Pressed Steel Company Limited was a British car body manufacturing business founded at Cowley near Oxford in 1926 as a joint venture between William Morris, Budd Corporation of Philadelphia USA, which held the controlling interest,[3] and a British / American bank J. Henry Schroder & Co.[4] At that time the company was named The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited. It acquired Budd's patent rights and processes for use in the United Kingdom.[5] Morris transferred his interest to his company, Morris Motors Limited.[when?]
Pressed Steel was acquired in 1965 by the British Motor Corporation and this led to BMC's acquisition of Jaguar later in 1965. At the end of 1966 BMC changed its name to British Motor Holdings (BMH). BMH merged with Leyland Motors in 1968 to create British Leyland and Pressed Steel's businesses were absorbed into the new conglomerate. Many components of the former Pressed Steel business were gradually divested following British Leyland's bankruptcy, nationalization and subsequent restructuring.
Today three major Pressed Steel factories are still in operation. The Cowley plant is now where BMW's Mini is assembled, known as Plant Oxford. At the old Swindon plant the BMW subsidiary Swindon Pressings Limited, or Plant Swindon, produces parts for the new Mini. Lastly, Pressed Steel's former factory in Castle Bromwich now forms part of Jaguar's main assembly plant.
- ^ Geoffrey Tyack, Oxford: An Architectural Guide OUP, 1998, ISBN 0198174195
- ^ M Stratton, B S Trinder, Twentieth Century Industrial Archaeology, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 0419246800
- ^ Offer for sale of shares – Pressed Steel Company Limited. The Times, Tuesday, 7 April 1936; pg. 21; Issue 47343
- ^ minutes of the Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain, held at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire
- ^ Address of the chairman to shareholders. Pressed Steel Company. The Times, Saturday, 22 May 1937; pg. 19; Issue 47691