Word: leylands
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Havana, Britain's Leyland Motor Co. Ltd. signed up to sell 400 heavy 45-passenger buses for $10 million plus $1,100,000 worth of spare parts. The company gave Castro five years to pay, threw in an option for another 1,000 buses and agreed to train whatever mechanics were needed. To get around the shipping blacklist, Leyland first asked the British government for the loan of an aircraft carrier; when that request was ignored, the company announced that East German freighters would handle the order...
Triumph in the U.S. Founded in 1896 to build "steam wagons," Midlands-based Leyland embraces 60 different companies, with 50,000 employees and 52 plants in 23 countries. Until two years ago, it concentrated chiefly on making big vehicles, including heavy trucks and London's double-deck buses. Then it bought troubled Standard-Triumph, giving itself a line that now runs from sports cars to 200-ton earthmovers. Standard-Triumph lost Leyland $3,000,000 last year, but Leyland has now turned the company into a moneymaker. Helping out is the success of Triumph's TR4 and Spitfire...
Because of its own firm financial underpinnings-it has not had an unprofitable year since 1923-Leyland has merged its way to bigness; in the past year alone, it acquired four bus-and truck-making competitors. In the process, it also acquired a new chairman: Sir William Black, 70, whose Associated Commercial Vehicles was taken over by Leyland last year. Sir William (he was knighted in 1958) intends to retain the individuality of the companies within Leyland and to encourage intramural competition for sales. He also is keen on preserving the down-to-earth atmosphere that pervades Leyland...
Plants on the Continent. After developing huge production facilities for making Churchill and Centaur tanks during World War II, Leyland realized that postwar Britain would be too small a market for its potential output. The company began developing export markets more diligently than most British manufacturers, sent its top executives around the world to meet customers and learn the conditions under which Leyland trucks would operate. Even with sports cars, the company has kept its sharp eye for local conditions; when it learned that the average age of the U.S. buyers of its TR3 was 47, it decided...
Probably the main reason for Leyland's present export bonanza is that while most other British firms were blissfully contemplating Britain's entry into the Common Market, Leyland was busy establishing assembly plants in Belgium and The Netherlands. When France blackballed Britain, Leyland was in a better position to compete on the Continent than most other British companies. It intends to keep right on pushing its advantage, plans to set up plants in West Germany and Italy soon...