During the 1970s, American auto makers were facing labor strife, steadily declining build quality, and weakening sales due to improving competition from imports. As bad as it was for Detroit, however, it was several orders of magnitude worse across the Atlantic. By 1975, the British government was faced with a choice--it could either nationalize British Leyland, a large industrial conglomerate and
...During the 1970s, American auto makers were facing labor strife, steadily declining build quality, and weakening sales due to improving competition from imports. As bad as it was for Detroit, however, it was several orders of magnitude worse across the Atlantic. By 1975, the British government was faced with a choice--it could either nationalize British Leyland, a large industrial conglomerate and Britain's largest auto producer, or allow it to face bankruptcy and possible extinction. Under pressure from strong labor unions, the government purchased a majority stake in the company.
Like America's General Motors, British Leyland was composed of various brands that had been acquired over the years, including familiar brands like Triumph, Mini, Austin and Rover. Following the nationalization, Rover released the SD1, which received the European Car of the Year award in 1976 and even received certification for export into the United States. Unfortunately, the Rover SD1 was beset with severe reliability and performance problems; only 800 were sold in the United States before the American market abandoned the Rover brand entirely.
The United States may have given up on Rover, and the rest of the world may have been ready to give up on British Leyland entirely; but British Leyland still had some fight left in it. In 1979, British Leyland purchased 20 percent of Honda's UK subsidiary, along with access to Honda's technology; in return, Honda received 20% of British Leyland, along with access to its European dealer network. This led to a reorganization in 1981, resulting in the Austin Rover Group, which immediately began work on a new project. It would be a joint venture between Honda and Austin Rover, combining British refinement with Japanese build quality. The result was the Rover 800 and the Honda Legend.
When the project was finished in 1984, Honda and Austin Rover faced a predicament. In the United States, the Rover brand had been irrevocably tainted by a reputation of poor build quality. Meanwhile, Honda was still known as an entry-level brand. To sell a new, upscale product, both companies needed new brands without the baggage. To address this, Honda launched Acura as a luxury-oriented brand and sold its version as the Acura Legend. Austin Rover launched Sterling and sold its version as the Sterling 825 and, later, the 827.
The Sterling 825 was initially greeted with great fanfare. Equipped with a V-6, modern driving dynamics, and a real wood and leather interior, it seemed like solid competition for BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz. Indeed, Austin Rover initially estimated that it would sell more than 30,000 Sterlings when it began to sell the first Sterlings stateside in 1987, and that Sterling would account for 40% of all Rover 800 sales. Sadly, the Sterling did not live up to expectations; while it was designed with the aid of excellent Japanese engineering, it was also manufactured with mediocre British quality control. Consequently, Sterling was quickly panned for its poor initial reliability, which led to fewer than half of the original sales estimate being met. Only 14,171 cars sold in Sterling's first year. In fact, Sterling would not sell its 30,000th car until 1990. The slow sales led to Rover pulling Sterling out of the U.S. in Aug. 1991.
Though Sterling did not enjoy much sales success, its Honda-manufactured mechanical sibling, the Acura Legend, was rated very highly and sold quite well. Consequently, unlike parts for most British cars, Sterling parts are relatively easy to come by.
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