We are beginning to finalise the details of our Easter holiday
plans. While much of this journey will be using rail, we
will also have to hire a car while in Exeter for a couple of days.
This means that we want to hire a British car to complete this leg
of the journey (from a British hire company). We suspect that this
might be difficult and are not adverse to hiring a classic British
car if needs be.
However, to help us we are compiling a
comprehensive list of current cars manufactured in the UK.
Here it is, but if you do notice any omissions (no matter how
impractical) or know of any hire companies we can use
please let us know:
British Owned Make Models Location Owned by Bristol Cars All Bristol UK - Frazer-Nash Morgan All Worcestershire UK - Morgan Motors Mclaren All Woking McLaren Group Lotus All Norfolk UK - Lotus Group The London Taxi All Coventry UK - Manganese Bronze Peel All Unknown UK - Peel Engineering Catherham All Caterham UK - Catherham Group Made in GB Mini All Oxford German - BMW Honda Civic/CRV/Jazz Swindon Japan - Honda Toyota Auris/Aventis Derbyshire Japan - Toyota Nissan Micra/Qashqai/Note Sunderland Japan - Nissan Aston Martin All Warwickshire Kuwait Bentley All Crewe German - Volkswagen Rolls Royce All Goodwood German - BMW Jaguar All West Midlands India - Tata motors Landrover All Liverpool India - Tata motors MG Motors All Birmingham Chinese - SAIC Motor Vauxhall Astra Ellesmere Port American - GM Vauxhall Vivaro (Van) Luton American - GM
For a uk holiday – if u pack the kitchen sink like we do – I surgesst a land rover lol !
I would suggest contacting a dealer for one of the “made in GB” cars, ask them about renting. You could also give them some free publicity as part of the deal, they may like that.
How about caterham cars…
Well thats it then, you will have to beg or borrow a Mclaren as they do a three seater, driver in front, 2 passengers staggered behind, luggage, oh well you wont need that if your driving an F1, the perfect practical family holiday mobile, and ever so slightly quick.. Enjoy..
Aren’t Lotus owned by Proton of Malaysia now? Anyway why not try to hire an old classic car I think there are hire companies that do things like Classic Jags from the time they were UK owned.
Sorry to let you know, Manganese Bronze has been sold to the Chinese this morning.
Micra now made in india
As of today, the London Taxi Company is Chinese owned (heard on 5Live). Will continue to be made in Coventry though. Not that I imagine you were seriously considering a black hackney carriage for your Easter Trip! 😉
I think lotus is owned by Proton who I don’t believe are British
Campervans/motor home any easier to find?
Morris Minor Convertible, made in Oxford at that time by the British Motor Corporation (we think) available for hire for only £187 a day near Bodmin station…. Start saving those pennies!
I hate to say it but I have just been told that The London Taxi company has been taken over by a Chinese company !
The DeLorean DMC-12 was made in Northern Ireland if that counts.. one of those would be pretty cool to drive around in!
Even though most car companies are not British, the components are, so maybe an exercise would be for everyone to find the car made with the highest % of UK parts!
BMW Minis, The 4×4 version is made in Austria not Cowley. The Current Nissan Micra is now made in India. With regards to UK parts in cars, Peugeot and Citroen Diesel engines are made at the PSA/Ford Dagenham plant.
With regards to a car company being British owned, it depends on who the majority share holder is, Lotus for example are a British Company, but the majority share holder is Malaysian. London Taxis international have been 20% owned by Chinese Geely for years, however since LTI’s UK parent has just gone into administration it’s likely Geely will buy the remaining portion of the company.
Impractical certainly but Noble Automotive seem to be missing from the list.
Lots of errors on this list. Manganese Bronze (i,e, London Taxi) sold out to Geely of China in February 2013, Lotus have been owned by Proton of Malaysia since 1996. Mini Countryman and Mini Paceman are made in Austria, not the UK.
Rolls Royce cars are made in Germany and ‘finished’ in the UK only. The Bentley Flying Spur hails from Dresden, Germany, not Crewe.
At Nissan the Micra has switched to India, although the Juke has taken it’s place on the Sunderland production line.
On another positive note, Jaguar Land Rover, whilst in Indian ownership has been re-investing the vast majority of it’s gross profits in new product development, facilities, training and new staff. The new models (all UK built) will come thick and fast this year and in subsequent years. They are planning to build cars in China and India, but they’ll be for local sale in those markets. It’s a success story still going largely unreported.