Triumph Acclaim

The development process began in 1978, when British Leyland entered into negotiations with Honda to develop a new small family saloon. Although the Acclaim officially replaced the Triumph Dolomite, BL's mainstream products in the segment were the Austin Allegro and Austin Maxi - both of which were outdated and nearing the end of a long production run. The Acclaim was therefore originally intended as a short-term product until all-new products were ready for launch. On 26 December 1979, Michael Edwardes officially signed a collaboration between the two companies. The new car would be essentially be a licence-built version of the Honda Ballade (itself derived from the second generation Honda Civic), but with some modifications for the European market and locally sourced content. It replaced the Triumph Dolomite, which had finished production a year when the Canley plant in Coventry was closed down. The Acclaim was officially launched by BL on 7 October 1981. The Maxi had just been withdrawn from production at this stage, with Allegro production ending in March 1982.

The end of Dolomite and TR7 production meant that the Acclaim was the only car to wear the Triumph badge after 1981.

The Acclaim was a major turnaround point for BL itself, with the car achieving good reliability and build quality from the outset - a stark contrast to the quality-control issues which had plagued earlier models. The Acclaim held the record for the lowest percentage of warranty claims for a BL car.

Unlike previous Triumphs, the Acclaim was assembled at the Pressed Steel Fisher Plant at Cowley, Oxford, taking over the withdrawn Austin Maxi production lines. Many workers from the closed MG plant at Abingdon were reassigned to Cowley to work on the Acclaim. It was briefly produced alongside the Morris Ital, a revamped version of the Marina. BL invested £80 million in new production facilities at Cowley, with a new press line and paint shop installed specifically for the Acclaim. Whilst major parts such as the powertrain, chassis components, dashboard assembly and much of the electrical systems were imported from Honda's factories in Japan, the amount of British-sourced content within the Acclaim gradually increased over its production life.

The most notable outward change from the Honda was the appearance of a central badge on the grille. At the time, the Japanese model had "Honda" to the right-hand side of the grille. Other changes included twin Keihin carburettors (the Ballade had only a single carburettor), the mirrors were situated on the doors, the independent front and rear MacPherson strut suspension was tweaked for the UK market and the seats were based on Morris Ital frames. The Acclaim was provided in a more luxurious interior trim than its Honda equivalent, even in its base models. The brakes were disc at the front and drum at the rear.

All Acclaims were powered by the transverse-mounted all alloy and overhead-cam 1,335 cc (81.5 cu in) engine found in the Honda Civic. This engine was a member of the Honda CVCC family, although the cast alloy rocker cover with Honda branding was replaced with a plain black pressed steel item for the Acclaim to disguise the car's Honda origins. The engine drove the front wheels through either a five-speed manual gearbox or a three-speed Trio-matic (which was a manually selectable automatic transmission) gearbox (the same as the Hondamatic) and the interior was nearly identical (except for the seats). The usual BL trim levels were offered: L, HL, HLS and the top of the range CD, which had front and rear electric windows, chrome bumpers, headlamp washers, 165/70 tyres (the L had 145/80 tyres and the HL & HLS had 155/80 tyres), plastic wheel trims, velour upholstery with seat pockets on the back of the front seats, front seat head restraints and optional air conditioning. The car remained largely the same throughout its production life. A Mark 2 version of the Acclaim came out in 1983 (from VI No. 180415 onwards). The main changes were to the exterior door handles, an electronic digital clock replaced the previous mechanical one, a restyled steering wheel, a restyled gear knob, the rear interior door handles (they were just swapped) and the heater recirculation control, which was moved. Mark 2 HL and HLS cars were better equipped than the earlier ones.