When Britain halted the flood of Japanese car imports

Japanese brand’s enjoyed success at the expense of British car firms

Aggressive export drive led by Datsun led to allegations of ‘dumping’

Chinese brands are now voraciously gobbling up market share in the UK: from 5% in 2024, they’ve already stomached 8% in 2025.
This has caused much anxiety and even antagonism, and some people have called for restrictive measures to be taken against China’s car industry.
This is incredibly similar to the situation that existed in the mid-1970s, when Japanese brands were enjoying ever greater success at the expense of Britain’s own car firms.
In August 1973, British Leyland boss Lord Donald Stokes called for bans on foreign cars, TVs, electronic goods and even washing machines while an economically troubled Britain “got its house in order”, claiming the nation was “sitting back like a goose being plucked”.
Imported cars had achieved a record-setting market share of 32% that month, taking the annual total to 328,000 – of which 62,000 were Japanes