What is British?

[Ex-Biker]

kitcarman said:

vince_rvd said: You could save a lot if you had the parts made overseas with "cheap" labour and have what you want instead of what you can afford in UK??? Good to see you contributing to “Building a future for British kit cars”.

Your comment got me thinking. What is a Britsh car?

Not necessarily kit cars, British cars.

Is Jaguar? Owned by Ford so maybe they are American.
Are Lotus? Owned by GM, American too.

If you define it as a car built in Britain, then surely the Nissan Micra is British.

So is it fair to say a British designer selling a product designed for the British market, marketed through a British company and in the case of kit cars using British donor cars (whoops! German, American or Japanese donors) is not selling a British car?

True he might manufacture the car outside of the country due to cost implications, but don't many British clothing designers do the same?

Is Vivienne Westwood creating a future for British fashion?

[anonymous-user]

You think too much Mark!

And I thought Lotus were owned by Proton (Malaysian). Have GM bought Proton?

As for the "future of British Kitcars", I'd consider it as more than the manufacturers, but more the kit car scene. So anything that contributes to the kit car scene has to be a good thing. It doesn't matter if it's built in Britain, Sri Lanka or Timbuktu as far as I'm concerned.

And with this Government in power, I reckon Vince has got the right idea.

[Ex-Biker]

LexSport said:

You think too much Mark! And I thought Lotus were owned by Proton (Malaysian). Have GM bought Proton?

You got me there. Maybe I wasn't thinking enough.

My point is still valid though!

[meeja]

Where do Toyota fit into this then?

Japanese company (obviously)

But several models made less than 10 miles from my house (Burnaston factory)... contributing greatly to the local economy.

[Alex]

I think a British car is one where the majority of the design and engineering has been done in the UK. Hence the Micra is not British, but a Noble (although assembled in South Africa) is.

[jeremyc]

There is an argument that a truely British car manufacturer has British ownership, design & manufacture. By my reckoning that leaves us with TVR, Morgan & Caterham: any others you can think of?

[Ex-Biker]

Alex said:

I think a British car is one where the majority of the design and engineering has been done in the UK. Hence the Micra is not British, but a Noble (although assembled in South Africa) is.

Vince. With this theory, are you producing a 'British' car?

I'm waiting to be Tannered

Interesting about Ultima sourcing GRP from S. Africa.



>> Edited by Ex-Biker on Tuesday 27th January 11:47

[jeremyc]

jeremyc said:

There is an argument that a truely British car manufacturer has British ownership, design & manufacture. By my reckoning that leaves us with TVR, Morgan & Caterham: any others you can think of?

I've thought of some more:
Ariel
Bristol
Strathcarron
Marcos (?)
Radical (?)

[pwig]

Ultima
Proteus
Wesfield

[grahambell]

jeremyc said:

I've thought of some more: Ariel Bristol Strathcarron Marcos (?) Radical (?)

Ariel, Bristol, Marcos and Radical yes, but Strathcarron are dead.

There's also a company you might have heard of called MG Rover...

Then there's Farboud, Ascari and Invicta - plus those 2 firms in Coventry making London taxis

[jeremyc]

grahambell said:

Ariel, Bristol, Marcos and Radical yes, but Strathcarron are dead.

They seemed to be alive and kicking at the Autosport show the other week.

grahambell said:

Then there's Farboud, Ascari and Invicta

I thought we should only count those whi have made several customer cars.

[jay w]

Leading Edge Sports Car Company (formerly Tommy Kaira)
McLaren Cars (not 100% sure on ownership of this)
Caterham! read the thread first, James, read the thread first

Ummmm......

>> Edited by jay w on Tuesday 27th January 12:50

[kitcarman]

Ex-Biker said:

Vince. With this theory, are you producing a 'British' car? I'm waiting to be Tannered

[Ex-Biker]

Ultima?

British?

GRP sourced in S. Africa
Engines made in America
Assembled in UK



That was nice Den. I was expecting a little

[jeremyc]

And of course if we limit the list to only those that have British designed & built engines I think we're only left with TVR, MG Rover and Caterham.

[Alex]

Ex-Biker said:

Ultima? British? GRP sourced in S. Africa Engines made in America Assembled in UK That was nice Den. I was expecting a little

Designed and engineered in the UK though, so British in my book.

[Liszt]

jay w said:

McLaren Cars (not 100% sure on ownership of this)

here's a hint "oh lord, wont you buy me a..."

[andycanam]

Mark
Don't worry your not the only one... I too had pondered this question after J Clarkson on top gear claimed the Noble was a genuine UK car!

They are now almost totaly built abroad and yet even AUTOCAR did a big feature as a British car manufacture.

[jay w]

Liszt said:

jay w said: McLaren Cars (not 100% sure on ownership of this) here's a hint "oh lord, wont you buy me a..."

I've better things to do really, but I checked their website anyway - 40% owned by DaimlerChrysler, so 60% owned by Ron Dennis, Mansour Ojeh (sp?) and others...

Forget I mentioned it

[RichardD]

andycanam said:

Mark Don't worry your not the only one... I too had pondered this question after J Clarkson on top gear claimed the Noble was a genuine UK car! They are now almost totaly built abroad and yet even AUTOCAR did a big feature as a British car manufacture.

Just to confuse even more!

Which is better for the U.K? A British owned company building something overseas (e.g. Noble) or a foreign company (Nissan) building (ok, assembling) something in the U.K. ???
In the first, profits (I hope) come back to this country. In the second the profits just go to help sustain Japan's huge economy?