Morris Motors
British automotive company / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory. Largely self-financed through his enormous profits, Morris did borrow some money from the public in 1926, and later shared some of Morris Motors' ownership with the public in 1936. The new capital was then used by Morris Motors to buy many of his other privately held businesses.
 | |
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912 W.R.M. Motors 1919 renamed as Morris Motors |
| Founder | William Richard Morris |
| Defunct | brand name used until 1984 |
| Fate | Individual identity retained until 1968 Ownership merged with Austin in 1952 as subsidiaries of The British Motor Corporation Limited |
| Successor | The British Motor Corporation Limited |
| Headquarters | Cowley, Oxford, Oxfordshire, later Longbridge England, UK |
Key people | Frank George Woollard Leonard Lord |
| Products | motor cars |
| Subsidiaries | Morris Commercial Cars Limited, Nuffield Acceptances Limited, Nuffield (Australia) Limited, Nuffield Exports Limited, Nuffield Mechanizations Limited Nuffield Metal Products Limited, The Nuffield Press Limited, Nuffield Tools and Gauges Limited, Riley (Coventry) Limited, Riley Motors Limited, The M.G. Car Company Limited, The S.U. Carburetter Company Limited, Wolseley Motors Limited |
| Product type | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Owner | SAIC |
| Discontinued | 1984 |
| Previous owners | W. R. Morris (1912–1952) BMC (1952–1968) British Leyland (1968–1986) Rover Group (1986–1988) BAe (1988–1994) BMW (1994–2000) MG Rover Group (2000–2005) |
Though it merged[note 1] into larger organisations in 1952, the Morris name remained in use until 1984, when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin brand as well as expanding the more upmarket Rover brand.
Until 2014, Morris Oxford vehicles (based on the 1954-59 Oxford) were manufactured with periodic enhancements in India by Hindustan Motors, and sold well there, even being imported to Britain in small numbers during the 1990s.
Part of Morris's manufacturing complex at Cowley, Oxford is now BMW Group's Plant Oxford, factory of the MINI marque since its launch in 2001.
The Morris trademark is currently owned by the China-based automotive company SAIC after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive.
The Morris Commercial JE, an electric van with a 1940s design, was unveiled in November 2019 ahead of a planned launch in 2021 under the re-launched Morris Commercial marque, well over 30 years after the Morris brand had disappeared.[1]