Morris Ital
The Morris Ital wis a medium-sized sedan caur built bi Breetish Leyland (BL) frae 1980 until 1984. It wis the last caur with a Morris badge.
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[edit] Design an launch
The Ital wis first launched on 1 Julie 1980. It took its name frae Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign studio, who haed been employed bi BL to manage the re-engineering o Morris Marina, a caur which haed been produced bi the company since 1971. Although the redesigned caur wis named Ital efter the design studio, it wis actually Harris Mann who wis responsible for the caur's new look. BL's advertising, however, emphasised the caur's connection with the Italian stylin house Italdesign, who haed in fact merely productionised the design.
The Ital haed revised exterior styling, but retained the Marina's 1.3- an 1.7-litre petrol engines an rear wheel drive chassis. The dashboard an interior o the Marina wur also carried over largely unaltered. The Marina's coupé variant wis na produced in Ital form, but the fower-door saloon, five-door estate an pick-up an van versions wur carried over frae the Marina range. Frae 1981, an automatic version o the Ital wis available with the 2.0-litre O-Series pouer unit.
[edit] Portuguese assembly
Although maist Itals wur manufactured in the UK, there wur also Portuguese-assembled Itals (badged as Marina 1.5 D) which wur all equipped with the ancient 1.5-litre B-Series diesel engine, producing 37 hp. The Breetish Leyland factory in Setúbal (IMA) then switched to producing the Mini Moke.
[edit] Sales
The Ital sold reasonably well in Breetain during the early 1980s, as it offered a competitive asking price an low runnin costs. The Ital's technology differed frae mony o its contemporaries, such as the Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, as well as the Peugeot 505 an Talbot Alpine, which wur different in that they haed front wheel drive. Efter the introduction o the Opel Ascona C / Vauxhall Cavalier Mark II in August 1981, the Ital an Ford's Cortina (an later Sierra) wur the anerlie mass-volume caurs in the sector to maintain rear-wheel drive.
[edit] The end o Morris
The Ital wis the last production caur to wear the Morris badge (although there wis a Morris-badged van version o the Metro which wis produced until 1984). Production o the Ital wis swapped frae Cowley to Longbridge in September 1982 to allow the Cowley plant to be upgraded for production o the forthcoming Austin Montego an Austin Maestro. At this time, the Ital received an upgrade with different front an rear suspension (parabolic rear springs an telescopic front dampers) an models wur redesignated SL an SLX. The saloon wis dropped frae the line in Februar 1984 with the van an estate completing ootgoin contracts for another sax months, until they too wur axed. Frae this point, the Morris marque wis kept alive solely bi the Metro van, an bi the end o the decade the Morris marque haed been completely discontinued alang with the Austin marque, as the Rover brand monopolised the range o hatchback an saloons.
The Ital's successor wis the Austin Montego, launched in Aprile 1984 as a fower-door saloon, with a five-door estate arriving in Januar 1985.
[edit] Later production in Cheenae
After UK production ceased, the Ital's production tooling wis sold to the Chengdu Auto Works, a company belonging to the First Auto Works Group in Sichuan province, Cheenae. In 1998, the Ital estate (utilising a locally-made chassis) reappeared there, under the name Huandu CAC6430. Van an pick-up variants wur also produced. Chengdu Auto Works is thought to hae closed doun in Mey 1999.
[edit] Reputation
Already ootdated bi the time it was launched, an continually saddled with build quality problems, the Ital soon gained a very bad reputation. In Julie 2008, it ended up seicont in a poll of "the worst Breetish caur ever" conducted bi The Sun, endin narrowly ahind the Austin Allegro. The Ital wis said to hae similar rust problems to its predecessor, the Morris Marina, an because o this surviving Itals ar rare today, although the Morris Marina Owners Club an Morris Ital Register is making sure the few remaining examples survive.
