explained to me that he was preparing a bid for the MG Rover operation,” he said.
The crux of the plan was the reintroduction of the Morris Minor. It was not detailed in the offer, and Autocar reported that this was probably because Leach wanted to ensure that competitors did not find out about the idea.
Steve Young of Indego Consulting, then a key Leach collaborator, told Motor Magazine that even he had no idea about it: “It was something Martin came up with, I wasn’t aware of it,” he said.
Autocar’s Richard Bremner was aware of Leach and Magma-SAIC’s plan to relaunch the Morris Minor in 2005 after Leach called him to tell him the scoop.
The Minor project never came to fruition because Leach’s Magma lost the bid to Nanjing Automobile Group. Bremner believes it was a missed opportunity
Martin Leach was the former boss of Ford Europe and Maserati who formed the Magma consortium that wanted to take over MG Rover.
Autocar believes the Minor would have been built on the smaller Morris platform as part of SAIC’s plan to “include new mini, medium and large monospace platforms.”
It would probably have been powered by the K Series engine.
In the early 2000s, retro cars were having a moment, with the Mini, Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat 500 and the Ford Mustang, now owned by BMW, gaining popularity.
Dubbed the “early 2000s retro wave”, nostalgia was sweeping the UK and US, and manufacturers began giving new cars a retro look, taking inspiration from the late 30s or 40 years.
Leach’s idea in bringing back the Minor was to take advantage of this sentiment, and this fashion, to help catalyze the Morris renaissance.
But it was not to be, because Magma-SAIC lost to Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which eventually won the bid and merged with SAIC.
The Minor project never came to fruition, but Bremner believes it was a missed opportunity: ‘I thought it was brilliant and probably the best chance this struggling business had to revitalize itself.
“Leach had overseen the birth of many Ford and Mazda models in his senior positions, which added considerable credibility to the plan.”
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