Failed attempts to crack the UK

[sierraman]

On another thread I was reading about the ARO range of eastern bloc 4x4s and the other half arsed attempts to bring something called the Tudor van to the U.K. I’m guessing they were an abject failure, I cannot ever recall seeing one. 

Can anyone else think of any other half baked plans to import a car here that just didn’t make the grade?

[HMC]

Hitler?

*edit sorry misread the question*

[lesapandre]

And your starter for 10...

When Chrysler fell headlong into the European market, once they had full control of Rootes, they discontinued the old big Humbers that were selling in tiny numbers and decided to market the big Chrysler Valiant as a replacement - from October 1966. They were manufactured in Australia and imported. They sold very badly as clearly not what the conservative Humber buyer would seek.

There are a few AMC Pacers here too - rhd conversions - again AMC sold very few after poor reviews.

Both cars totally unsuitable for the UK market at the time.

[C1am]

GM with Chevrolet. Most recently DFSK.

[DSdriver]

HMC's reply reminded me that back in the 1970s one of our reps drove a Kubelvagen but had the good sense not to use it when going to see Jewish clients, that is a car that could qualify.

[DSdriver]

Or what about the Citroen Bijou?

[horriblemercedes]

 

I've always wondered if one of these survives

[Asimo]

Lonsdale.

 

And now their parent, Mitsubishi, has also given up.

[lesapandre]

Volkswagen K70 - only 800 thought to have been produced in right-hand drive - not sure how many sold in UK - they tried but very little interest.

[chaseracer]

5 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I've always wondered if one of these survives

I wonder whether any actually made it out of Oz!

Ford UK: We've sent you a set of Brit-style plates for the photo shoot.  If anyone actually orders a car, we'll let you know.  Don't hold your breath.
Ford Oz: RIPPER!!

[Soundwave]

Dacia's earlier attempts, with the R12-based Denem and the rebadged ARO Duster. Didn't sell especially well by all accounts.

A few decades later though, under Renault's stewardship, they've more or less taken over the budget end of the market in the UK.

[warch]

42 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

 

I've always wondered if one of these survives

Probably not the best car to bring out during a fuel crisis (early 80s). Apparently even Ford Australia realised this and made a tiddling little 4.1 litre six cylinder version to keep the penny pinchers satisfied.

Last time I was in Oz my future father in law had just bought a last of the line Fairlane (2007?). It was fucking enormous, so much so it wouldn't actually fit in his garage until I'd removed the tow ball. I also introduced him to the good old fashioned British giffer tradition of attaching a tennis ball on a string to the ceiling so you'd know when you were far enough in to close the garage door. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, horriblemercedes said:

 

I've always wondered if one of these survives

I’ve never seen one, I’d imagine they offered no benefit over a Granada Ghia? Think they did a similar thing in the 70’s with the Mercury Monarch which ironically is called a Granada in the US as well. Could have got very confusing. 

[Split_Pin]

39 minutes ago, Soundwave said:

Dacia's earlier attempts, with the R12-based Denem and the rebadged ARO Duster. Didn't sell especially well by all accounts.

A few decades later though, under Renault's stewardship, they've more or less taken over the budget end of the market in the UK.

Advertised as 'The Very Acceptable Dacia Denem'

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Advertised as 'The Very Acceptable Dacia Denem'

While they’re sound cars now, I think perhaps the buyers the first time round might have considered them anything but acceptable. 🤣

Are there any left that were proper U.K. supplied Dacia Denems? The only one I have ever seen was in a scrapyard. I’d heard the Romanian embassy had a fleet until the late 90’s. 

[De Selby]

There was a fairly half hearted attempt to bring Wartburgs to the UK market in the 1960s, I think.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I’d imagine they offered no benefit over a Granada Ghia?

The LTD/ Fairlane FC was quite a bit longer and wider than the Mk2 Granny - plus the 5.8 litre V8 was a point of difference.

The interior was intended to compete with Mercedes and the like for 'luxury European' image.

Yes, those are individual cigar lighters for the rear seat occupants, so you can both spark up a Monte Cristo #4 at the same time. Fancy.

But at the equivalent of £76,000 in today's money, it's hardly surprising they didn't quite fly out of UK showrooms...

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, De Selby said:

There was a fairly half hearted attempt to bring Wartburgs to the UK market in the 1960s, I think.

I seem to recall Satra Motors had a go with Moskvitchs in the early 1970s but changed over to Ladas which, all things considered, was a much better idea.

[lesapandre]

2 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I seem to recall Satra Motors had a go with Moskvitchs in the early 1970s but changed over to Ladas which, all things considered, was a much better idea.

A fair few Moskvitchs sold - but the cars did not last long. I think payment to Russia was in potatoes?

[Split_Pin]

1 minute ago, lesapandre said:

I think payment to Russia was in potatoes?

Since they paid Fiat in cheap recycled steel, that would not surprise me. That would have been an interesting exchange rate.

[Split_Pin]

'BMC is back!' was the slogan for these Turkish trucks in the 1990s. I'm fairly sure that even by then, the BMC name would still carry negative connotations.

Cummins engine and apparently troublesome wiring. One is reportedly still being used as a skip truck for a metals yard (not this one)

 

[lesapandre]

Oh I think BMC was one of their better iterations- it was the BMH - BLMC - BL era that crashed the company's reputation?

[martc]

3 minutes ago, De Selby said:

There was a fairly half hearted attempt to bring Wartburgs to the UK market in the 1960s, I think.

They sold quite a few Wartburgs, approx 500-1000 per year, imports stopped in 1976 when they could no longer meet the construction and use regs; details here https://wp.ifaclub.co.uk/the-vehicles/wartburg/ Phun phact the Warburg importers also imported Mazdas. When the Wartburg imports dried up they started to really push Mazda sales. The rest is history.

 I think Dacia/ARO did a lot better than people remember, it's just that they rotted so quickly that they disappeared almost immediately leaving few survivors.

But what didn't sell well was UAZ's 452 Buhanka (Bread Loaf), sold as the Trekmaster which is a shame.  Southern Electric had a few -

Here's a survivor -

 

 

[goosey]

I remember AWD Trucks which I believe were re-badged Bedfords,

there was an AWD Truck dealer near where I grew up but it very quickly became an LDV/DAF dealer

[sierraman]

The Trekmaster! Never heard of that! Looks what every Southern Electricity employee would look forward to climbing in on a February morning. 

[goosey]

10 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

'BMC is back!' was the slogan for these Turkish trucks in the 1990s. I'm fairly sure that even by then, the BMC name would still carry negative connotations.

Cummins engine and apparently troublesome wiring. One is reportedly still being used as a skip truck for a metals yard (not this one)

 

Didn’t they also produce Coaches?

a Bus company I used to deal with years ago would joke BMC stood for badly made coaches 

[sierraman]

My favourite story with the Wartburg was when they imported some during the 80’s that had spent years sat in an Egyptian dock, cobbled them together with some dead RHD bits and sold it as the Wartburg Lancastrian. 

[goosey]

1 minute ago, sierraman said:

The Trekmaster! Never heard of that! Looks what every Southern Electricity employee would look forward to climbing in on a February morning. 

Being as it was Russian it might have had  a better heater than a 1ton LandRover😂

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, goosey said:

Didn’t they also produce Coaches?

a Bus company I used to deal with years ago would joke BMC stood for badly made coaches 

Yeah our local bus company had one, they normally relied on 20 odd year old Wright bodied Scanias, the BMC bus was considerably newer for the money. It didn’t last long...

[martc]

9 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

A fair few Moskvitchs sold - but the cars did not last long. I think payment to Russia was in potatoes?

Again Moskvitchs sold quite well, according to this article they sold well over 14,500 https://www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk/news/2017/september/01/do-you-remember-the-moskvitch-412-1/ . Rot did for a far few - I remember the van version was used on Hull docks as general runabouts, the rust on them had to be seen to be believed.

But what really killed them was a poorly researched article by the 'Consumer Association' which condemned them as death traps, this was jumped on by the media, and sales crashed. Of course they were no worse than many other late 60's/early 70's car.  Nowadays we no longer suffer from poorly presented and poorly researched consumer advice which is jumped on by the media.

Satra, the importer, did indeed replace the Moskvitch with Ladas.