Do You Buy British?
A recent survey carried out by Manheim Auctions has found that if money was no object, sixty per cent of UK motorists would prefer to buy a British car over a foreign model. Despite the most popular car in Britain today being the Ford Fiesta, over half of motorists would rather own a British car like Mini or Jaguar. This follows a general shift in consumers preferring to ‘buy British’, whether it be home-grown food from British farmers, or locally-produced furniture from British craftsmen.
The survey also named the Mini (pre 1980) as the best British car. The popular compact car beat off competition from Jaguar and Rover to win the accolade. The survey also revealed, however, some very ‘non-British’ cars in the top ten, which questions its integrity. The findings show that nearly one in five motorists consider where a car is built as well as its heritage and ownership when thinking of how British it is. The only three truly British cars in the top ten were the Mini, Jaguar E-type and Rover 75.
Interestingly, however, the Ford Focus, which has never been manufactured in the UK and is owned by American car giant Ford, was named fifth on the list. So does a company have to be completely British to make ‘British cars’? The Ford brand is heavily associated with Britain, and the company is currently celebrating 100 years of production within Britain, so there are many who consider its popular models such as the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo to be British.
So perhaps next time you’re looking for a new car, think twice before you buy a new Audi A4 or a new Volkswagen Beetle, and look towards a British brand instead and help support your country’s iconic brands.
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