Tag: automotive black friday deals

Few cars have been treated (or subjected) to as many headline changes in their lifespan as the Metro. Of course, it began life as an Austin – famously conceived to replace the original Mini in British Leyland’s portfolio – before MG and then Rover were charged with selling it. The latter transition, immortalized by Alan Partridge (they’ve rebadged it you fool) signified the model’s descent from genuine supermini contender to venerable figure of fun. Suffice it to say, 18 years at the small car coalface had done it no favors by the time it was nicknamed a Rover 100.

Nevertheless, as is often the way with practical, cheap-to-buy cars (precisely the sort that the industry currently struggles to offer) the Metro sells comparatively well, especially to begin with. That the Mini outlived it by three years says a lot about what being genuinely good and innovative and fun does for a car, but between Austin and MG and Rover the Metro found over two million customers. Which is a fairly substantial number even allowing for its prolonged lifespan.

Certainly it was popular enough to spawn several go-faster derivatives. The most famous (and actually fast) was obviously the Clubman version of