Triumph Stag

For a troubled car company to launch a unique and upmarket four-seater â€˜grand tourerâ€™ seemed brave back in 1970. But the events that led to the debut of the Triumph Stag were fascinating, reports Paul Guinness

When Triumph launched its new six-cylinder 2000 saloon in 1963, the stakes were high. The company’s closest rival – Rover – had already announced its own new 2000-badged model just weeks before, and Triumph desperately needed a thoroughly modern competitor with which to steal some sales away from Solihull. And it all looked very promising too, with Triumph’s take on the 2.0-litre saloon class boasting six-cylinder power and smoothness compared with Rover’s four-cylinder offering.

It wasn’t long, of course, before both Rover and Triumph were under the same corporate umbrella. Triumph had been acquired by Leyland Trucks in 1961, the entire group being renamed the Leyland Motor Corporation. Just five years later, it was announced that Leyland would be acquiring Rover, a company that by then had its financial troubles.

Things took an even stranger twist in 1968, however, when the announcement came that Leyland Motor Corporation was to merge with British Motor Holdings, bringing together a wide array of top-selling British marques and effectively creating Britain’s answer to General Motors. The new group was to be called the British Leyland Motor Corporation, with optimists suggesting each marque could benefit from major new economies of scale and platform sharing.

But, of course, that wasn’t easy when it came to the Rover 2000 and Triumph 2000, both of which were selling well and had their own loyal customers. And so they would remain in production, sharing nothing in the way of components and competing against each other in-house. Looking back now, though, it would be easy to assume that it was the Rover that won the day, outselling the Triumph 2000 and remaining in production that bit longer, transformed via the launch of V8-engined versions.

For the full feature pick up your copy of the August issue of Classic Car Mart

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