The greatest ever British car is 'the original Mini'

The greatest ever British car is 'the original Mini'

Even though British car production has received a great boost from foreign car manufacturers in the past years, and estimations are that by 2015 our home-grown output will climb to it's highest ever records, a recent poll by motoring magazine Autocar has voted the original Mini as the greatest British vehicle of all time.

The poll was taken out in reaction to the news that by 2015, it is thought that the car manufacturing output in Britain will be reaching an apogee, and expectations are that over two million vehicles will be produced in the country that year. These figures come from the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT), and will eclipse the current record that was set in 1970, with 1.92 million cars being produced.

The original Mini managed to triumph over such British favourites as the Jaguar E-Type, which exploded onto the motoring scene in the early 60s in a cloud of looks, economy and function. It was also victorious over the Range Rover, first introduced in 1970, and other luminaries like the McLaren F1, Moris Minor, and the London Taxi. The Mini (properly known at the time as the Austin Mini) launched in 1959, and during the 41 years that the car was on the market for, ranked up over 5.4 million sales.

The revival of Britain's car manufacturing muscles has been nourished by investment from foreign car makers, who have been spending and bankrolling numerous manufacturing plants throughout the country. In 2011 over 1.34 million cars were produced over here, with many built for foreign car manufacturers; 191,474 produced for BMW at Oxford, 480,485 vehicles produced for Nissan at its Sunderland plant, and 238,237 cars manufactured for Land Rover at the Halewood plant in Liverpool. Of these 1.34 million cars built, over 80 per cent were exported to other countries.

Elucidating on the Mini's win, the editor-in-chief of Autocar magazine, Steve Cropley, has said "It was one of the most remarkable cars ever built, what with its seating for four plus a decent boot in its mere 10-foot length, revolutionary drive-train and gearbox and its ultra-compact suspension."

The results of Autocar's poll of the top 10 British cars are below
1) Austin Mini
2) Range Rover
3) Jaguar E-Type
4) Land Rover
5) McLaren F1
6) Range Rover Evoque
7) Caterham 7
8) Moris Minor
9) McLaren MP4-12C
10) London Taxi

You can read Autocar's report about the poll here: http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/original-mini-voted-best-british-car

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