Allegro, fifty years after its introduction!

In May 1973, on May 16 to be exact, British Leyland launched its new Allegro. It had to be one of the most ambitious model launches Britain had ever seen. The model range consisted of twelve different versions and no expense was spared on advertising or photography. Expectations for the new Allegro were high, with production numbers predicted to reach 5000 cars per week. A number that was comparable to the heyday of its predecessor, the immortal mid-sized car codenamed ADO16. That predecessor was best known as BMC 1100/1300, but other names also participated. For example, the ADO16 only had the name Austin 'Glider' in the Netherlands.

Full of optimism

During the glam rock spring of 1973, there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future. The British economy boomed and the British Leyland Motor Corporation announced £500 million in new investment, while at the same time introducing an all-new car (the Leyland P76) in Australia. After years of lobbying for entry into the EEC, British Leyland would have a huge expansion of its sales market, because all restrictive tariffs were abolished (eventually only in 1977) and the European market for family cars was at their feet.

Quartic steering wheel

Compared to its direct competitors, the Volkswagen Golf and the Opel Kadett, the Allegro was excellently designed with one very special novelty: the Allegro was not equipped with the old, familiar round steering wheel, but with a steering wheel that was square with rounded corners. This new “Quartic” steering wheel was supposed to be a unique selling point, but it met with little success. That is why British Leyland decided to equip the later Allegro models with the conventional round steering wheel. Still, it had something, that square steering wheel!

Special aerodynamics

The model of the Allegro was not bad at all compared to its competitors. However, it had one more special feature: when the Allegro drove backwards it was more aerodynamic than when it drove forward. And you really do the latter in 99 percent of the active driving time. No one was bothered by this, with the Allegro you moved just as easily as with any other car.

Very clumsy

Another remarkable thing that did bother the Allegro was that it had a traditional boot lid and did not have a large third or fifth door. The opening tailgate was already used in almost all hatchback models from other brands in the early XNUMXs, but “No!” said British Leyland's marketing department: "We are deciding that only the bigger brother in the model range - the Austin Maxi - will be available as a hatchback". This gave the Maxi a unique selling point. But if you do one, you don't have to leave the other. So this decision was, to say the least, very clumsy! You may wonder how many sales orders it has saved.

In between strikes

The Allegro would compete and the sales numbers had to be brought to a comparable level with the other 'national champions' such as Renault, Fiat, Volkswagen and in the Netherlands with Opel. At least that was the intention. But luck was not on the Allegro's side. The design was disappointing because there were quite a few production problems in the first phase of the car's life. After all, the Allegro was produced between the strikes. These strikes, organized by the local unions, combined with a general disinterest of the factory workers and a negative attitude of the BL management, ultimately led to the demise of the once powerful British Leyland concern. And the Allegro was the main exponent of that misery, hence its typical nickname 'All-aggro'.

Economic recession

In addition to the factory internal problems, the British experienced an economic recession after joining Europe in 1974/75, making it difficult for even a good car to 'conquer' customers. Criticism of the early cars led to the 'Allegro 2' of late 1975, which was a significantly more competitive offering. In addition, the introduction of an Allegro station wagon in April 1975 compensated for the lack of a hatchback. An Allegro shortcoming that was much more the topic of conversation in retrospect than when the car was on the market.

Flourishing exports

On the European mainland, things actually went quite well. The Seneffe factory in Belgium produced 150.000 Allegros. That was proof that the Allegro was not the total flop on the export markets that some were eager to have you believe. It was also a popular car in England. It took a while, it wasn't until 1979 – six years after its introduction – that it was the fifth best-selling new car in Britain. After that, sales figures fell and it was urgent that the Allegro was replaced by the Maestro in 1983.

Expectations too high

But what is a fact is that the expectations of the British Leyland management were far too high. Production never came close to the targets once set. It dropped to just 1000 cars a week in 1978. In contrast to competitor Volkswagen, where 10.000 Golfs rolled off the production line every week. In the end, the total number of Allegros produced amounted to 640.000, after nine years in production, the story ended in 1982.

A sad story?!

Its predecessor, the BMC 1100/1300, was also unable to surpass the Allegro. Three times as many cars were produced in the same period of nine years. An excuse sometimes heard was that the Allegro also had a lot of internal competition from its contemporary, the Morris Marina. In terms of concept, incidentally, a completely different car. Comparing apples to oranges a bit. So the maligned Allegro was actually a bit of a sad story, culminating in a July 2008 poll conducted by The Sun that named the Austin Allegro as 'the worst British car ever made'. Very strange, even questionable!

value for money

All those Allegro owners were often really very satisfied with their car. He offered 'value for money' and the operating costs were really no higher than those of other providers in the same market segment. In the Netherlands this was proven by the frequently published breakdown statistics of the ANWB. They left nothing to be desired. Otherwise you will never be able to achieve a production number of 640.000 units. If it really was that bad, then as a manufacturer you will not get further than half of those 640.000. So it turned out to be a very popular car, which underwent a model change in 1975 and 1980. In 1979, six years after its introduction, it was still the fifth best-selling new car in Britain. And as usual with British Leyland, the Allegro was again a textbook example of 'badge engineering'. There was the well-known Austin, but also an expensive Vanden Plas version. In addition, the Italian British Leyland partner Innocenti also marketed a variant, the Innocenti Regent (1974).

Image problem

So what was wrong with the Allegro? Image! Because the management and the shop floor were at war with each other at the factory, the Allegro fell victim to this. It was the child, neglected by the parents, who made his way through life with much struggle. By the time it was replaced by the Maestro in 1983, sales had fallen considerably. This was partly because it was declared 'the worst British car ever made'. The car had a bad reputation from the start. And it never got rid of it…