It seems to me that BL / Austin Rover had a series of great ideas that were either ahead of their time or poorly executed. Or both.
FWD hatches were the mainstay of the ‘80s. But BL’s was launched in the ‘70s, before it was ready. Maybe even the 60s? Before my time, though my grandad had 2 Maxis...
Rover went mass market premium with the Rover 200/400 series in the late eighties early nineties, badly. But the Audi A3 and BMW compact of the late nineties paved the way for the ubiquitous German mass market domination of today.
In the late nineties they launched the Freelander (though to be fair, I think LR was owned by Ford at that point). The rest of the world went small SUV mad in the early/mid noughties... Also in the late nineties they went retro with the 75 and, and if you believe some stories, their design for what became the BMW MINI just before the rest of the world went retro mad with the fiat 500, the VW Beetle etc
Also in the early noughties, just before going bust they launched the streetwise - a kind of chunky slightly jacked up 200 that looked a bit off roader like. Since then VW have done the same with the Polo, Audi with the A4 and A6, MB with the E Class, Volvo with some kind of estate... And super mini based SUVs are everywhere...
What might have been... ;)
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