Great British Cars

Britain has long been one of the world’s most advanced industrial nations, and its automakers have contributed some of the greatest cars ever built. Although some of these brands have disappeared into the corporate ether, others are still alive and well today.

The British have an affinity for small, nimble sports cars that pack a lot of punch into their compact frames. One of the first examples was BMC’s Mini, which revolutionized the small car sector when it launched in 1959 and remained popular until its last incarnation in 2000. The Mini’s rival, the Rootes Group’s Hillman Imp, was a more rugged alternative for those looking for a family-oriented model.

Other companies produced more utilitarian models for those who wanted to get off the beaten track, such as the Land Rover, which can be found traversing continents and being used by military forces. And, of course, there are the high-performance, open-top sportscars from the likes of TVR and Jaguar.

As a result, the UK has had some of the most significant innovations in car design and production in recent history, and many of these have been embraced all over the world. The 1970s saw the advent of front-wheel drive in British-built cars, which had been pioneered by BMC, while hatchbacks became more commonplace as well. It was also the decade when the BMW Mini and Mercedes-Benz W123 paved the way for modern minicars.

But the 1980s were a tumultuous time for the British auto industry. By this point, most major players had been absorbed into other European or American parent companies and were losing ground to competing foreign manufacturers. Ford, Peugeot, and Citroen were gaining market share in Britain while Renault, Volkswagen (West Germany), and Volvo (Sweden) were making headway as well. BL, which was the largest British automaker at the time, struggled to stay afloat and in 1981 replaced its popular Viva model with the more expensive Astra, which was essentially a rebadged Opel Cavalier from Europe.

Luckily, a few of the great British brands have survived this period of decline and have continued to produce exceptional models for their loyal followers. Some of these include the Morgan Motor Company, which produces around 850 hand-assembled vehicles each year in Malvern and is the antidote to mass production; the Jensen Interceptor, an iconic musclecar that’s as fast as it is beautiful; and, of course, Jaguar’s E Type, which is arguably the world’s most stunning car and certainly the fastest road-going one-off of its time. And, while the Nissan Qashqai might not be as memorable as an MG or a Cobra, it’s still a fine vehicle that heralded the rise of the SUV crossover. That’s quite an achievement for a model that started life as a prototype in Sunderland. The next generation of the Qashqai will arrive in 2023, and it’s sure to be equally impressive. Check out the photos below to see just what we mean.