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Producing high-quality cars
- With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market overtaking Ford to become in 1924 the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market and remaining enormously profitable.
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Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's ...
Dec 14, 2023 · Founded by William Morris, one of the pivotal figures in the evolution of the British car industry, Morris Motors’ history is replete with some of the most iconic British cars ever built, until a descent into obscurity in the 1980s finally put paid to the famous marque.
A long and distinguished history. During the next 72 years, the name Morris became synonymous with the British car industry, producing some of the nation’s best loved cars. The empire that William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) built up was enviable, and included the evocative names of SU and MG.
Morris cars take their name from William Richard Morris, born in Worcester in 1877. Aged fourteen, he started work in the cycle trade, starting in business in Oxford, initially as a cycle repairer, but later running a car hire business.
- Early History
- Inter-War Years
- Second World War
- Post-World War II Production
- BMC
- British Leyland
Morris Motors began in 1912 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris moved on from the sale, hire, and repair of cars to car manufacturing. He planned a new light car assembled from bought-in components. In this way he was able to retain ownership by keeping within the bounds of his own capital resources. A factory was opened in 1913 at former Oxfo...
After the war the Continental engine was no longer available so Morris arranged for Hotchkiss of France to make a near-copy in their Coventry factory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-market Morris Oxford cars. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business cont...
In the summer of 1938 Morris agreed to build equip and manage a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich, which was built specifically to manufacture Supermarine Spitfires. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production of jerry cans, producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the r...
Production restarted after World War II, with the pre-war Eight and Ten designs. In 1948 the Eight was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, the Morris Minor designed by Alec Issigonis (who later went on to design the Mini) and reusing the small car name from 1928. The Ten was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford, styled like a l...
In 1952 the Nuffield Organisation merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation. Badge-engineering was important to BMC and for many years the...
In 1968, in further rationalisations of the British motor industry, BMC became part of the newly formed British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and subsequently, in 1975, the nationalised British Leyland Limited (BL). The Morris marque continued to be used until the early 1980s on cars such as the Morris Marina. The Morris Ital (essentially a fac...
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Dec 18, 2021 · For his first generation of cars, Morris took an existing engine from White and Poppe, an established engine builder; axles and steering from Wrigley in Birmingham; a radiator from Doherty in Coventry; and a body from Raworth in Oxford, while Sankey provided the wheels.
Dec 18, 2021 · By 1927, Morris was selling over 60,000 cars, around 35% of the market. Ford’s UK assembly plant was down to just 6,200 in 1928 from over 25,000 a few years earlier, as the Model T aged and battled against the McKenna duties and cars more suitable for Europe.
