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Austin Metro
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced from 1980 to 1998, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by the Rover Group. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro (styled AUSTIN miniMETRO).
The Mini Metro was intended to complement and eventually replace the original BMC Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The MG version of the Metro was named "Car of The Year" 1983 by What Car? magazine, and later once more, as the Rover Metro, in 1991.[citation needed]
During its 18-year lifespan, the Metro wore many names: Austin Metro, MG Metro and Rover Metro. It was rebadged as the Rover 100 (full name: "Rover 100 series") in December 1994. There was also a van version, known as the Morris Metro, and later, the Metrovan.
At the time of its launch, the Metro was sold under the Austin brand, and from 1982 MG versions became available. During 1987, the badge lost the Austin name, and the car was sold simply as the "Metro". From 1990 until its withdrawal in 1998, the Metro sported the Rover brand name.
Although the R3-generation Rover 200 (introduced in 1995 and smaller than previous 200 models) had originally been designed as a replacement for the Metro, it was not marketed as such after its launch. The Rover 100 finally ceased production in 1998, being outlived (by three years) by the original Mini that it was meant to replace. 2,078,218 Metros of all types were built.
Plans for a replacement for the Mini had been afoot within BL since the early 1970s, but none of the concepts conceived got beyond the initial design stages, largely due to a shortage of funds at British Leyland, and its eventual bankruptcy and government bailout in 1975. The modern supermini market had evolved during the 1970s, with earlier small cars like the Mini and Hillman Imp being followed mostly by cars of a two-box hatchback configuration, beginning with the Fiat 127 in 1971 and Renault 5 in 1972, with the next five years seeing the arrival of similar cars including the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo, as well as the Vauxhall Chevette from General Motors (known in West Germany as the Opel Kadett) which was also available as a saloon and estate in addition to the hatchback. These cars gained a decent-sized market share in Britain and most other European markets.
On 8 October 1980, BL introduced the Austin Mini Metro. The roots of the Metro lay in an earlier project denoted as ADO88 (Amalgamated Drawing Office, 88-inch wheelbase), which was intended to be a direct replacement for the Mini. However, poor reception of the ADO88 design at customer clinics and the increasing dominance of superminis in the ADO88's intended market segment forced a major change in the project's focus. In late 1977, BL chairman Michael Edwardes ordered that ADO88 be given an eleventh-hour redesign to make it both larger, and less utilitarian in appearance / more upmarket in nature. It thus became BL's first supermini rather than an economy car. The revised project was given the designator LC8 (Leyland Cars Number 8), and the definitive Metro design would ultimately emerge under the leadership of BL's chief stylists David Bache and Harris Mann. LC8 would replace the more upmarket, lower-volume Clubman versions of the Mini and the lower-spec, smaller-engined variants of the Austin Allegro (which would be fully replaced in the early 1980s by project LC10, which became the Austin Maestro). The ADO88 project had experimented with new engines and suspension systems, but, with limited time and budgets, LC8 would reuse much of the Mini's engineering (the A-Series engine, front-wheel drive via a sump-mounted four-speed transmission, front and rear running gear carried in steel subframes separate from the unitary bodyshell) and borrow the Hydragas suspension system developed for the Allegro. The floorpan and core structure of ADO88 was retained largely unmodified, but every external panel was changed as part of its transition into LC8.
However, while much was shared conceptually with older BL models, LC8 would see these design elements heavily re-engineered and modernised. For instance the A-Series drivetrain was extensively updated with new materials and tooling to become the A-Plus, while the new car would feature 12-inch wheels, and all LC8s would have servo-assisted four-piston front disc brakes with fully split hydraulic systems, as opposed to the entry-level, standard Mini which at the time still had 10-inch wheels and drum brakes all-round. These new drivetrains, wheels, brakes and many other featured developed for the LC8 would be introduced on the Mini not long afterwards, updating the 30-year old design at minimal extra cost, and providing highly desirable economies of scale, given the anticipated sales volumes of the new car. This would make it cost effective for the more basic versions of the Mini to remain in production as an entry-level model for BL, continuing in the market niche originally intended for ADO88, while allowing the LC8 to aim higher, and compete head-on with the generally longer bodied superminis of other brands.
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Austin Metro
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced from 1980 to 1998, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by the Rover Group. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro (styled AUSTIN miniMETRO).
The Mini Metro was intended to complement and eventually replace the original BMC Mini, and was developed under the codename LC8. The MG version of the Metro was named "Car of The Year" 1983 by What Car? magazine, and later once more, as the Rover Metro, in 1991.[citation needed]
During its 18-year lifespan, the Metro wore many names: Austin Metro, MG Metro and Rover Metro. It was rebadged as the Rover 100 (full name: "Rover 100 series") in December 1994. There was also a van version, known as the Morris Metro, and later, the Metrovan.
At the time of its launch, the Metro was sold under the Austin brand, and from 1982 MG versions became available. During 1987, the badge lost the Austin name, and the car was sold simply as the "Metro". From 1990 until its withdrawal in 1998, the Metro sported the Rover brand name.
Although the R3-generation Rover 200 (introduced in 1995 and smaller than previous 200 models) had originally been designed as a replacement for the Metro, it was not marketed as such after its launch. The Rover 100 finally ceased production in 1998, being outlived (by three years) by the original Mini that it was meant to replace. 2,078,218 Metros of all types were built.
Plans for a replacement for the Mini had been afoot within BL since the early 1970s, but none of the concepts conceived got beyond the initial design stages, largely due to a shortage of funds at British Leyland, and its eventual bankruptcy and government bailout in 1975. The modern supermini market had evolved during the 1970s, with earlier small cars like the Mini and Hillman Imp being followed mostly by cars of a two-box hatchback configuration, beginning with the Fiat 127 in 1971 and Renault 5 in 1972, with the next five years seeing the arrival of similar cars including the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo, as well as the Vauxhall Chevette from General Motors (known in West Germany as the Opel Kadett) which was also available as a saloon and estate in addition to the hatchback. These cars gained a decent-sized market share in Britain and most other European markets.
On 8 October 1980, BL introduced the Austin Mini Metro. The roots of the Metro lay in an earlier project denoted as ADO88 (Amalgamated Drawing Office, 88-inch wheelbase), which was intended to be a direct replacement for the Mini. However, poor reception of the ADO88 design at customer clinics and the increasing dominance of superminis in the ADO88's intended market segment forced a major change in the project's focus. In late 1977, BL chairman Michael Edwardes ordered that ADO88 be given an eleventh-hour redesign to make it both larger, and less utilitarian in appearance / more upmarket in nature. It thus became BL's first supermini rather than an economy car. The revised project was given the designator LC8 (Leyland Cars Number 8), and the definitive Metro design would ultimately emerge under the leadership of BL's chief stylists David Bache and Harris Mann. LC8 would replace the more upmarket, lower-volume Clubman versions of the Mini and the lower-spec, smaller-engined variants of the Austin Allegro (which would be fully replaced in the early 1980s by project LC10, which became the Austin Maestro). The ADO88 project had experimented with new engines and suspension systems, but, with limited time and budgets, LC8 would reuse much of the Mini's engineering (the A-Series engine, front-wheel drive via a sump-mounted four-speed transmission, front and rear running gear carried in steel subframes separate from the unitary bodyshell) and borrow the Hydragas suspension system developed for the Allegro. The floorpan and core structure of ADO88 was retained largely unmodified, but every external panel was changed as part of its transition into LC8.
However, while much was shared conceptually with older BL models, LC8 would see these design elements heavily re-engineered and modernised. For instance the A-Series drivetrain was extensively updated with new materials and tooling to become the A-Plus, while the new car would feature 12-inch wheels, and all LC8s would have servo-assisted four-piston front disc brakes with fully split hydraulic systems, as opposed to the entry-level, standard Mini which at the time still had 10-inch wheels and drum brakes all-round. These new drivetrains, wheels, brakes and many other featured developed for the LC8 would be introduced on the Mini not long afterwards, updating the 30-year old design at minimal extra cost, and providing highly desirable economies of scale, given the anticipated sales volumes of the new car. This would make it cost effective for the more basic versions of the Mini to remain in production as an entry-level model for BL, continuing in the market niche originally intended for ADO88, while allowing the LC8 to aim higher, and compete head-on with the generally longer bodied superminis of other brands.