They Rebadged It, You Fool!

40 years ago, the UK waited with baited breath for the ‘British Car to Beat the World’. 20 years ago, Rover dealers were still trying to boot the last ones out of their showrooms. Ahead of its 40th birthday, we put the first and last Metros head-to-head

- Craig Cheetham

“Lynn, I’m not driving a Mini Metro” - so went one of the most famous lines from Steve Coogan’s second series of I’m Alan Partridge. Partridge’s long-suffering secretary had picked up some brochures for the new Rover 100, but his point blank refusal to drive one resulted in him sacking all but one staff member in order to afford the bigger 200 - despite the ‘substantial savings’ on offer.

And there, in one throwaway sitcom line, lay the problem with a car that had for almost two decades been a part of the fabric of British society. There was nothing actually that wrong with the Rover 100 (except, maybe, for its well-documented awful crash protection), but it was just way, way past its sell-by-date by the time it was pensioned off. As the production line drew to a halt in 1998, rivals included the Peugeot 206, Ford Fiesta Mk 5 and Toyota Yaris.

The poor Rover didn’t stand a chance, as despite having a more modern powertrain, the basic bodyshell and running gear could trace its roots back to the 1980 Austin Mini Metro - a car that was sold as a rival to the Fiesta Mk 1, Talbot Samba and Phase 1 Renault 5. The market had shifted quite considerably, leaving the Rover, with its narrow track, external roof gutters and boxy cabin looking very old indeed. It was a sad end for a car that had once carried all of the British car industry’s hopes and dreams.

Indeed, the original Austin miniMetro, to give it its full and rather awkward name, was of such critical importance to British Leyland that it became the reason why we never saw a Rover SD1 estate, the Metro saloon and a properly facelifted Allegro. All the projects were cancelled to pour resources into getting the Metro ‘right’. The Jaguar XJ40 was almost a victim, too, but was rekindled when BL sold Jaguar privately in 1984.