Friendship Conquers All

In Britain's postwar scramble for dollars, no exporters have scrambled harder than two rivals of the motor industry: Viscount Nuffield, head of Morris, and Leonard P. Lord, boss of Austin. When Lord brought out a new Austin for the export trade, Nuffield retaliated with the popular-priced Wolseley. When Lord introduced two bigger models, Nuffield struck back with the sporty M.G. and the sleek Riley. No sooner did Lord start pushing Austin's two-seat convertible than Nuffield brought out a new Morris Minor. (TIME, Feb. 7, 1949). But since Lord had been Nuffield's right-hand man and close friend for years before joining Austin, the competition was always friendly.

Last week friendship conquered all. Nuffield and Lord announced that, subject to approval by stockholders and the Treasury, Morris and Austin will merge. Morris-Austin will thus become the fourth largest automaker in the world, next to the Big Three of the U.S. With combined production of nearly 400,000 units a year, it will be more than twice as big as its nearest British competitor, Ford's subsidiary. Though their sales organizations will be merged, the two firms will continue to make separate models; eventually, however, they will lop off models that compete with each other.

Through the merger, Nuffield and Lord expect to present a stronger front against the increased competition of French and Italian cars abroad. They also expect to smooth out production difficulties that have recently arisen from their competition for manpower and materials. There is another reason for the merger. Nuffield, now 74, plans to retire soon, and thinks that only his old rival can take his place, But 54-year-old Leonard can do so only through a merger. Two years ago, Austin gave him $70,000 cash and 80,000 shares of tax-free stock in return for his promise that he would never work for a competitor.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.