The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car, that was produced from 1980 to 1997, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by its successor the Rover Group. The Metro was intended to complement and eventually replace the original Mini. It was launched as the Austin Mini Metro sold under the Austin badge, and in 1982, sportier MG versions were made available. From 1987, the car was sold simply as the "Metro" after the cessation of the Austin brand. In 1990, the Metro was redesigned and sported the Rover brand name, sold as the Rover 100 abroad, which would also replace the Metro nameplate in Britain from 1995 onwards.
The Metro quickly proved popular and became Britain's best-selling car for some time. There was also a van version, sold under the Morris badge and later as the Metrovan. Although the R3-generation Rover 200 introduced in 1995 (and smaller than previous 200 models) had originally been designed as a replacement for the Metro, it was not marketed as such after its launch. The Metro (now known as Rover 100) finally ceased production on 23 December 1997, being outlived by three years by the original Mini that it was meant to replace. 2,078,218 Metros of all types were built.
__TOC__
Development BL's last all-new mass-produced car before the Metro's launch was the 1976 Rover SD1. Plans for a replacement for the Mini, originally created by British Motor Corporation (BMC) in the 1950s, had been afoot within BL since the early 1970s, but none of the concepts conceived got beyond the initial design stages, largely due to a shortage of funds at British Leyland, and its eventual bankruptcy and government bailout in 1975. The modern supermini market had evolved during the 1970s, with earlier small cars like the Mini and Hillman Imp being followed mostly by cars of a two-box hatchback configuration, beginning with the Fiat 127 in 1971 and Renault 5 in 1972, with the next five years seeing the arrival of similar cars including the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo, as well as the Vauxhall Chevette from General Motors (known in West Germany as the Opel Kadett) which was also available as a saloon and estate in addition to the hatchback. These cars gained a decent-sized market share in Britain and most other European markets.
The roots of the Metro lay in an earlier project denoted as ADO88 (Austin Drawing Office, 88-inch wheelbase), which was intended to be a direct replacement for the Mini. By 1977, the ADO88 was in an advanced state of development with running prototypes undergoing testing and much of the car's body structure designed and ready for production. However, poor reception of its styling at customer clinics and the increasing dominance of superminis in the ADO88's intended market segment forced a major change in the project's focus. In late 1977, BL chairman Michael Edwardes ordered that ADO88 be given an eleventh-hour redesign to make it both larger, and less utilitarian in appearance / more upmarket in nature. It thus became BL's first supermini rather than an economy car. The revised project was given the designator LC8 (Leyland Cars Number 8), and the definitive Metro design would ultimately emerge under the leadership of BL's chief stylists David Bache and Harris Mann. LC8 would replace the more upmarket, lower-volume Clubman versions of the Mini and the lower-spec, smaller-engined variants of the Austin Allegro (which would be fully replaced in the early 1980s by project LC10, which became the Austin Maestro). The ADO88 project had experimented with new engines and suspension systems, but, with limited time and budgets, LC8 would reuse much of the Mini's engineering (the A-Series engine, front-wheel drive via a sump-mounted four-speed transmission, front and rear running gear carried in steel subframes separate from the unitary bodyshell) and borrow the Hydragas suspension system developed for the Allegro. The floorpan and core structure of ADO88 was retained largely unmodified, but every external panel was changed as part of its transition into LC8.
However, while much was shared conceptually with older BL models, LC8 would see these design elements heavily re-engineered and modernised. For instance the A-Series drivetrain was extensively updated with new materials and tooling to become the A-Plus, while the new car would feature 12-inch wheels, and all LC8s would have servo-assisted four-piston front disc brakes with fully split hydraulic systems, as opposed to the entry-level, standard Mini which at the time still had 10-inch wheels and drum brakes all-round. These new drivetrains, wheels, brakes and many other featured developed for the LC8 would be introduced on the Mini not long afterwards, updating the 30-year old design at minimal extra cost, and providing highly desirable economies of scale, given the anticipated sales volumes of the new car. This would make it cost effective for the more basic versions of the Mini to remain in production as an entry-level model for BL, continuing in the market niche originally intended for ADO88, while allowing the LC8 to aim higher, and compete head-on with the generally longer bodied superminis of other brands.
Following the Ryder Report, which prioritized the ADO88/LC8 project, Longbridge was expanded in 1978 with a £200mn robotised body assembly line (known as the "New West Works") to enable it to produce the new model, which it was hoped would sell 100,000 or more units a year in Britain alone. Production of the smaller Mini and larger Allegro was also pruned back to enable the plant to produce as many units of the Metro as possible, with the Allegro finally being axed in 1982 to make way for the Maestro.
Austin/MG Metro (Mk1; 1980) On 8 October 1980, BL introduced the Austin Mini Metro. The name was chosen by a ballot of BL employees. They were offered a choice of three names, "Match", "Maestro" or "Metro". Once the result was announced, the train-and-bus manufacturer Metro-Cammell objected to BL's use of the Metro name. The issue was resolved by BL promising to advertise the car only as the "Mini Metro"; however, after a while "Mini" was dropped from the name.
The hatchback bodyshell was one of the most spacious of its time, and this was a significant factor in its popularity. The space-efficient interior was also lauded for the novel 60/40 split rear seat, which was standard on higher-specification models. The original Mk. 1 Metros also featured David Bache's signature "symmetric" dashboard design (also used on the Range Rover and the Rover SD1), where the main dashboard moulding consisted of a shelf onto which the instrument binnacle was simply mounted on the left or the right hand side: this arrangement saves the tooling cost of two separate dashboard mouldings for right and left-hand drive models. Initially, the Metro was sold as a three-door hatchback only (as were most of its competitors), with a choice of 998cc (1.0 litre) or 1275cc (1.3-litre) petrol engines. The 1.0 and 1.0L cars, and the van that came out later, had recessed headlamps with indicators and sidelights in the bumper, whereas the 1.0HLE, 1.3S, and 1.3HLS had headlight and indicator as one unit, which was flush-fitting.
A two-door saloon model was included in the Metro's development, which would have been similar in concept to the Vauxhall Chevette saloon and the Polo-based Volkswagen Derby. However, by the time production of the Metro began, it was decided not to include a saloon version, this niche being filled by the Mini remaining in production; also because only a few of the Metro's competitors were available as a saloon.
Launch and reception One of the consequences was that there was enormous public interest in the car from well before its launch. The company chose to stage the launch presentations for dealers and major company car buyers on board a cruise ship, the MS Vistafjord. This launch event took place over a three-week period in September 1980 sailing between West Gladstone Dock in Liverpool and the Isle of Man, where guests could drive the car, so long as sea conditions allowed them to land by tender as there was no dock facility for the ship. The news broke in the national newspapers a full year ahead of the public launch with The Sun, among others, carrying the story. It was finally revealed to the public on the press day of the British Motor Show on 8 October with the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in attendance. Production at Longbridge was briefly halted in November after a strike following a dispute regarding production of Metro seats. It was halted again by a strike lasting from 16 December until January 1981, with further disruptions in May and November of that year.
A major TV advertising campaign was created by the London agency, Leo Burnett which came up with the headline "a British car to beat the world". The advert also featured the similar-sized Fiat 127, Renault 5, Volkswagen Polo and Datsun Cherry as "foreign invaders" and the voiceover spoke of the Metro's ability to "send the foreigners back where they came from". Following the launch of the Austin Maestro in 1983, less of British Leyland's advertising was focused on the Metro. The Maestro initially sold very well, but within five years sales were declining sharply, although it remained in production until 1994.
The Metro quickly proved popular with buyers. Its clever interior design made it spacious considering its dimensions, and Hydragas suspension gave surprisingly good ride and handling. Its updated A+ series 1.0 and 1.3-litre OHV engines hardly represented the cutting edge in performance, but they were strong on economy. A 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer being the car's first celebrity owner and was widely believed to have been a gift from her fiancée - the then Prince Charles, and the car was a feature of many paparazzi shots of the future princess taken before her marriage to Charles in 1981.
Even then, during the early part of its production life, it was the best selling mini-car in the country before being eclipsed by the updated Ford Fiesta in 1984. In its best year, 1983, more than 130,000 Metros were sold in Britain, only the Ford Escort and Sierra outsold it. This was despite the arrival of a host of new superminis on the British market that year – the Ford Fiesta received a major facelift, and four all-new superminis (the Vauxhall Nova, Fiat Uno, Nissan Micra and Peugeot 205) went on sale in Britain between April and September.
Launch prices MiniMetro 1.0 £3,095 (£13,486 in 2026 adjusted for inflation) MiniMetro 1.0L £3,495 MiniMetro 1.0HLE £3,695 MiniMetro 1.3S £3,995 MiniMetro 1.3HLS £4,296
MG variants During 1981, British Leyland confirmed that the Metro range would soon be expanded with more luxurious and high performance versions. The Metro range was expanded in May 1982 to include the luxury Vanden Plas trim level on the Austins and higher performance MG Badged versions; the MG Metro marked a quick comeback for the marque previously used on sports cars until the Abingdon plant making the MG B closed in 1980. The Metro Vanden Plas featured higher levels of luxury and equipment, while the slightly more powerful MG Metro 1.3 sold as a sports model (0–60 mph in 10.9 seconds, top speed 103 mph). The Vanden Plas variant received the same MG engine from 1984 onwards (with the exception of the VP Automatic, which retained the 1275 cc unit). The luxury fittings marking out the Metro Vanden Plas took the form of a radio-cassette player, electric front windows, an improved instrument panel with tachometer, and a variety of optional extras such as trip computer, leather trim, remote boot release, and front fog lamps.