Morris Ital
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Morris Ital | |
|---|---|
 / |
|
| Manufacturer | British Leyland (Austin Rover division) |
| Production | 1980-1984 |
| Predecessor | Morris Marina |
| Successor | Austin Montego |
| Class | midsize car |
| Body style(s) | 4-door saloon 5-door estate 2-door pick-up 2-door van |
| Engine(s) | 1275 cc A-Series pushrod straight-4 1695 cc O-Series Straight-4 2.0 L O-Series Straight-4 |
The Morris Ital was a medium-sized car launched by British Leyland (BL) on 1 July 1980. It took its name from Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign studio, who had been employed by BL to manage the re-engineering of Morris Marina, a car which had been produced since 1971. Although the redesigned car was named Ital, it was actually Harris Mann who was responsible for the car's new look. BL's advertising, however, emphasised the car's connection with the Italian styling house Italdesign, who had in fact merely productionised the design.[1]
The Ital had distinctly different exterior detailing to the Marina, but retained its 1.3- and 1.7-litre petrol engines and rear wheel drive chassis which could be traced back to the 1948 Morris Minor. The Marina's coupé variant was not continued, but the four-door saloon, five-door estate and pick-up and van versions were carried over from the Marina range.
The Ital sold reasonably well in Britain during the early 1980s, offering a competitive asking price and low running costs. The car successfully fused its early 1970s centre section with the newer Austin-Rover front and rear styling. The Ital's technology differed from many of its contemporaries, such as the Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, as well as the Renault 18 and Talbot Alpine, which were front wheel drive. After the introduction of the Opel Ascona C / Vauxhall Cavalier Mark II in August 1981, the Ital and Ford's Cortina (and later Sierra) were the only mass-volume cars in the sector to maintain rear-wheel drive.
From 1981, an automatic version of the Ital was available with the 2.0-litre O-Series power unit.
The Ital was the last production car to wear the Morris badge (though there was a van version of the Metro which wore the Morris badge until 1984). Production of the Ital was swapped from Cowley to Longbridge in September 1982 to allow the Cowley plant to be upgraded for production of the forthcoming Austin Montego and Austin Maestro. At this time the Ital received an upgrade with different front and rear suspension (parabolic rear springs and telescopic front dampers) and models were redesignated SL and SLX. The saloon was dropped from production in February 1984 with the van and estate completing outgoing contracts for another six months until they too were axed. From this point, the Morris marque was kept alive solely by the Metro van, and by the end of the decade the Morris marque had been completely discontinued.
The Ital's successor was the Austin Montego, launched in April 1984 as a four-door saloon, with a five-door estate arriving in January 1985.
[edit] Later production in China
After UK production ceased, the Ital's production tooling was sold to China. In 1998, the Ital (sold under the name "Huandu CAC6430") reappeared there. The car was produced by Auto Works (Sichuan province), a company belonging to the First Auto Works Group, which has been described as a very shabby operation. The car itself was actually only half an ital as the body toolings were bought from British Leyland and then the bodies were fitted with a locally made chassis.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Morris Marina Owners Club & Morris Ital Register (UK)
- Austin-Rover.co.uk — Morris Marina/Ital index page
- The Morris Ital Resource
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
