The subject on saving the British Motor Industry has been explored many times over the years, one constant amongst many however would have to be the fact that a number of earlier PODs would be required from around 1870 to 1945 just to lay down the groundwork in terms of investment, modernization and more.
Anything later would run into various issues that would only serve to undermine British carmakers, that is unless one's definition of success for the British Motor Industry involves cars still being produced in the UK yet with virtually none being domestically owned
The following is few ideas focused mainly on ATL BMC though will not touch upon Rover much (let alone MG).
To start with you would need to lay the groundwork between 1870-1945 for the UK to not end up bankrupt after WW2 in order to gracefully decline from being an empire and focus on domestic infrastructure projects, etc. They receive a gift instead of the Anglo-American Loan from the US.
Morris would invest in modern tooling and more like Austin did under Leonard Lord and build upon the success of the Minor and related derivatives, so that the formation of BMC is a merger of equals instead of Morris being weaker of the two that would end up causing BMC problems later on. The formation of BMC would also be sealed with an unconditional cash injection by the government (ignoring any potential protests by Ford and GM) that goes towards modernizing its production line and tooling to be roughly comparable to Renault and Fiat (the same would be done with a later ATL merger between Leyland and Rootes) without being forced to build plants outside its industrial heartlands to strike prone parts of the country.
Riley and Wolseley would be discontinued from the late-1950s in favour of MG and Vanden Plas (the latter gradually reduced to a trim level upon acquiring Rover). Issigonis would be kept on a tight leash with Joe Edwards succeeding Leonard Lord instead of George Harriman.
The above enables the A-Series, B-Series and C-Series engines to be built on modern production lines / tooling instead of old transfer machinery and thereby allow for various schemes to update, upgrade and lighten the engines to be realized with the B-Series (1.6-2.0 plus OHC/DOHC as well as Blue Streak 2.4-3.0) and C-Series (2.6-3.0 OHC/DOHC) later being replaced from the early/mid-1960s by 1.5-2.0 4-cylinder and 2.0-3.0 6-cylinder ATL E-Series petrol / diesel engines that is a composite of the OTL BL S-Series, Volkswagen EA827 as well as the Nissan CA / Nissan CD engines (the Nissan engines being distantly related to the B-Series) followed by a Volkswagen EA113/Nissan SR-meets Project Storm / Td5 modular inspired successor.
The result is Morris and MG mechanicals and componentry would be paired with mostly Austin engines (sans Morris developed C-Series) to create the ATL Farinas that would feature more modern Pininfarina styling themes with suitable longevity as used by Fiat, Lancia, Nissan, Isuzu, etc (e.g. Minor-based Farina in place of Farina A40, Oxford III/Magnette ZB-based Farina B in place of Cambridge A55-based Farina B, etc), instead of the old fashioned Austin-derived Farina models. They would also be twined with MG sportscars and saloons to increase component sharing and atomize costs (allowing for more sophisticated suspension as originally planned on the MGB) to be utilized (prior to MG being twinned with Rover). - https://driventowrite.com/2020/12/05/1960-peugeot-404-history-profile/
Morris would eventually give way to Austin (or both Morris and Austin giving way to BMC) leading to a range composed of Austin (or BMC), MG and Rover / Land Rover / Range Rover. The alternate being Austin (or BMC) itself giving way to Mini, MG, Rover / Land Rover / Range Rover.
The ATL A-Series itself would potentially displace around 721-1380cc in 4-cylinder form, feature OHC/DOHC (with production run akin to Renault Cleon / Energy) amongst other developments to remain in production to as late as 2004 (if required) and spawn dieselized variants as well as possibly even 475-690cc 2-cylinder (ATL properly-developed ADO11 with balance-shafts akin to Daihatsu A-Series / Mitsubishi Vulcan twins) and 728/748-1035cc 3-cylinder versions if deemed necessary (Innocenti for example wanted a Mini-Mini to take on the Fiat 500).
The ATL Mini and 1100/1300 would be better costed compared to OTL with increased component sharing (thanks to the Research Department being involved in the beginning), both would be equipped with hatchbacks though the 1100/1300 as well as the ATL 1800 would feature end-on gearboxes (whilst the Mini would spawn 4/5-door variants from the 84-inch wheelbase).
The Mini II - also known as the 12-inch wheel or exclusively 84-inch wheelbase generation (with a length of 124-inches) would later follow the ATL 1100/1300 by featuring an end-on gearbox, with increased component sharing with ADO22.
The ATL 1100/1300 or ADO16 meanwhile would be a 3/5-door hatchback and 2/4-door three-box saloon displacing 1100-1600cc with more modern Pininfarina styling compared to OTL, its superior space efficiency relative to its size and engines up to 1600cc allow it to keep up with the mk1/mk2 Ford Cortina over the course of the 1960s prior to being replaced by ADO22.
The ATL 1800 or ADO17 meanwhile would not drift away from its brief to be a larger car (like in OTL) yet it would go on to spawn such a model (e.g. Vanden Plas specific 1600-2400cc X6), instead it would be conceptually akin to an earlier ATL Austin Maxi though with better Pininfarina styling, end-on gearbox, 100-inch wheelbase and engines displacing 1300-2000cc (possibly as much as 2400cc) with 5-door hatchback and 4-door three-box saloon bodystyles. It would later be replaced by the ATL Princess or ADO71 though now reminiscent to the OTL Simca Alpine / Solara and OTL mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier / Opel Ascona C (aka GM J Car) in terms of dimensions and take on the mk3-mk5 Ford Cortina (with ADO22 taking on the Volkswagen Golf and Simca 1100).
The ATL Austin 3-litre would instead appear in the early/mid-1960s, be equipped without the doors of the 1800 and be sold as a Vanden Plas with only the ATL Bentley Korea/Burma-derived ADO58 being the flagship of the Vanden Plas range prior to BMC acquiring Rover, where the Vanden Plas 6X and Korea/Burma-based ADO58 flagship would be indirectly replaced by the ATL Rover P10 and Rover P8.
ATL Mini II (aka ATL Project Ant/ADO20/Minki), ADO22 and ADO71 would later be replaced from the mid/late-1970s by the Mini III* and ATL Metro as well as the ATL Maestro and Montego with the latter three featuring Pininfarina styling.
*- Mini III would essentially based on the ATL ADO88/LC8 Metro with the latter sitting at the lower B Segment and the former slotting into the A segment as a smaller car with a length of 126-130-inches (to the ATL Metro's 134-138-inches). Another idea is for the Maestro/Montego to form the basis of a SWB ADO16-sized Pininfarina-styled supermini in the manner of the Fiat Ritmo/SEAT Ronda-based mk1 SEAT Ibiza.
The 1980s would lead to the ATL ADO88/LC8/R6/R6X being utilized for the A segment only in the form of the Mini IV (think Ford B platform), whilst carrying over advances from the ATL AR6 that would not only underpin the ATL Metro II but also be upscaled to replace both the Maestro and Montego as the company heads into the 1990s onwards (also with Pininfarina styling) with its cars featuring Peugeot-inspired Pininfarina styling as well as Peugeot/Nissan-inspired mechanicals in benchmark terms.
Anything later would run into various issues that would only serve to undermine British carmakers, that is unless one's definition of success for the British Motor Industry involves cars still being produced in the UK yet with virtually none being domestically owned
The following is few ideas focused mainly on ATL BMC though will not touch upon Rover much (let alone MG).
To start with you would need to lay the groundwork between 1870-1945 for the UK to not end up bankrupt after WW2 in order to gracefully decline from being an empire and focus on domestic infrastructure projects, etc. They receive a gift instead of the Anglo-American Loan from the US.
Morris would invest in modern tooling and more like Austin did under Leonard Lord and build upon the success of the Minor and related derivatives, so that the formation of BMC is a merger of equals instead of Morris being weaker of the two that would end up causing BMC problems later on. The formation of BMC would also be sealed with an unconditional cash injection by the government (ignoring any potential protests by Ford and GM) that goes towards modernizing its production line and tooling to be roughly comparable to Renault and Fiat (the same would be done with a later ATL merger between Leyland and Rootes) without being forced to build plants outside its industrial heartlands to strike prone parts of the country.
Riley and Wolseley would be discontinued from the late-1950s in favour of MG and Vanden Plas (the latter gradually reduced to a trim level upon acquiring Rover). Issigonis would be kept on a tight leash with Joe Edwards succeeding Leonard Lord instead of George Harriman.
The above enables the A-Series, B-Series and C-Series engines to be built on modern production lines / tooling instead of old transfer machinery and thereby allow for various schemes to update, upgrade and lighten the engines to be realized with the B-Series (1.6-2.0 plus OHC/DOHC as well as Blue Streak 2.4-3.0) and C-Series (2.6-3.0 OHC/DOHC) later being replaced from the early/mid-1960s by 1.5-2.0 4-cylinder and 2.0-3.0 6-cylinder ATL E-Series petrol / diesel engines that is a composite of the OTL BL S-Series, Volkswagen EA827 as well as the Nissan CA / Nissan CD engines (the Nissan engines being distantly related to the B-Series) followed by a Volkswagen EA113/Nissan SR-meets Project Storm / Td5 modular inspired successor.
The result is Morris and MG mechanicals and componentry would be paired with mostly Austin engines (sans Morris developed C-Series) to create the ATL Farinas that would feature more modern Pininfarina styling themes with suitable longevity as used by Fiat, Lancia, Nissan, Isuzu, etc (e.g. Minor-based Farina in place of Farina A40, Oxford III/Magnette ZB-based Farina B in place of Cambridge A55-based Farina B, etc), instead of the old fashioned Austin-derived Farina models. They would also be twined with MG sportscars and saloons to increase component sharing and atomize costs (allowing for more sophisticated suspension as originally planned on the MGB) to be utilized (prior to MG being twinned with Rover). - https://driventowrite.com/2020/12/05/1960-peugeot-404-history-profile/
Morris would eventually give way to Austin (or both Morris and Austin giving way to BMC) leading to a range composed of Austin (or BMC), MG and Rover / Land Rover / Range Rover. The alternate being Austin (or BMC) itself giving way to Mini, MG, Rover / Land Rover / Range Rover.
The ATL A-Series itself would potentially displace around 721-1380cc in 4-cylinder form, feature OHC/DOHC (with production run akin to Renault Cleon / Energy) amongst other developments to remain in production to as late as 2004 (if required) and spawn dieselized variants as well as possibly even 475-690cc 2-cylinder (ATL properly-developed ADO11 with balance-shafts akin to Daihatsu A-Series / Mitsubishi Vulcan twins) and 728/748-1035cc 3-cylinder versions if deemed necessary (Innocenti for example wanted a Mini-Mini to take on the Fiat 500).
The ATL Mini and 1100/1300 would be better costed compared to OTL with increased component sharing (thanks to the Research Department being involved in the beginning), both would be equipped with hatchbacks though the 1100/1300 as well as the ATL 1800 would feature end-on gearboxes (whilst the Mini would spawn 4/5-door variants from the 84-inch wheelbase).
The Mini II - also known as the 12-inch wheel or exclusively 84-inch wheelbase generation (with a length of 124-inches) would later follow the ATL 1100/1300 by featuring an end-on gearbox, with increased component sharing with ADO22.
The ATL 1100/1300 or ADO16 meanwhile would be a 3/5-door hatchback and 2/4-door three-box saloon displacing 1100-1600cc with more modern Pininfarina styling compared to OTL, its superior space efficiency relative to its size and engines up to 1600cc allow it to keep up with the mk1/mk2 Ford Cortina over the course of the 1960s prior to being replaced by ADO22.
The ATL 1800 or ADO17 meanwhile would not drift away from its brief to be a larger car (like in OTL) yet it would go on to spawn such a model (e.g. Vanden Plas specific 1600-2400cc X6), instead it would be conceptually akin to an earlier ATL Austin Maxi though with better Pininfarina styling, end-on gearbox, 100-inch wheelbase and engines displacing 1300-2000cc (possibly as much as 2400cc) with 5-door hatchback and 4-door three-box saloon bodystyles. It would later be replaced by the ATL Princess or ADO71 though now reminiscent to the OTL Simca Alpine / Solara and OTL mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier / Opel Ascona C (aka GM J Car) in terms of dimensions and take on the mk3-mk5 Ford Cortina (with ADO22 taking on the Volkswagen Golf and Simca 1100).
The ATL Austin 3-litre would instead appear in the early/mid-1960s, be equipped without the doors of the 1800 and be sold as a Vanden Plas with only the ATL Bentley Korea/Burma-derived ADO58 being the flagship of the Vanden Plas range prior to BMC acquiring Rover, where the Vanden Plas 6X and Korea/Burma-based ADO58 flagship would be indirectly replaced by the ATL Rover P10 and Rover P8.
ATL Mini II (aka ATL Project Ant/ADO20/Minki), ADO22 and ADO71 would later be replaced from the mid/late-1970s by the Mini III* and ATL Metro as well as the ATL Maestro and Montego with the latter three featuring Pininfarina styling.
*- Mini III would essentially based on the ATL ADO88/LC8 Metro with the latter sitting at the lower B Segment and the former slotting into the A segment as a smaller car with a length of 126-130-inches (to the ATL Metro's 134-138-inches). Another idea is for the Maestro/Montego to form the basis of a SWB ADO16-sized Pininfarina-styled supermini in the manner of the Fiat Ritmo/SEAT Ronda-based mk1 SEAT Ibiza.
The 1980s would lead to the ATL ADO88/LC8/R6/R6X being utilized for the A segment only in the form of the Mini IV (think Ford B platform), whilst carrying over advances from the ATL AR6 that would not only underpin the ATL Metro II but also be upscaled to replace both the Maestro and Montego as the company heads into the 1990s onwards (also with Pininfarina styling) with its cars featuring Peugeot-inspired Pininfarina styling as well as Peugeot/Nissan-inspired mechanicals in benchmark terms.
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