Metro
Metro: October 8th 1980 - October 8th 1998. 18
years of success!
The Development of the Metro began as far back as the
early seventies. British Leyland was looking to develop a small car that
would replace the Mini, it was to be a little bigger and more practical.
There were, as for any project many prototypes, and many did not get off the drawing
board. But from ADO88 to LC8, there were many developments and eventually
there became a mock-up supermini with huge potential... 1978, and BL were
once again looking at financial worries. It was going to 
be
make or break situation. They could invest in production facilities to
make this new car which was being finalised or the company would have to
liquidate its assets to avoid bankruptcy. The decision was made for the go
ahead, and the race began.... A launch date was set for October 1980, giving two
years to complete everything down to the last detail. The world was
anticipating the launch, the press coverage was immense, but no-one imagined the
wave of success this car would make, it was to
be a true winner.
"A British car to beat the World"
Click here for the Success Story
"Within three years over 300,00 Metros had been sold - no-one ever imagined that this car would be such a huge success"
The
spring of 1982, saw the launch of yet more Metro models: The City, MG Metro and Vanden
Plas. These further increased the Metros success. The update of the
Metro in 1984 was based on customer surveys and monitoring of sales of each
model. The Metro was restyled and the model range adjusted to suit the
buying trends, in the face of competition from Vauxhalls Nova launched in1983,
the Metro mark II continued the success with new styling. By 1988, Metros
sales were beginning to fall at an alarming rate, the prospect of an all new
Fiesta from Ford in 1989 was not going to help. The Austin name had now
gone and the Rover badge was ready to be stuck on the Metro. But it was a
ten year old design, and Rover needed to keep its sales and company
image.
Rover set to work on the Metro, looking at what could
be improved
to bring the car up to 1990s standards. The chassis could not easily be
altered. But Rover wanted to use its new K-Series engines in the
Metro, and so they would rebuild the front end to suit. The front end was
made 170mm longer and was completely restyled with new body panels. A
gearbox developed in collaboration with Peugeot was fitted, and many components
had to be redesigned and repositioned within the engine bay. The tailgate
and rear lights were remodelled to make them more modern and appealing.
The interior was revamped with new seats. The driver console was updated
to look more modern. There were insufficient funds to manufacture a new
dashboard, and the old one was only five years old. The other major refit
besides the engines was the suspension. The Hydrolastic system was going
to be utilised still. A new Hydragas® system featuring interconnected
units was designed with new sub frames. The units were interconnected
front to rear making the ride very smooth compared to rivals. There were
many cosmetic revisions too. The engines were powerful and lively, the gearboxes
were smooth, the steering was precise and the ride remarkable. Launched
April 1990 - the Metro was once again a success.
"Rover have broken the mould of the small car, setting new standards of engineering excellence"
It was always known from the start that Rovers Metro would
be short-lived,
because the design way some ten years old. By 1992 sales were falling as
Vauxhall introduced the Corsa, it set the Metro on a sharp downhill sales
pattern. Determined no to let all that work from 1989 go to waste after
only four years and because the Metro was still selling to some extent, it was
to be remodelled yet again for 1995. It would be done of a tight budget
because the new Rover 200 was taking much of Rovers time and money. The result
was a lovely smooth front end and a lot of cosmetic revisions. The idea was
to disguise the car and rename it, the name 'Metro' now had a cheap image and
Rover needed to shake this off before it effected the overall image of the
company. The new front end certainly reformed the Metro, and the other revisions
helped it, but to all extents and purposes it was still a Metro. Sales picked
up a little, but fell drastically when the Euro NCAP test results were published
in late 1996. The car got a year of success, before dropping to a steady
flow of sales to Metro fans and older people. Despite the attempt to make
the Metro appealing to younger buyers with models like the Tahiti and Nightfire,
it never really happened. the Rover 100 became a topic of little discussion at
Rover after the crash test results and it was discretely dropped in 1998.
But not I hasted to add with out success. Over 200,000 Rover 100 models
were sold - it was certainly worthwhile :)
Sales over the years:
Sales
graph, courtesy of BBC News 1998.
1) This shows the sales of the metro in the eighties, the drop was possibly at the time the Vauxhall Nova and Mk2 Fiesta were introduced?
2) An alarming fall in sales, Rover introduces the Metro. Sales pick up slightly, built are still falling sharply.
3) Sales have about stabilised. A very slight increase as the Rover 100 is launched, followed by a gradual downward fall to the car's demise.