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After Austin bought Morris in the 1950s, we began to see obvious badge engineering in British cars.

For example, ADO16 range of 1960s had nearly identical cars under six brands
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMC_ADO16

Austin: 1963–1974
MG: 1962-1973
Morris: 1962–71
Riley: 1962-1969
Vanden Plas: 1964-1974
Wolseley: 1965-1973

Rootes was no better, with nearly identical cars under the Hillman, Singer and Sunbeam brands. And post-1960 merger Jaguar and Daimler were identical except for motors and trim. Bentley and Rolls Royce were essentially clones.

Sure, we still see badge engineering today, but hopefully a Lexus is more than a rebadged Toyota. But how different would Britain's postwar car experience have been if the firms aschewed badge engineering entirely?

I'd suggest BMC would either have just one brand, or have perhaps two brands with different cars. Of course parts optimization would still see some shared components. Bentley would likely revert to sports touring.

When you think of West German cars in the decades after ww2 before Audi, it's VW, BMW and Mercedes. That's what I'd like Britai to have done, fewer brands.

Thoughts?
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