The Morris Minor – a true classic of 20th century British car production – almost made an unlikely comeback in the early 2000s.
Thanks to a source that had unique inside access at the time, Coach has revealed a daring, top-secret plan by Anglo-Chinese MG Rover to bring back the iconic classic car.
At a time that could have happened, if a Chinese-led consortium with big ideas had successfully acquired the failing MG Rover, the beloved engine could have returned to our roads in 2005.
Autocar has revealed that the Morris Minor almost had 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 former Ford of Europe boss Martin Leach, made a bid to take over. If Leach had won, he would have carried out his plan to bring back the Minor. Autocar believes that the rebirth of a classic British car would look something like the above
The Morris Minor is one of the most successful British cars in history and an icon of British car production. A convoy of minors drove through the Mall for 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 produced by Morris Motors Limited between 1928 and 1934.
The Minor from its second life became one of the most famous classic cars in British history. Between 1948 and 1971 the new Minor was a sales success: it was the first British car to exceed one million units sold.
In a recent poll of Britons, the Morris Minor was voted the fifth most iconic British-made car of all time, with the Mini coming out on top.
Autocar described the Minor as ‘an important way in which Britain got back on the road after the Second World War’.
In addition to the best-selling towbar and four-door sedan versions, the Minor was available as a convertible (Tourer), station wagon (Traveller) and as a van and pick-up variant.
There was a minor for everyone.
But now a never-realized third resurrection has only just come to light.
This 1967 Minor (pictured in 1977) was passed down through each generation of one family and shows the capable character of the British car. Autocar called the Minor ‘an important way in which 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 cheap and reliable to own. Nowadays minors tend to go for between £10,000 and £20,000 depending on the condition and year
In 2005, MG Rover – a British car manufacturer that existed in the first five years of the 21st century – was in danger of going bankrupt.
Two joint bidders for the remains of the company were China’s Shanghai Automotive Corporation (SAIC) and consultancy firm Magma Holdings, which was led by the late Martin Leach, former boss of Ford of Europe and Maserati.
This consortium was one of three competing bids for the remains of MG Rover.
The winning bidder would receive the hardware to manufacture the Rover 25, 45 and 75 models. The K-series engine was also up for grabs.
At the time, The Guardian reported Magma’s plans ‘to form a new company to restart production of the Rover 75 sedan at MG Rover’s Longbridge car manufacturing plant in Birmingham’.
Even more attractive was that the successful bidder would acquire 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 bring back the Morris Minor.
Only Autocar’s Richard Bremner was aware of the desire to revive Morris – thanks to a 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 purchased by Nanjing Automobile Group
MG Rover manufactured the MG TF from 2002, an update of the popular 2000 MG F model. When MG went bankrupt in 2005, production of the TF was stopped
Bound to confidentiality at the time, Bremner has now reported in Autocar that he received a phone call ‘a few months’ after the company’s (MG Rover) bankruptcy in April 2005.
“Martin Leach, former boss of Ford of Europe and later Maserati, explained to me that he was making a bid for the MG Rover operation,” he said.
The core of the plan was the reintroduction of the Morris Minor. It was not detailed in the offer, and Autocar reported that this was likely due to Leach wanting to ensure competitors did not get wind of the idea.
Steve Young of Indego Consulting, a key collaborator with Leach at the time, told the car magazine that even he had no idea: “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 materialized as Leach’s Magma lost the bid to Nanjing Automobile Group. Bremner believes it was a missed opportunity
Martin Leach was the former Ford Europe and Maserati boss who brought together the Magma consortium that wanted to acquire MG Rover
Autocar believes the Minor would have been built on the smallest Morris platform as part of SAIC’s plan to ‘include new monospace mini, medium and large platforms’.
It would likely have been powered by the K-series engine.
In the early 2000s, retro cars were having a moment, with the now BMW-owned Mini, Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat 500 and Ford Mustang all rising in popularity.
The nostalgia, dubbed the ‘early 2000s retro wave’, swept across Britain and the US, with manufacturers beginning to give new cars a retro look, taking inspiration from the past 30 to 40 years .
Leach’s idea in bringing back the Minor was to tap into this sentiment and fashion, to help catalyze Morris’s rebirth.
However, that was not to be, as Magma-SAIC lost to Nanjing Automobile Corporation, which ultimately 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 certainly the best chance this troubled company had to revive itself.
‘Leach, in his senior positions, had overseen the birth of many Ford and Mazda models, all of which added significant credibility to the plan.’
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