Longbridge plant
Encyclopedia
The Longbridge plant is an industrial complex situated in the Longbridge
area of Birmingham
, United Kingdom
. It is currently owned by SAIC Group and is a manufacturing and research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary.
Opened in 1905, by the late 1960s Longbridge was the largest car plant in the world and employed around 250,000 workers. A wide variety of products have been produced at the site during its history, although the core product has been cars, most notably the original two-door Mini
. During the Second World War the main plant produced munitions and tank parts, while the nearby East Works of Austin Aero Ltd at Cofton Hackett
produced several types of aeroplane such as the Short Stirling
and the Hawker Hurricane
.
Originally founded by an engineer and entrepreneur, the site has had a variety of private owners, as well as a period of state ownership. Since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005 part of the site has been redeveloped for commercial and residential usage. The remaining 69 acres of the site are owned by SAIC.
's main Birmingham to Gloucester mainline
; and the Halesowen Joint Railway
with the Great Western Railway
. The purchase also included Cofton Hill, which rose 70 feet (21.3 m) above its surroundings. Designed by Stark & Rowntree of Glasgow and constructed by James Moffatt & Sons of Camp Hill
, the factory was built at a cost of £105,000, opening in the first quarter of 1895. Unfortunately the venture failed, and the site was repossessed by the bank in 1901.
Herbert Austin
learnt the engineering trade at the Wolseley
Car manufacturer, working on tools as well as cars. Whilst at Wolseley, Austin produced an experimental three-wheeled car, and then another in 1896 which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
. This success emboldened him to begin his own business.
In 1905, while working out his notice at the Wolseley Sheep Shearing & Equipment Supply Co. at Aston
, looking to found his own motor car company, Herbert Austin undertook numerous exploratory rides around Birmingham in his Wolseley 7.5 h.p.. On 4 November 1905, he found the derelict printing works
, owned by financier E A Olivieri. Friends came forward with financial help, and with additional invoice financing from Frank Kayser of Kayser, Ellison and Company, and Harvey du Cros of the Dunlop Rubber Company, enabled Austin to buy the site and an additional 8 acres (3.2 ha) from Olivieri for £7,500 on the 22nd January 1906.
Austin and his initial workforce of the Austin Motor Company
had in actual fact moved into the derelict buildings before this date, as Austin was so focused on showing his new car at the first British Motor Show, to be held in 1905 at Olympia, London
. On paper the first Austin was described as a 25-30 h.p. high-class touring car with a four-speed gearbox and a chain-driven transmission
. Each car had a material and quality guarantee and the first model was produced at the end of March 1906, at a price of £650.
By 1908, there were 1,000 workers at a factory which covered 4 acres (1.6 ha); a night shift was introduced to help create adequate supply to meet the rising demand for products. In February 1914, the Company was changed to public ownership and the market capitalization
was increased to £50,000, which allowed the construction of additional workshops and a developed power plant. Up until this point, works power had come from steam engines, but the capital injection allowed the installation of two 4-cylinder vertical gas engine
s of 200 hp each, designed by the Anderson Foundry Co. of Glasgow
, coupled to three-phase alternators built by Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget of Sweden
. All seemed to be set fair and then the situation changed almost overnight.
on the announcement of World War I
. Machines that had been used to build Austin cars were employed to produce munitions, and all the resources of the factory were harnessed to serve the armed forces.
As the demand for weapons and equipment of every kind continued to increase, the factory was expanded. The area between the existing buildings and the Midland Railway mainline were built on, doubling the amount of covered workspace to over 8 acres (3.2 ha). The expansion also enabled the 1915 construction of Longbridge railway station
within the boundaries of the works, allowing the Midland Railway to run workers trains direct from Birmingham New Street.
By 1917 the factory site trebled in size, and possessed its own flying ground at Cofton Hackett
, south of the main works, which was operated by the newly formed Austin Aero Company. The employees, many of whom were women, rose to over 22,000 during the peak years.
Between 1914 and 1918, over 8,000,000 shells were produced along with 650 guns, 2,000 aeroplanes, 2,500 aero engines and 2,000 trucks.
placed in a covered culvert
, the company began development in June 1916:
, running on paraffin
, which won many agricultural awards between 1919 and 1921. A 13-ton truck
was also produced, using the same engine.
For a short time Austin Aero Company's post-war programme also included a range of aeroplane
s. The Austin Greyhound
2-seater fighter was one, and the Austin Ball single-seater another. Then there was a single-seater biplane
with folding wings, which sold at £500, and a fourth called the Austin Whippet.
After 1921 Austin became interested in smaller vehicles, including a 12 h.p. car and the tiny, and still familiar, Austin 7
. In many ways the car was a miniature version, scaled down with the characteristic simplicity of Lord Austin's products.
the factory was mobilised again. The manufacturing of cars was largely abandoned and the machines were turned to the production of armour-piercing ammunition
for the QF 2-pounder
, QF 6-pounder
and QF 17-pounder
anti-tank guns, steel boxes, jerricans
, mines, depth charges and helmets.
Longbridge also produced parts for tanks, while aircraft were produced at the Austin Aero shadow factory
at nearby Cofton Hackett
. Fairey Battle
light bombers, Mercury
and Pegasus aero engines
were produced, along with the Short Stirling
four-engined heavy bomber and Hawker Hurricane
fighter. Nearly 3,000 aircraft were built, along with 36,000 suspension units.
Bren
guns and mortar
s were manufactured in West Works, in the area later known as West 4 Upper.
Trentham buildings, Number 2 paint shop, was still referred to as the Beaufighter line by some people during the 1970s.
The building known as the Flight Shed in Cofton Lane was where the airframes received their final quality check and wings were fitted to Hurricane fighters. Lancaster wings were fitted as the aircraft left the shed. Hurricanes were lifted up the raised airfield on a motorised skid. The skids were still there at the rear of the Flight Shed during the 1980s. Lancaster bombers were transported by road to RAF Elmdon for flight testing.
Having such a concentration of wartime production meant that the area was a prime target for bombers. Erdington
was made famous for being the very first part of England to be bombed by the Germans, who had presumably been trying to hit Longbridge.
After the war, Leonard Lord
took over as chairman. He laid plans for a rapid expansion, new models, and overseas marketing. In June 1946, the millionth Austin was produced. It was painted in a matt cream and signed by the Chairman and the work-people at a special celebration.
Austin collaborated with Jensen Motors
to manufacture the Austin A40 Sports
, an aluminum bodied four passenger convertible — with bodies manufactured by Jensen at their West Bromwich plant and transferred to Longbridge for final assembly. Later Austin collaborated with the Donald Healey Motor Company
on the Healey 100.
In 1952 Austin was amalgamated with the Morris Motor Company
and became BMC
.
Harold Wilson
's industrial planners arranged for BMC to be amalgamated into British Leyland in 1968.
Derek Robinson, or "Red Robbo" as he was dubbed by the media, became synonymous with the strikes that crippled production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s. Between 1978 and 1979, Mr Robinson, union convenor at Longbridge, was behind 523 disputes at the then government-owned British Leyland (BL) plant, Britain's largest factory at the time. He was eventually sacked amid intense press attacks. Many of the votes for strikes were cast in Cofton Park
opposite Q-Gate.
Expansion work at Longbridge was completed in 1979 to allow a new assembly line for the forthcoming new supermini car, which was launched in 1980 as the Austin Metro. The Metro was in production virtually unchanged for 10 years, becoming one of the most popular cars ever to be produced at the plant.
, which gave it a new lease of life.
The Austin Metro, which had been launched in 1980 and ran until 1990 when it was relaunched as an updated model under the Rover
marque, was easily the most successful product to be produced at Longbridge in the final quarter of the 20th century.
In 1988 the Longbridge plant, along with the rest of Austin Rover, was sold to British Aerospace
, who renamed it as the Rover Group
in 1989.
1989 saw the launch of a new Longbridge-built model, the second generation Rover 200 (the original version had been launched in 1984). The 200 Series was sold as a hatchback, coupe and cabriolet, and also formed the basis of the Rover 400
saloon and estate. It was consistently one of the most popular small family cars in Britain throughout its production life, and remains a common sight on British roads more than a decade after its demise. The 200 was replaced by an all-new model in 1995.
In 1994 BMW
, fearful of their small size in a progressively globalised car market, bought Rover Group and the Longbridge plant passed into the hands of BMW. However, BMW shareholders prevailed and in 2000 Rover was sold to the Phoenix Consortium, who renamed it MG Rover Group, in a management buyout for the token sum of £10.
At the time many financial commentators claimed that the plant was not modern enough and that the company would surely run out of money within a few years. In April 2005, this happened; the Phoenix Consortium put the MG Rover group into administration, leaving more than 6,000 workers without jobs. Another factor in MG Rover's meltdown was the fact that it had not launched an all-new model since the Rover 75
more than six years earlier. In contrast, the likes of Ford
and Vauxhall
, and indeed most other Western Europe
an mass market carmakers, had replaced virtually all of their model ranges since the late 1990s.
production restarted, some three years after the collapse of MG Rover, using only part of the old Austin Works, Austin's original South Works. Most of the rest has been demolished and is to be redeveloped for housing and industry, with a new local centre, south of Longbridge Lane.
The current production facilities at Longbridge have the capacity for employing not more than approximately 1,000 workers. More than half the factory site has been sold off and cleared, and the land reclaimed to be put to use by businesses which will hopefully create up to 10,000 jobs in the next few years.
NAC (Nanjing Aoutomotive Corporation) was acquired by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) during late 2007 into 2008, resulting in the Longbridge site coming under the ownership of SAIC. The UK engineering function known as SMTC (SAIC Motor Technical Centre) UK was moved from its site in Leamington into the Longbridge during 2008. In 2010 the SMTC UK Technical Centre was unveiled showing the engineering areas and styling studio.
During this time the engineers at Longbridge have worked on the MG 6 which is based on the Roewe 550 to make it ready for UK launch. MG Motors was created as the UK manufacturing company for SAIC and in April 2011 began manufacturing the MG 6 from knocked-down kits that come from the SAIC Lingang Plant China.
Longbridge
Longbridge is an area of Birmingham, England. For local government purposes it is a ward within the district of Northfield.Since 1905, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars...
area of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is currently owned by SAIC Group and is a manufacturing and research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary.
Opened in 1905, by the late 1960s Longbridge was the largest car plant in the world and employed around 250,000 workers. A wide variety of products have been produced at the site during its history, although the core product has been cars, most notably the original two-door Mini
Mini
The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
. During the Second World War the main plant produced munitions and tank parts, while the nearby East Works of Austin Aero Ltd at Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is situated 10.3 miles south west of the city centre of Birmingham and 24 miles north east of Worcester...
produced several types of aeroplane such as the Short Stirling
Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was the first four-engined British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Stirling was designed and built by Short Brothers to an Air Ministry specification from 1936, and entered service in 1941...
and the Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
.
Originally founded by an engineer and entrepreneur, the site has had a variety of private owners, as well as a period of state ownership. Since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005 part of the site has been redeveloped for commercial and residential usage. The remaining 69 acres of the site are owned by SAIC.
White and Pike: 1895-1901
The original site and factory development was undertaken by Birmingham-based copper plate printers White and Pike Ltd. Looking to consolidate a number of small sites around Birmingham, and diversify into new areas, they choose a series of 20 agricultural fields to the south of the city in Longbridge, on a site bounded by: Lickey Road; Lowhill Lane; the Midland RailwayMidland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
's main Birmingham to Gloucester mainline
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is a railway route linking Birmingham to Gloucester in England.It is one of the world's oldest main line railways and includes the famous Lickey Incline, a dead-straight stretch of track running up the 1-in-37 gradient of the Lickey Ridge...
; and the Halesowen Joint Railway
Halesowen Joint Railway
The Halesowen Joint Railway was a British pre-grouping railway company that opened a six mile line in 1883 in the Midlands. It later became a joint railway owned by the Midland Railway and the Great Western Railway....
with the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. The purchase also included Cofton Hill, which rose 70 feet (21.3 m) above its surroundings. Designed by Stark & Rowntree of Glasgow and constructed by James Moffatt & Sons of Camp Hill
Camp Hill
-Australia:* Camp Hill, Queensland, a southern suburb of Brisbane* Camp Hill, a prominent hill in Bendigo with public lookout over the CBD-United States:* Camp Hill, Alabama* Camp Hill, Pennsylvania* Camp Hill, Glenn Springs, South Carolina, a historic site...
, the factory was built at a cost of £105,000, opening in the first quarter of 1895. Unfortunately the venture failed, and the site was repossessed by the bank in 1901.
Austin: 1906-1914
Berkshire-bornBerkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
Herbert Austin
Herbert Austin
Herbert 'Pa' Austin, 1st Baron Austin KBE was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company.-Background and early life:...
learnt the engineering trade at the Wolseley
Wolseley Motor Company
The Wolseley Motor Company was a British automobile manufacturer founded in 1901. After 1935 it was incorporated into larger companies but the Wolseley name remained as an upmarket marque until 1975.-History:...
Car manufacturer, working on tools as well as cars. Whilst at Wolseley, Austin produced an experimental three-wheeled car, and then another in 1896 which was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
. This success emboldened him to begin his own business.
In 1905, while working out his notice at the Wolseley Sheep Shearing & Equipment Supply Co. at Aston
Aston
Aston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
, looking to found his own motor car company, Herbert Austin undertook numerous exploratory rides around Birmingham in his Wolseley 7.5 h.p.. On 4 November 1905, he found the derelict printing works
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
, owned by financier E A Olivieri. Friends came forward with financial help, and with additional invoice financing from Frank Kayser of Kayser, Ellison and Company, and Harvey du Cros of the Dunlop Rubber Company, enabled Austin to buy the site and an additional 8 acres (3.2 ha) from Olivieri for £7,500 on the 22nd January 1906.
Austin and his initial workforce of the Austin Motor Company
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...
had in actual fact moved into the derelict buildings before this date, as Austin was so focused on showing his new car at the first British Motor Show, to be held in 1905 at Olympia, London
Olympia, London
Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...
. On paper the first Austin was described as a 25-30 h.p. high-class touring car with a four-speed gearbox and a chain-driven transmission
Transmission (mechanics)
A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...
. Each car had a material and quality guarantee and the first model was produced at the end of March 1906, at a price of £650.
By 1908, there were 1,000 workers at a factory which covered 4 acres (1.6 ha); a night shift was introduced to help create adequate supply to meet the rising demand for products. In February 1914, the Company was changed to public ownership and the market capitalization
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
was increased to £50,000, which allowed the construction of additional workshops and a developed power plant. Up until this point, works power had come from steam engines, but the capital injection allowed the installation of two 4-cylinder vertical gas engine
Gas engine
A gas engine means an engine running on a gas, such as coal gas, producer gas biogas, landfill gas, or natural gas. In the UK, the term is unambiguous...
s of 200 hp each, designed by the Anderson Foundry Co. of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, coupled to three-phase alternators built by Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. All seemed to be set fair and then the situation changed almost overnight.
World War I
The Longbridge plant was part of a significant rapid mobilisation process which took place across EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on the announcement of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Machines that had been used to build Austin cars were employed to produce munitions, and all the resources of the factory were harnessed to serve the armed forces.
As the demand for weapons and equipment of every kind continued to increase, the factory was expanded. The area between the existing buildings and the Midland Railway mainline were built on, doubling the amount of covered workspace to over 8 acres (3.2 ha). The expansion also enabled the 1915 construction of Longbridge railway station
Longbridge railway station
Longbridge railway station serves the Longbridge area in the south-west of Birmingham, England. It is on the Cross City Line. The station and all trains calling there are operated by London Midland.-History:...
within the boundaries of the works, allowing the Midland Railway to run workers trains direct from Birmingham New Street.
By 1917 the factory site trebled in size, and possessed its own flying ground at Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is situated 10.3 miles south west of the city centre of Birmingham and 24 miles north east of Worcester...
, south of the main works, which was operated by the newly formed Austin Aero Company. The employees, many of whom were women, rose to over 22,000 during the peak years.
Between 1914 and 1918, over 8,000,000 shells were produced along with 650 guns, 2,000 aeroplanes, 2,500 aero engines and 2,000 trucks.
North works: 1917
With the need to expand capacity, the company bought Longbridge farm. Located north of the existing site, it became known as Longbridge North works, bounded again by the railways, Bristol Road and Longbridge Lane. After the farm buildings had been demolished and the River ReaRiver Rea
The River Rea is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. The name of the river derives from a root found in many Indo-European languages and means "to run" or "to flow". It frequently bursts its banks after heavy rain....
placed in a covered culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
, the company began development in June 1916:
- Machine shop 850 ft x 270 ft finished by December 1916
- Forge which became operational in March 1917
- Mess room seating 4000
- Administrative blocks
- Power house, equipped with twelve Lancashire boilers, which powered 3*l500kW turbo generators to supply 386 electric motors
The interwar years
Before the end of the war, plans were announced for concentrating on the production of a 20 h.p. car when peace returned. The engine used for the 20 h.p. model was adapted for an Austin tractorTractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
, running on paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
, which won many agricultural awards between 1919 and 1921. A 13-ton truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
was also produced, using the same engine.
For a short time Austin Aero Company's post-war programme also included a range of aeroplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
s. The Austin Greyhound
Austin Greyhound
|-See also:-External links:*...
2-seater fighter was one, and the Austin Ball single-seater another. Then there was a single-seater biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
with folding wings, which sold at £500, and a fourth called the Austin Whippet.
After 1921 Austin became interested in smaller vehicles, including a 12 h.p. car and the tiny, and still familiar, Austin 7
Austin 7
The Austin 7 was a car produced from 1922 through to 1939 in the United Kingdom by the Austin Motor Company. Nicknamed the "Baby Austin", it was one of the most popular cars ever produced for the British market, and sold well abroad...
. In many ways the car was a miniature version, scaled down with the characteristic simplicity of Lord Austin's products.
World War II
On the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the factory was mobilised again. The manufacturing of cars was largely abandoned and the machines were turned to the production of armour-piercing ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
for the QF 2-pounder
Ordnance QF 2 pounder
The Ordnance QF 2-pounder was a British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted gun, employed in the Second World War. It was actively used in the Battle of France, and during the North Africa campaign...
, QF 6-pounder
Ordnance QF 6 pounder
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6 pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, their primary anti-tank gun during the middle of World War II, as well as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles...
and QF 17-pounder
Ordnance QF 17 pounder
The Ordnance Quick-Firing 17 pounder was a 76.2 mm gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. It was the most effective Allied anti-tank gun of the war...
anti-tank guns, steel boxes, jerricans
Jerrycan
A jerrycan is a robust fuel container originally made from pressed steel. It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold 20 litres of fuel. The development of the Jerrycan was a huge improvement on earlier designs, which required tools and funnels to use.-Uses:Today similar...
, mines, depth charges and helmets.
Longbridge also produced parts for tanks, while aircraft were produced at the Austin Aero shadow factory
British shadow factories
British shadow factories were a plan developed by the British Government to implement additional manufacturing capacity for the British aircraft industry, in the build up to World War II...
at nearby Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is situated 10.3 miles south west of the city centre of Birmingham and 24 miles north east of Worcester...
. Fairey Battle
Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company in the late 1930s for the Royal Air Force. The Battle was powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that gave contemporary British fighters high performance; however, the Battle was weighed...
light bombers, Mercury
Bristol Mercury
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Bridgman, L, Jane's fighting aircraft of World War II. Crescent. ISBN 0-517-67964-7* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9...
and Pegasus aero engines
Aircraft engine
An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
were produced, along with the Short Stirling
Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was the first four-engined British heavy bomber of the Second World War. The Stirling was designed and built by Short Brothers to an Air Ministry specification from 1936, and entered service in 1941...
four-engined heavy bomber and Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
fighter. Nearly 3,000 aircraft were built, along with 36,000 suspension units.
Bren
Bren
The Bren, usually called the Bren Gun, was a series of light machine guns adopted by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1991...
guns and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
s were manufactured in West Works, in the area later known as West 4 Upper.
Trentham buildings, Number 2 paint shop, was still referred to as the Beaufighter line by some people during the 1970s.
The building known as the Flight Shed in Cofton Lane was where the airframes received their final quality check and wings were fitted to Hurricane fighters. Lancaster wings were fitted as the aircraft left the shed. Hurricanes were lifted up the raised airfield on a motorised skid. The skids were still there at the rear of the Flight Shed during the 1980s. Lancaster bombers were transported by road to RAF Elmdon for flight testing.
Having such a concentration of wartime production meant that the area was a prime target for bombers. Erdington
Erdington
Erdington is a suburb northeast of Birmingham city centre, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
was made famous for being the very first part of England to be bombed by the Germans, who had presumably been trying to hit Longbridge.
After the war
Leonard Lord
Leonard Percy Lord, 1st Baron Lambury KBE was a captain of the British motor industry.-Background and education:...
took over as chairman. He laid plans for a rapid expansion, new models, and overseas marketing. In June 1946, the millionth Austin was produced. It was painted in a matt cream and signed by the Chairman and the work-people at a special celebration.
Austin collaborated with Jensen Motors
Jensen Motors
Jensen Motors Ltd was a British manufacturer of sports cars and commercial vehicles, based in the Lyng – West Bromwich...
to manufacture the Austin A40 Sports
Austin A40 Sports
See Austin A40 for other A40 models.The Austin A40 Sports debuted at the 1949 London Motor Show as a four-passenger, aluminium-bodied convertible version of the Austin A40 — carrying an Austin of England nameplate, bearing the marque's Flying A hood ornament, and designed and manufactured in...
, an aluminum bodied four passenger convertible — with bodies manufactured by Jensen at their West Bromwich plant and transferred to Longbridge for final assembly. Later Austin collaborated with the Donald Healey Motor Company
Donald Healey Motor Company
-History:It was formed in 1945 by Donald Healey, a renowned auto engineer and successful racing driver. It was formed after Healey discussed sports car design with Achille Sampietro, a chassis specialist for high performance cars and Ben Bowden, a body engineer, when all three worked at Humber...
on the Healey 100.
In 1952 Austin was amalgamated with the Morris Motor Company
Morris Motor Company
The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...
and became BMC
British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...
.
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
's industrial planners arranged for BMC to be amalgamated into British Leyland in 1968.
Nationalisation
The British Leyland company ran into financial difficulties and was refinanced by the government in 1975. The government thus became the dominant shareholder, but unlike most nationalised industries, British Leyland (later called BL) remained a public company.Derek Robinson, or "Red Robbo" as he was dubbed by the media, became synonymous with the strikes that crippled production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s. Between 1978 and 1979, Mr Robinson, union convenor at Longbridge, was behind 523 disputes at the then government-owned British Leyland (BL) plant, Britain's largest factory at the time. He was eventually sacked amid intense press attacks. Many of the votes for strikes were cast in Cofton Park
Cofton Park
Cofton Park is a park located in south Birmingham, England.-History:The 135 acres of land land was acquired by Birmingham City Council in 1933 for £10,640 , from the trustees for William Walter Hinde...
opposite Q-Gate.
Expansion work at Longbridge was completed in 1979 to allow a new assembly line for the forthcoming new supermini car, which was launched in 1980 as the Austin Metro. The Metro was in production virtually unchanged for 10 years, becoming one of the most popular cars ever to be produced at the plant.
Privatisation and subsequent liquidation
By the 1980s BL had been severely rationalised, and many businesses and other factories within its empire had either been closed or sold off. It had also entered into a collaborative deal with the Japanese firm HondaHonda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
, which gave it a new lease of life.
The Austin Metro, which had been launched in 1980 and ran until 1990 when it was relaunched as an updated model under the Rover
Rover
-Leyland companies:* Rover Company , a British motorcycle and car manufacturing company, absorbed into Leyland Motor Corporation in 1967* Austin Rover Group , a mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of Leyland...
marque, was easily the most successful product to be produced at Longbridge in the final quarter of the 20th century.
In 1988 the Longbridge plant, along with the rest of Austin Rover, was sold to British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
, who renamed it as the Rover Group
Rover Group
The Rover Group plc was the name given in 1986 to the British state-owned vehicle manufacturer previously known as British Leyland or BL. Owned by British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, when it was sold to BMW, the Group was broken up in 2000 with the Rover and MG marques being acquired by the MG...
in 1989.
1989 saw the launch of a new Longbridge-built model, the second generation Rover 200 (the original version had been launched in 1984). The 200 Series was sold as a hatchback, coupe and cabriolet, and also formed the basis of the Rover 400
Rover 400
The second generation 400 Series, codenamed Theta or HH-R, was launched in the summer of 1995 as a hatchback and later a saloon. This time it was based on the Honda Domani, which had been released in Japan in 1992, and was sold as part of the European Honda Civic range in five-door hatchback form...
saloon and estate. It was consistently one of the most popular small family cars in Britain throughout its production life, and remains a common sight on British roads more than a decade after its demise. The 200 was replaced by an all-new model in 1995.
In 1994 BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
, fearful of their small size in a progressively globalised car market, bought Rover Group and the Longbridge plant passed into the hands of BMW. However, BMW shareholders prevailed and in 2000 Rover was sold to the Phoenix Consortium, who renamed it MG Rover Group, in a management buyout for the token sum of £10.
At the time many financial commentators claimed that the plant was not modern enough and that the company would surely run out of money within a few years. In April 2005, this happened; the Phoenix Consortium put the MG Rover group into administration, leaving more than 6,000 workers without jobs. Another factor in MG Rover's meltdown was the fact that it had not launched an all-new model since the Rover 75
Rover 75
The Rover 75 is an executive car produced initially by the Rover Group at Cowley, Oxfordshire, UK, and later by MG Rover at their Longbridge site in Birmingham, UK...
more than six years earlier. In contrast, the likes of Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
and Vauxhall
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
, and indeed most other Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an mass market carmakers, had replaced virtually all of their model ranges since the late 1990s.
Nanjing and SAIC ownership
The Chinese automobile company Nanjing acquired the remaining assets of MG Rover, including the lease to the Longbridge plant, three months after it went into receivership. In August 2008 MG TFMG TF
The TF model name has been used on two automobiles produced by MG Cars:* MG TF Midget * MG TF...
production restarted, some three years after the collapse of MG Rover, using only part of the old Austin Works, Austin's original South Works. Most of the rest has been demolished and is to be redeveloped for housing and industry, with a new local centre, south of Longbridge Lane.
The current production facilities at Longbridge have the capacity for employing not more than approximately 1,000 workers. More than half the factory site has been sold off and cleared, and the land reclaimed to be put to use by businesses which will hopefully create up to 10,000 jobs in the next few years.
NAC (Nanjing Aoutomotive Corporation) was acquired by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) during late 2007 into 2008, resulting in the Longbridge site coming under the ownership of SAIC. The UK engineering function known as SMTC (SAIC Motor Technical Centre) UK was moved from its site in Leamington into the Longbridge during 2008. In 2010 the SMTC UK Technical Centre was unveiled showing the engineering areas and styling studio.
During this time the engineers at Longbridge have worked on the MG 6 which is based on the Roewe 550 to make it ready for UK launch. MG Motors was created as the UK manufacturing company for SAIC and in April 2011 began manufacturing the MG 6 from knocked-down kits that come from the SAIC Lingang Plant China.