The British are unambiguously the architects of their own failure.

In 1960 the UK was the second largest manufacturer of cars in the world, imported little, and exported ~40% of UK production. BL (or the bits of it) had a ~40% market share.

I might be corrected by economic historians, but I think this is because we had a captive commonwealth market with large tariffs imposed on foreign cars.

We can debate endlessly whether it was the fault of unreasonable unions, incompetent management or inadequate government - but the UK failed where Germany thrived......

.....possibly mainly because the educated English generally looked down their noses at excelling at anything that might get their hands dirty, loftily proud of their ignorance of how things worked.

We can debate endlessly whether it was the fault of unreasonable unions, incompetent management or inadequate government - but the UK failed where Germany thrived.

We live in a country where both workers and management often expect rewards while doing the bare minimum. When a pushy boss emerges to boost profit, they sometimes end up exploiting workers, cutting quality or taking unfair advantage of customers instead of improving the actual product or service. But we’re in a global race, and that leaves no room for complacency. Other nations were eager for a share of Britain's wealth.

How many people truly take pride in doing their jobs well?

Voting for Brexit was never going to restore prosperity or take Britain back to the 1960s. It was a fanciful idea. Let’s be honest: very few people dream of working manual factory jobs. And even if someone were to open a factory today, workers might soon feel exploited, whether or not it’s true. That creates a toxic environment. Perhaps that’s why there’s little backlash when UK factories are owned by foreign corporations. A British owner, by contrast, might be vilified, just look at how Dyson has been portrayed in the media. As a country, we resent rich people.

The UK tax system is hostile to entrepreneurs. It favours large global corporations, while burdens like inheritance tax discourage investment. Instead of building businesses, the wealthy often park their money in farmland to avoid tax, resources that could otherwise create jobs and economic value. Yes, inequality can be uncomfortable. And yes, some people flaunt wealth, but many of them go bust. However, some do amazing things and ensuring that wealth can be used productively, including being passed on to fund new ventures.

Many people in comfortable professions seem disengaged. I recently spoke with a lawyer who mentioned he had important business meeting on Zoom where two participants, also lawyers from the other side, and a married couple, abruptly ended the meeting at 3:30 p.m. to pick up their children from school. The rest of the group was stunned. Do the middle classes not work full days? Where is the commitment? Working from home, is not giving young workers the experience from more senior colleague and people goofing off at home.

The brightest graduates from prestigious schools study ancient history or economics, often aspire to become investment bankers, not inventors or builders of industry.

Of course, many people do work hard and it's those individuals who are holding up the economy for the rest.

(Even their Royces needed an American gearbox).

Only because no British automatic transmission would take the high torque of a 6.25 litre V8 -indeed were there any British automatic transmissions at all in 1959?

Wilson pre-selector gearboxes were used in pre-war Riley and MG cars and in Daimler service buses, not strictly automatic but with similar mechanisms and fluid flywheels so perhaps there could have been British auto boxes, (maybe not enough demand for them?)

At best it might be a local assembly of kits. Nail the wheels on , stick the wipers on and boom its done. Simply to dodge the tarriffs. Its a strange process these days.

Engine, gearbox, steering, suspension parts, ECUs etc can be containerised and bought in ready for assembly. Similar for many ancillaries and trim.

This is less likely for large pressed metal parts - floorplans, bodyshell etc where they costs of transport and risks of damage, particularly to painted parts, are higher.

At best it might be a local assembly of kits. Nail the wheels on , stick the wipers on and boom its done. Simply to dodge the tarriffs. Its a strange process these days.

Car makers are used to evaluating local content, to meet local regulations - so it's up to governments to specify a reasonable minimum local content.