The Japanese Jaguar

Does one particular car come to mind when you consider the intersection of Japanese ingenuity and Britain’s storied automotive industry? Perhaps the McLaren MP4/4, powered to the most dominant Formula 1 season of all time by a Honda V6. There were other tremendously successful F1 cars with Hondas behind the driver: the Williams FW11 that Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet piloted to victories in the 1986 and 1987 Constructors’ world championships, for instance.

Or perhaps you’re digging around somewhere else altogether. For those tortured by memories of British Leyland’s final years, the Triumph Acclaim might well present itself, or even the Rover 800 that emerged from the fallout of Leyland’s collapse. Both were essentially rebadged Hondas.