| Chief Executive of Nanjing Automobile | | | | building the plant, he worked in the abandoned |
| Corporation, Yu Jian Wei symbolically reopened a | | | | worksâ front office and lived within sight |
| Longbridge assembly line on Tuesday while | | | | of the plant for the next 36 years. It was too |
| describing the plant as âthe spiritual home | | | | late by the time that the final barrel-scraping |
| of the UK motor industryâ. | | | | attempted to keep Longbridge as a British-owned |
| Herbert Austin, the one who created the first | | | | carmaker failed two years ago. |
| proper all-British car in 1900, started the factory | | | | Nonetheless, its fortunes reflected the hopes, |
| five years later. The plant was first built on the | | | | triumphs and mistakes of the industry. It once |
| site of an abandoned printing works. As a proof | | | | helped Britain to be the leading car exporter in the |
| of how patient and perseverance he was when | | | | world. |