the 'my car is foreign, innit' thread

You sure. Vauxhall is owned by General Motors (American) European subsidary Opel (German). All Corsas are built in Spain. Not very British.

Mods - these posts are getting off topic. Could the topic be split and moved into OOF. Sorry for cluttering EdiGary's thread!
 
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh come on, who made this thread? come on own up?

I don't actully mind if my car is half german, good engineering :D

who said innit aswell? if i did it's just out of text talk sowwie
 
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Don't worry Jay, it's what the mods do when i say a word that they can have a laugh at...............................Why don't i think before i post innit? :lol: :lol:

Andrew....This is what i read dunno if it is true :D British is the first word there though hehehehe
 
Vauxhall is ran from Switzerland :D
 
I asked for this section to be moved from another thread, to preserve that thread.

Tony's Vauxhall Corsa which he proudly boasted as being BRITISH isn't...

Vauxhall UK is owned by part of Opel. Opel HQ is in Germany. Opel is owned by General Motors, an American Company which is in big financial doodoo. The Corsa is built mainly in Spain, but all around the world - except Britain.

Vauxhall was originally started in the Vauxhall area of London by Alexander Wilson. The Americans bought the company in 1925. Vauxhall's HQ is in Luton. GM is Detroit.

That Wiki page is mostly correct. Except they don't own Lotus - they did but it was sold to the Italians and is now owned by Proton.
 
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What IS the British car industry these days? Morgan and the London Taxi Cab? A few bits of assembly work for the French, Germans and Japanese? Maybe a few kit car companies selling key-turns?
 
Morgan
Noble
Ariel
Ginetta
Aston Martin
McLaren
Caterham

Aston Martin is under Prodrives control but a lot of the money came from Kuwait. McLaren are 40% owned by Mercedes, with 30% owned by Bahrain and Saudi-Arabia
Many of these will have foreign investment.

There are a lot of kit car builders who sometimes produce turnkeys eg Ultima - although a number of these are actually built in South Africa, Argentina....
 
Is TVR still made, or should that be put together, in Blackpool?
Seem to remember they were bought by someone but can't remember who.
 
TVR was bought by Nikolay Smolensky. Production ceased in the UK although a few Sagaris2 cars have been at a Barn in Wesham, Lancs although I'm not sure where the car is actually made - some say Bertone in Italy.
 
andrewc said:
I asked for this section to be moved from another thread, to preserve that thread.

Tony's Vauxhall Corsa which he proudly boasted as being BRITISH isn't...

Vauxhall UK is owned by part of Opel. Opel HQ is in Germany. Opel is owned by General Motors, an American Company which is in big financial doodoo. The Corsa is built mainly in Spain, but all around the world - except Britain.

Vauxhall was originally started in the Vauxhall area of London by Alexander Wilson. The Americans bought the company in 1925. Vauxhall's HQ is in Luton. GM is Detroit.

That Wiki page is mostly correct. Except they don't own Lotus - they did but it was sold to the Italians and is now owned by Proton.
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Oh it's good i like spain then isn't it? :lol: would exsplain why there all lots of corsa b's over there :lol:

Tony
 
Nod said:
What IS the British car industry these days? Morgan and the London Taxi Cab? A few bits of assembly work for the French, Germans and Japanese? Maybe a few kit car companies selling key-turns?
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LTI Carbodies, when I did some work for them years ago they were a division of Manganese Bronze.

Alvis were still around although only making 'heavy duty' cars these days. I thinkn they were taken over by GKN.
 
So is my Fiat Stilo really from Turin, Italy, or is it made in a little sweat shop in Guatemala?
 
The Stilo is built in Cassino, Frosinone which is about half way down the boot of Italy on the left hand side. Fiat HQ is in Torino.

Stilos are also made in Brazil for the South American market.
 
andrewc said:
Stilos are also made in Brazil for the South American market.
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That I knew, because they're a bit different on the specs too, to be honest I'd just assumed that Fiats were all built in Torino (Even though I saw a Fiat factory in Pila on a ski trip a few years ago :p)
 
There are lots of race teams as well. More in the UK than anywhere else probably. Radicals are made in Peterborough and can be bought in a road legal form (although no-one in their right mind would want to use one on the road!)

Nilagin can advise on Fords, but I think the only Ford made in the UK is the Tranny, and thats changing soon and it will just be chassis and engines.
 
Is it where it's made, or where the owners are that counts?

Micra's are made in Sunderland, but are owned by the Japanese.
Vauxhall's a British brand, made in Spain, Germany and god knows where else, and owned by the US.

You want to bring back the Allegro and the Marina???
 
andrewc said:
There are lots of race teams as well. More in the UK than anywhere else probably. Radicals are made in Peterborough and can be bought in a road legal form (although no-one in their right mind would want to use one on the road!)

Nilagin can advise on Fords, but I think the only Ford made in the UK is the Tranny, and thats changing soon and it will just be chassis and engines.
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I wouldn't mind having a go.:naughty::lol:
That is true, but with the current climate, our concern is Ford may have to rethink that too and close the plant all together. One of the Ford Europe bosses came over today and we are expecting an announcement of some kind, probably redundancies.:(
 
nilagin said:
I wouldn't mind having a go.:naughty::lol:
That is true, but with the current climate, our concern is Ford may have to rethink that too and close the plant all together. One of the Ford Europe bosses came over today and we are expecting an announcement of some kind, probably redundancies.:(
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this is what i dont get.. why are the car companies closing all the UK factories. With the weak pound we should be the perfect place to be making cars at the moment.
And the news that some companies are putting up the prices of their cars because of the lack of demand just sounds like crazyness. putting up the price isnt going to increase demand. All the high street shops are having sales, and the car companies are doing the opposite.
 
badgerbaiter said:
this is what i dont get.. why are the car companies closing all the UK factories. With the weak pound we should be the perfect place to be making cars at the moment.
And the news that some companies are putting up the prices of their cars because of the lack of demand just sounds like crazyness. putting up the price isnt going to increase demand. All the high street shops are having sales, and the car companies are doing the opposite.
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You have those the wrong way round. Ford and Vauxhall have increased their prices because of the weak pound. It's the price the dealers get the car for which has increased, as to whether that gets passed onto the buying public will be down to the dealers. The reason I fear the Southampton plant being closed is currently they have an order for 22 vans for February. That's not even a days production. With a plant in Turkey capable of making these and the Transit Connect, what is the point in keeping a plant open that produces just one model in effect instead of two. All other Ford plants in Europe bulid more than one model, meaning varying productions as needs must. Southampton however are unable to do this. When production drops to just the chassis cabs then this will make the plant even less cost effective.
Alot of other car manufacturers have already announced temporary plant closures (Honda, BMW) Ford haven't thus far, just reduced working week at the moment, I'm not sure but this could be that Ford haven't been stock piling new cars and only building to order for a while.
 
badgerbaiter said:
Sorry my bad. Got a but confused and assumed they were putting up the prices of uk built cars too
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If the dealers prices remain the same as before, technically people may think they are getting more money off and a better deal I suppose.:thinking::lol:
 
I've seen one Vauxhall dealer advertising the Vectra 1.9Td (not sure what model) and giving a Corsa away free.
 
nilagin said:
I've seen one Vauxhall dealer advertising the Vectra 1.9Td (not sure what model) and giving a Corsa away free.
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thats nothing to do with economics, and everything to do with them being a pile of toot.

Im still trying to scrub the smell of plastic out of my cloths from driving a corsa while waiting for my focus to be bought. the steering wheel was the same moulded plastic as everything else in the car. :puke:

then vauxhall start showing an advert with muppets driving...:nuts:
 
matty said:
then vauxhall start showing an advert with muppets driving...:nuts:
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It's called realistic advertising :p

All of our MT Fleet cars are vauxhalls...that's why I drive my Fiat when on duty and claim the expenses.
I can't stand Vauxhalls.

I want to hurt them.

With a lump hammer :nuts:
 
There is no british industry at all any more, even those companies that are still british owned just assemble parts made in other countries.

In the 60s and 70s Leyland Trucks made the whole truck, everything was constructed in workshops from the smallest gear to a whole engine, now they manufacture nothing on site , it all comes in on trucks to the assembly plant which is why we're not competitive any more.

now the pound is at an all time low against the dollar and the euro british industry should be booming but as we source everything from europe and china which mostly deals in the US dollar we aren't

We're all doomed i tell you, doomed
 
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