Morris Motors Limited was a British 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 accounted for 42 per cent of British car manufacture—a remarkable rate of expansion attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory.
Although it merged with Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation... although nearly twenty-five years had elapsed since the BMC merger, not even Austin and Morris, the two volume car manufacturers that formed the core of the original merger, had integrated to a significant degree. Stokes illustrated the immensity of the problem posed by the merger in 1968 by referring to the former Austin and Morris companies as 'scarcely on speaking terms'. Sixteen years after the formation of BMC, like the other former Nuffield companies and Jaguar, each possessed its own management systems, approaches, and methods, and, like the other companies in the group, was 'running on their own'. H. C. Reports, Accounts and Papers, XXV, Fourteenth Report of the Expenditure Committee, Minutes of Evidence (1974–75), Vol. II, q. 2171 quoted in Historical foundations of Corporate culture: British Leyland, its predecessors and Ford. Roy Church. Business history and business culture. Edited by Andrew Godley, Oliver M. Westall, Manchester University Press, 1996 in 1952, the Morris name remained in use until 1984, when the by-then 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 in India by Hindustan Motors with periodic enhancements, 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, which acquired it from the bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive.
The Morris Commercial JE, an electric van with a 1940s design, was unveiled in November 2019 ahead of a planned 2021 launch under the re-launched Morris Commercial marque, well over 30 years after the Morris brand disappeared.
History
Early history WRM Motors Ltd began in 1912 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris moved on from the sale, hire, and repair of cars to car manufacturing. He planned a new light car assembled from bought-in components. In this way he was able to retain ownership by keeping within the bounds of his own capital resources.
A factory was opened in 1913 at former Oxford Military College at Cowley, Oxford, United Kingdom where Morris's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose", was assembled. Nearly all the major components were bought in.
In 1914, a coupé and van were added to the line-up, but the Bullnose chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make a much-needed 4-seat version of the car. White and Poppe, who made the engine, were unable to supply the volume of units that Morris required, so Morris turned to Continental of Detroit, Michigan for the supply of a 1548 cc engine. Gearboxes and axles were also sourced in the US.
In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car, the 2-seat and 4-seat Morris Cowley was introduced.
Inter-war years
After the war the Continental engine was no longer available so Morris arranged for Hotchkiss of France to make a near copy in their Coventry factory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-market Morris Oxford cars.
With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market overtaking Ford to become in 1924 the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market and remaining enormously profitable.
Possessed of a very large cash income Morris had a policy of personally buying up suppliers' businesses. For example, in 1923 he bought Hotchkiss's Coventry business which later became Morris Engines branch. He also brought in F G Woollard which became Morris Commercial Cars to lead the re-organization of their engine production from batch to flow, thus increasing output from less than 300 units per week to 1200. By 1924 the factory was making 2000 units a week with only a small increase in work space and labour force.G. T. Bloomfield, ‘Harriman, Sir George William (1908–1973)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
Cecil Kimber, head of Morris's own original 1909-founded Morris Garage sales hire and repair operation in Oxford, began building sporting versions of Morris cars in 1924 labelling them MG. They were so successful a separate MG factory was soon established south of Oxford in Abingdon-on-Thames, Berkshire.
Having admired Budd's all-steel bodies Morris founded The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited in 1926 as a joint venture with Edward G Budd Manufacturing Company - Budd International of Philadelphia, USA.Offer for sale of shares - Pressed Steel Company Limited. The Times, Tuesday, 7 April 1936; p. 21; Issue 47343 Pressed Steel's factory was located over the road from Morris's factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers. Morris withdrew from the venture in mid-1930. Budd sold their share to British interests at the beginning of 1936.Pressed Steel Company.The Times, Friday, 10 January 1936; p. 19; Issue 47268
The small car market was entered in 1928 with the Leonard Lord-designed Morris Minor, using an 847 cc engine from Morris's newly acquired Wolseley Motors. Lord had been sent there to modernise the works and Wolseley's products. The Minor was to provide the base for the MG Midgets. This timely spread into the small car market helped Morris through the economic depression of the 1930s. At the 1934 London Motor Show the Minor was replaced by the Morris Eight, a direct response to the Ford Model Y and, though Leonard Lord's handiwork, heavily based on it.
In 1932 W R Morris appointed Lord Managing Director of Morris Motors Limited and Lord swept through the Morris works, updating the production methods, introducing a proper moving assembly line and creating Europe's largest integrated car plant.R. J. Overy, ‘Morris, William Richard, Viscount Nuffield (1877–1963)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 But Morris and Lord fell out, and after 15 years Lord left in 1936—threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick".Graham Turner, The Leyland Papers, London 1971, p. 91 Lord moved to Austin and they were to meet again in BMC—Morris, as Lord Nuffield, its first chairman. Lord succeeded him.
As of 1 July 1935 Morris Motors acquired from W R Morris, now Lord Nuffield, in exchange for a further issue of ordinary shares to him, the car manufacturing businesses of Wolseley Motors Limited and The MG Car Company Limited. A separate private company, Wolseley Aero Engines Limited, was then formed to continue the development of his aviation interests.Wolseley And M.G. Companies.The Times, Friday, 14 June 1935; p. 20; Issue 47090. In 1936 Lord Nuffield sold Morris Commercial Cars Limited, his commercial vehicle enterprise, to Morris Motors.Morris Motors Limited, Notice issued in compliance with ... The Times, Tuesday, 13 October 1936; p. 22; Issue 47504.
+Car production in Britain 1919–1938 (per cent)Roy A Church, The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry, p. 39, Cambridge University Press 1995 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1929 1932 1935 1938 Morris cars produced until August 31 357 2,927 5,156 17,286 27,551 48,717 ~ 56,000 ~ 60.000 Morris 2 10 28 42 37 35 33 31 23 Austin 7 8 10 23 25 27 23 21 Ford 22 11 2 6 4 6 17 18 Rootes, Standard, Vauxhall 8 23 23 31 In 1938 William Morris, Baron Nuffield was raised to Viscount Nuffield. The same year he transferred his newly acquiredRiley Motors. Purchase by Lord Nuffield, The Times, Saturday, 10 September 1938; p. 17; Issue 48096 Riley car business to Morris Motors Limited for £100.Obituary, Mr. Victor Riley. The Times, Tuesday, 11 February 1958; p. 10; Issue 54072
Iron lung Visiting London in 1938 during a polio epidemic Lord Nuffield saw a Both Iron Lung in use. He commissioned an improved design which could be produced using the techniques of car assembly and arranged production of approximately 1700 machines at the Cowley works, which he donated to hospitals throughout all parts of Britain and the British Empire.
Both-Nuffield respirators were able to be produced by the thousand at about one-thirteenth the cost of the American design.
Significant subsidiaries Subsidiary founded or acquired by W R Morris, Viscount Nuffield acquired by Morris Motors Limited W R Morris 1912 1926 Morris Engines 1923 1926 Morris Commercial 1923 1936 MG 1924 1935 Nuffield Press 1925 Pressed Steel 1926 never, but acquired by BMC in 1965 SU 1926 1926 Wolseley 1927 1935 Nuffield Mechanizations 1935 WWII Riley 1938 1938
Second World War In the summer of 1938 Morris agreed to build, equip and manage at government expense a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich specifically to manufacture Supermarine Spitfires.Castle Bromwich Retrieved: 9 February 2008. with intention to build bombers later. Nuffield's management failed; no Spitfires were delivered by May 1940 despite expectation of 60 a day. The Ministry of Aircraft Production took over the plant putting in managers from Supermarine and placing it under Vickers-Armstrongs (of which Supermarine was a part) supervision. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production of jerry cans, producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the rest of the war and following the ending of hostilities. The Cowley plant was turned over to aircraft repair and production of Tiger Moth pilot trainers, as well as "mine sinkers" based on a design produced at the same plant during the First World War.
Morris produced the popular Morris C8 Quad artillery prime mover towing artillery (such as the 25-pounder) and anti-tank guns (such as the 17-pounder) with some 10,200 made. Morris also produced some 2200 Morris Light Reconnaissance Cars, 100 Morris CS9 armoured cars, 21,319 Morris CS8 15cwt light trucks, the Morris C4 truck, Morris ML ambulance, 500 Morris Commercial 8x8 GS Terrapin (amphibious vehicle)s, and the Morris Commercial CD series trucks.
Post-Second World War production
Production restarted after the Second World War, with the pre-war Eight and Ten designs. In 1948 the Eight was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, the Morris Minor designed by Alec Issigonis (who later went on to design the Mini) and reusing the small car name from 1928. The Ten was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford MO, styled like a larger version of the Minor. A later Morris Oxford (the 1956 Morris Oxford III) was the basis for the design of India's Hindustan Ambassador, which continued in production until 2014.
They used six engines and five (and a half) car bodies, of which the "specialist" three were obsolescent, the rest very closely related if not identical.
BMC
In 1952 the Nuffield Organization merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation. Badge-engineering was important to BMC and for many years the various marques would be seen on several families of similar vehicles.
British Leyland