It was a time of hope, a time of disaster,
a time of Triumph, and a time of… whatever this is. But one team would work with… another team…
to build the car of the future. A car they would call… the Rover 800…
and the Sterling… and the Honda Legend… and the Acura Legend. This is… the Rover 800 story. (music) Rover’s previous big car, the SD1 was beautifully
designed, but hampered by one production problem after another. By 1979 the Rover designers were looking to
create its successor and pitched a new project to management – the Rover Bravo. It was to be an updated SD1, with a saloon
variant and the chassis would be used for the next Triumph open top sports car and coupé. It was a wise plan that would minimise development
costs but meant the new chassis would be almost 6” shorter than the current Rover SD1 – not
a good thing for a spacious luxury car. But British Leyland had a new manager, Michael
Edwardes, who was charged with getting finances under control. He ended Triumph TR7 production, and closed
the Rover-Triumph division, rolling it into a larger “British Leyland Cars”. In 1980 this larger division decided to present a different
plan for a large Rover, now codenamed "LM15". In the spirit of cost-saving this was to be based on
the upcoming Montego with a stretched chassis. After evaluating the competition at the 1981
Frankfurt Motor Show, British Leyland designers decided the LM15 plan just wouldn’t cut
it. Luxury cars were getting much more sophisticated
both mechanically and electrically, with a low drag coefficient. The LM15 design was just too basic to compete
with upcoming competitors’ cars like the Audi 100, BMW 5-series and Mercedes E-class. What they needed was a partner to share the
development costs of a brand-new car. Enter Honda. British Leyland reached out to them to form
a partnership on the new large Rover. Honda had yet to make a large car, and Rover’s
expertise would help. They wanted to produce a large expensive car
for the lucrative North American market. Quotas restricted the number of cars they
could import, so it made sense to sell more expensive cars with a higher profit margin. There were also impending EU import quotas,
which Honda could get around by producing their cars at British Leyland UK factories. By 1982 British Leyland was renamed Austin
Rover, and the first fruits of the new partnership was the Triumph Acclaim, a rebadged Honda
Ballade assembled at the Austin Rover Cowley plant and the final car to use the Triumph
badge. Even before the new large Rover / Honda plan
was approved, Austin Rover engineers started work on designing it. They wanted to show the design direction THEY
wanted the car to take, essentially a more aerodynamic version of the SD1. But as the luxury car market was moving to
saloons, it wouldn’t be a hatchback. The project was codenamed “XX” by Austin
Rover, “HX” by Honda. By the summer of 1982 a clay mock-up was produced
with a slippery drag coefficient of just 0.27, a massive improvement over the SD1’s 0.36. When the Honda and Rover teams first met,
Honda were a little taken aback by the progress that Rover had already made, but this didn’t
spoil the start of an excellent working relationship. The Rover design was adopted to begin work
on the chassis, but Honda’s car would have a different look. As development continued, the Rover 800 started
to take shape. However, one area which caused consternation
was the front suspension. Honda was keen on a low bonnet line and expensive
double wishbone suspension. This meant limited suspension travel, meaning
ride on bumpy roads was compromised. Austin Rover preferred alternate suspension
and the additional interior space it offered, but Honda’s system won the day. As for engines, both teams agreed to use Honda’s
V6 in place of the out¬-of-fashion 3.5L V8 from the SD1. Austin Rover also wanted a 4-cylinder
2.0L which would sell well due to company car legislation, but Honda weren’t interested. The O-series engine from the SD1 was chosen,
rechristened the M-series. But in that car it had been underpowered so
it needed a boost. Thankfully silicon chips had allowed electronic
engine management to more precisely control combustion, helping satisfy new emissions
legislation. Fuel injection and 16v single and double overhead
cam provided the necessary power needed in such a high-end saloon. Both engines proved a little unrefined to
start with. They needed high revs to go quickly, and the
M-series was also loud which added to the problem. It was easy for teams so far away to diverge
or have problems, but they were kept on track and in relative harmony. For example, Honda had provided incorrect
dimensions of their V6 engine to Austin Rover. This meant adding 9mm to the wheel track. The change was handled quickly and professionally
by both teams, meaning development could continue apace. The car they produced was a better car than
either company could have made on their own – a true collaborative effort. During the design Austin Rover management
research concluded a hatchback model was needed, due to growing demand. The resulting design was relatively straightforward
and showed how similar the new Rover 800 was to the old SD1. The Rover 800 broke cover in an unlikely way,
as the CCV coupé concept vehicle. Even though a coupé wasn’t initially planned,
Austin Rover used this concept to sign up North American dealers to distribute the new
Rover 800, as the coupé variant was expected to sell well there. The Rover 800 wasn’t the first to launch. The Honda Legend launched nine-months before
the Rover in October 1985. Some people in Rover thought Honda’s V6
engine 9mm dimension “mistake” gave them a head start. What also made a difference was the fact that
Honda launched cars even before production has started. UK car manufacturers waited until the dealers
had cars in stock before making an announcement. On July 8, 1986 Austin Rover became simply
“Rover” and just two days later the Rover 800 was given an extravagant launch. 3500 press and dealers were flown to Switzerland
to drive the new car, and 60 MPs and hundreds of journalists drove the car in the Northumberland
countryside. At the launch Rover was keen to show that
this was not just a new car, but a new company. Gone were the bad old days of industrial action,
and with Honda’s help Rover were moving to a bright new future. They were fighting off criticism that sales
of Rover cars were nose diving, in particular the new Austin Maestro and Montego. But it’s true to say that the relationship
between management and workers had greatly improved in Rover, and this was paying dividends. Reaction to the new car was mixed. The interior was praised, but the suspension
and engines were called out for criticism. If you’ve seen my Rover SD1 video you’ll
know that the SD1 was hobbled by short supply at launch, problems ramping up supply and
poor build quality. Well Rover chairman Harold Musgrove should
have taken note during this time because exactly the same issues cropped up for the Rover 800. Was this just another case of Rover shooting
themselves in the foot again? Harold Musgrove wasn’t to be chairman for
much longer. Despite these problems, the Rover 800 was
popular in the UK and started to sell well. The same couldn’t be said for North America
where the Rover 800 was badged as the Sterling. It had the disadvantage of being an also-ran
to Honda’s already released Acura Legend, and Honda also had the much sought-after coupé
model. Sales started well for the Sterling but those
quality issues appeared in the JD Power survey (for example, the leather seats were turning
green in sunlight), and sales tanked. Rover exited the market in 1991, again echoing
the SD1, never to return. To add insult to injury, the Acura won Motor
Trend’s Import Car of the Year in 1987. It went on to great success and is still sold
today as the Acura RLX. The Rover hatchback, dubbed the “Fastback”,
debuted in 1988 along with a new, more refined Honda V6 engine. The original plan was to sell the Fastback
as the Rover 600 and make it a cheaper model, but market research showed the public valued
the hatchback just as much if not more than a saloon, so it was made a Rover 800 model
with a price to match. By 1989 Rover started a facelift project,
codenamed R17. The designers produced striking drawings showing
the way they wanted to go, but the funds weren’t there for a complete reskin. The bean counters announced that any new design
needed to use the existing doors to save on the cost of new door moulds. It was pointed out that the door moulds were
at the end of their life and new ones would have to be produced anyway, but this did little
to change management’s mind. The most obvious change was the addition of
chrome and a new front grille to move the car upmarket. The grille was added after positive reaction
to it from a Rover 600 market study and this had the advantage of producing a family look
for both cars. Other subtle cues were added as a nod to Rover’s
venerable P5. The car’s bulk was increased to give it
more presence on the road. The interior stayed the same, although with
more walnut trim it did look like someone had thrown a tree at the dashboard! The M-series 2.0L engine was worked over again
to give it more torque at low revs, now rebadged as the T-series. This turned an unrefined engine into something
more befitting a luxury car, and with a turbo it made the 800 a seriously fast car with
a 0-60 time of just 7.3 seconds. The new engine started to make the Honda V6
look superfluous. The new model arrived in November 1991 and
was well received by the press. A diesel followed the following year. But the 800 had one more trick up its sleeve. The long-promised coupé model finally arrived
in March 1992, being a top of the range prestige model. However, it was too late for the North American
market where Rover had exited the year earlier. The updated 800 sold well, but not spectacularly
throughout the rest of its life, ending production in 1998 after selling over 317,000 cars. In 1994 BMW purchased Rover, and they designed
a replacement –- the Rover 75 – which would go on sale in 1999. Rover did an amazing job giving the Rover
800 a thirteen-year lifespan with relatively few updates, and partnering with Honda was
the right move to get the funds to develop a car that could compete with tough competition. If you want to hear more car histories, then
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800 in the comments below. Thanks for watching and see you in the next
video!
