Sir Geoffrey Whalen obituary

One of the leading figures in the UK motor industry who tried to turn British Leyland around and later became managing director of Peugeot Talbot in Coventry

One of the heroes of the British motor industry in the late 20th century, Sir Geoffrey Whalen, who has died aged 90, was bloodied in the interminable, but ultimately futile, battle to make British Leyland succeed, yet his achievement was to keep mass-market car manufacturing alive in Coventry for an extra 20 years from the time he became managing director of Peugeot UK in 1984.

Having started out in industrial relations for the National Coal Board in Scotland, Whalen was 30 before he moved to be divisional personnel manager for AC Delco, the components arm of General Motors in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.