The British Car Industry and Anglo-Japanese Relations in the Post-War Period

Abstract

Britain enjoyed the world’s largest car exporter status in the immediate post-war years. But its car manufacturing faced increased competition with French, Italian, German, and, last but not least, Japanese. While exports to the US were sustained, those to the EEC were hampered with high tariff walls. British cars were exported instead to the Commonwealth countries and the EFTA, but again faced competition with the Germans and the Japanese. The oil shock of 1973 hit British assembler the hardest, due to a double kick caused by Britain’s EC membership and tariff-free imports from the continent. While limiting Japanese car imports, the idea of inviting Japanese plants into Britain emerged in Whitehall.