Nelson D. Schwartz of the New York Times uses an example from the sorry history of the British motor industry to warn that auto bailouts, currently a hot topic in the United States, may not necessarily bring about the desired results. As a parallel with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, Schwartz describes the once-mighty British Leyland as a faltering auto giant "whose brands were synonymous with the open road," with hundreds of thousands of unionized workers and powerful political backers. After pleading for a virtual blank check from the government, British Leyland went through £11 billion of inflation-adjusted British taxpayer money, or $16.5 billion, in the 1970s and 1980s before going out of business. All that is left of the company now are memories of cars like the Triumph, and a painful lesson in the limited effectiveness of bailouts.
A British Lesson Auto Bailouts
November 17, 2008, The New York Times
