1950s British cars' export prospects as seen by a foreigner

"If you accidental upon a new Austin with overseas numberplates, it isn’t truly accidental astatine all. For since the warfare tens of thousands of Austins person gone abroad. Why so? Two reasons mainly.

"First, due to the fact that Austins are precise decently known arsenic the dependable cars. Second, due to the fact that there’s thing young and precise lively astir them.”

Those words are from May 1957, but not words written by Autocar, alternatively Austin itself, successful an advert featuring the Swiss country pictured above. Were they truthful?

For the answer, flick done the aforesaid mag to find a ‘neutral analysis’ of British cars’ overseas prospects by Swiss writer Robert Braunschweig.

He wrote: “For a fig of post-war years, the British industry’s export figures were acold higher, some successful implicit figures and successful proportionality to their full production, than those of their competitors.

"The spectacular emergence of the German manufacture and, lately, the precise overmuch accrued export enactment of the French and Italian firms person changed the concern successful galore markets wherever British firms had enjoyed state of action. In addition, galore economical and governmental barriers person been erected successful countries which formerly absorbed British cars without restriction.

Enjoy full acccess to the implicit Autocar archive astatine themagazineshop.com

“The precise successes of the post-war years created problems for the British firms. Whereas the wide scarcity of cars made income precise easy, their prime and durability was not ever wholly satisfactory. Non-British [cars], with which these were replaced successful the aboriginal 1950s, did not endure from these defects. Even contiguous the after-effect of this play has not been flooded entirely.

“The British manufacture unsocial offers astir arsenic galore antithetic models arsenic each its competitors taken together. Not each categories look arsenic good represented, however, and determination is simply a notable lack of vehicles susceptible of holding their ain against the [burgeoning] new minicar class.

"There’s different deficiency of prime successful the airy medium-sized category, wherever lone 2 British models person to transportation the value of conflict against 7 Continental models. But successful each different classes, the British manufacture is numerically good represented.

“It seems the assorted nationalist industries thin to amended features successful which they person ever excelled [and] find it overmuch much hard to marque advancement successful [other areas]. Thus the power, saccharine moving and reliability of British engines person adjacent much improved of late.

"The interior dimensions and the appointments of the medium-sized British car are unsurpassed contiguous arsenic overmuch arsenic successful the past. [But] a antithetic concern prevails [regarding] handling and riding. Beyond immoderate shadiness of doubt, the behaviour of [British cars is] overmuch amended successful their autochthonal crushed than anyplace else.

“Even styling is taxable to geographical influences. In England, the reticent and often somewhat blimpish styling of adjacent immoderate of the newest cars is successful keeping with their surroundings, and immoderate of the Continental cars which 1 has praised look alternatively crude and blatant; but backmost location the refined British saloons abruptly seen alternatively old-fashioned and drab.

“As acold arsenic prices are concerned, [British cars] are not severely placed. This is not ever the case, however, [as regards] existent export prices. Whereas immoderate industries bask important export assistance from their governments, this does not look to beryllium the lawsuit [in Britain].

“These ideas look to amusement that the presumption quo tin beryllium maintained without undue effort. Winning backmost mislaid markets, however, requires a prolonged and astir superhuman effort from each concerned.”

You whitethorn beryllium expecting this nonfiction to extremity with damning, depressing stats – but not quite. In 1957, Britain built 0.86m cars and exported 0.43m. Production peaked astatine 1.9m successful 1972, but conscionable 0.61m went abroad.

Both metrics sank thereafter, bottoming retired astatine 0.9m and 0.2m successful 1984. But they soared backmost up again done the 1990s and successful 2016 peaked astatine 1.7m and 1.35m. Covid earnestly damaged the industry’s health, of course, but it has recovered earlier and has some the quality and the accidental to bash truthful again.