Morris Ital
Morris Ital (1980-1984)
The Morris Ital ( ADO73 ) was a passenger car model of the British Leyland Motor Corporation ( BLMC ), which was produced from October 1980 to December 1984.
It was the successor to the Morris Marina and based such as this to a large extent on the technology of the Morris Minor of 1948. The Ital was the last new cars of BLMC, which was sold under the brand name Morris.
Model history
BLMC had introduced in the spring of 1971, the Marina (ADO 28) as a simple, low-cost competitor to the Ford Cortina. In order to keep production costs low and to achieve the best possible reliability, the design team went back to the chassis and on numerous other components of the more than 20 -year-old Morris Minor, other parts were taken from the Triumph Dolomite. The Marina was unsuccessful on the market; poor build quality and especially a very difficult ride was offset by the success of the model. Initially BLMC had planned to replace the Marina in 1975 by a more modern redesign. The bankruptcy of the company ended but the early development work on the ADO 77 mentioned model.
Instead, the Marina was revised in late 1975 technically. He received a new chassis; the body remained unchanged however. The as Marina II ( bzw.ADO 73) designated car was sold until the fall of 1980.
1980 BLMC opted for a further revision of the " antiquated " vehicle. The aim was to continue in the market segment of the lower middle class to be present with the least possible effort and to bridge the time until the idea of entirely new front-wheel drive models Austin Maestro and Montego. The financial resources were limited accordingly: the development team had a budget of only £ 5 million available. It is therefore limited to stylistic changes:
- The front end received wide-band headlamps and laterally projecting into the fender turn signals. The sheets were not changed in this area.
- At the rear end, new, large tail lamps have been installed; at the same time, the trunk line was slightly increased.
- Both front and rear, the car received large-volume plastic bumpers.
The authorship of this facelift has been widely attributed to the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro and his company Italdesign. In fact, it had been developed but of BLs own design team under the direction of Harris man. Italdesign had only received the order to monitor the production changeover to the new model.
In order nevertheless to make the fame of Italdesign available, the company decided early on to include an explicit reference to the Italian design studio in the model name. Initially, the cars Morris Marina Ital had to say; Michael Edwardes, the then CEO of BLMC, however, saw the clear reference to the predecessor Marina to be potentially damaging for sale and limited model name on Ital.
Model versions
The Morris Ital was available as a sedan, station wagon, as well as vans (Van) and pickup available. The two-door hatchback version that there had been at the Marina was omitted.
Driving units served alternatively a 1.3 -liter four- cylinder engine of the A-Series or two 1.7 or 2.0 -liter four- cylinder engines of the ( more modern ) O series. In Portugal, a version was produced in 1981 for a short time with a 1.4 -liter, 37 KW diesel engine.
Production
The Ital remained for five years in production. He had - not least because of its rear-wheel drive - the reputation of an uncomplicated cars that could be operated with low maintenance costs. Conservative customers who had reservations about the also in the UK passing through front-wheel drive, bought the Ital as well as fleet operators, such as car rental.
Production
BLMC produced the Ital initially in Cowley, from 1982 the cars emerged at Longbridge. In parallel, ran for a short time a production in Portugal; there the car was still Marina.
1998 and 1999 the Ital was reissued in China. The company Chengdu Auto Works presented under the model designations Huandu CAC1020, CAC5020, CAC5026 and CAC6430 forth some combination, van and pickup versions of the Ital.