Some Nissan and Toyota cars are more 'British' than MGs, it's no wonder they're popular
Tom Jervis explains everything you need to consider if you want to buy British with your next car
What does being British mean? With all that’s going on in the news, it’s a question many of us are asking ourselves. It’s worth asking of the UK car industry, too.
While British cars once dominated the sales charts, our roads are now much more multinational. Brands and models from the likes of Europe, Japan, Korea and now even China are making their way to our shores.
But with global conglomerates having their fingers in the pies of almost every single automotive company, and foreign car makers shifting production around the world, if you want to buy British, where should your money go? The answer is complicated, because nailing down what is a ‘British’ car isn’t easy.
Take Jaguar Land Rover, for example; the firm may originate from the UK and build most of its cars in Solihull, but the company is owned by India’s giant Tata Group. It’s a similar story for MINI; the original Morris Mini-Minor was a product of the British Motor Corporation, but the brand now falls under the BMW Group’s German umbrella.
On the other hand, you have brands like Vauxhall and MG. Both are British badges owned by foreign companies and although the former only produces electric vans in the UK – the rest of Vauxhall’s line-up are rebadged Opels built mainly in Germany – the latter assembles its cars in China.
Finally, there’s the Nissan Qashqai. Despite wearing the name of a Japanese manufacturer, the Qashqai was originally designed (at least in part) by a Brit and is manufactured in Sunderland. Plus, the Qashqai has been a regular at the top of the nation’s new-car sales charts for almost two decades. So, does this make it more British than a Vauxhall or MG?
Regardless, just as the UK has taken foreign cuisine to its heart, international influence has added spice and variety not only to our British brands, but also to our car industry in general.
So if you’re looking to buy British, you might need to look a little further than the badge; brands such as MG can trace little more than their logo back to Blighty. But several seemingly foreign brands, such as Toyota (with the Corolla) and the aforementioned Nissan, build their cars on British soil, benefitting from the skills of British workers while also injecting some of their own overseas flair.
Considering some of the atrocities that came out of BMC and subsequently British Leyland, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
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