ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 illustrated that British policy towards the motor industry developed haphazardly. At no stage in the post-war period did government develop a clear view of a preferred type of industrial structure or the future development of the sector. From 1945 to the end of the 1970s ‘interventions’ were commonplace and ‘plans’ for various levels of the industry were from time to time advanced as desirable, but these ambitions were never realized in a coherent and sustained policy. There was no development-let alone implementation-of a consistent positive industrial policy for the automotive sector (Wilks, 1988).
