Austin Motor Company

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{{Infobox Defunct Company| company_name = Austin Motor Company| company_logo = Austin radiator grille ornament| fate = Merged | successor = British Motor Corporation, [United Kingdom| key_people =| products = | num_employees = | parent = | subsid = -->

The Austin Motor Company was a [United Kingdom manufacturer of automobiles that rose to be a major motorcar brand, the dominant partner after merger with Morris (car) in 1952 but declining after absorption into the British Leyland Motor Corporation, and its subsequent troubles.

History 1905 - 1918: Formation and development Herbert Austin (1866–1941), later Sir Herbert, the former manager of the Wolseley Motor Company founded The Austin Motor Company in 1905, at Longbridge plant, which was then in Worcestershire (Longbridge became part of Birmingham in 1911 when its boundaries were expanded). The first car was a conventional 5 litre four cylinder model with chain drive with about 200 being made in the first five years. In World War I Austin grew enormously with government contracts for everything from artillery to aircraft and the workforce expanded from around 2,500 to 22,000.

1919 - 1939: Interwar success box saloonAfter the war Herbert Austin decided on a one model policy based around the 3620 cc 20 hp engine and versions included cars, commercials and even a tractor but sales volumes were never enough to fill the vast factory built during war time and the company went into receivership in 1921 but rose again after financial restructuring. To expand the market smaller cars were introduced with the 1661 cc Twelve in 1922 and later the same year the Austin 7, an inexpensive, small and simple car and one of the earliest to be directed at a mass market. At one point it was built under licence by the fledgling BMW of Germany (as the BMW Dixi); Japanese Datsun; as Bantam in the United States; and as the Lucien Rosengart in France.

A largely independent U.S. subsidiary operated under the name American Austin Car Company from 1929 to 1934; it was revived under the name "American Bantam" from 1937 to 1941.

With the help of the Seven, Austin weathered the worst of the depression and remained profitable through the 1930s producing a wider range of cars which were steadily updated with the introduction of all-steel bodies, Girling brakes, and synchromesh gearboxes but all the engines remained as side valve units. In 1938 Leonard Lord joined the company board and became chairman in 1941 on the death of Herbert (now Lord) Austin.

1939 - 1958: The war years and afterwards During the Second World War Austin continued building cars but also made trucks and aircraft. The post war car range was announced in 1944 and production of it started in 1945.

The immediate post war range was mainly similar to that of the late 1930s but did include the 16 hp significant for having the companies first overhead valve engine.

In 1952 Austin merged with the Nuffield Organisation (parent company of Morris (car)) to form the British Motor Corporation (later British Leyland) with Leonard Lord in charge. Austin were the dominant partner and their engines were adopted for most of the cars; various models amongst the marques would soon be badge engineering versions of each other.

Legal agreement with Nissan In 1952 Austin entered into a legal agreement with the Nissan Motors of Japan, for that company to assemble 2000 imported Austins from partially assembled sets and sell them in Japan under the Austin trademark. The agreement called for Nissan to make all Austin parts locally within three years, a goal Nissan met. Nissan produced and marketed Austins for seven years. The agreement also gave Nissan rights to use Austin patents, which Nissan used in developing its own engines for its Datsun line of cars. In 1953 British-built Austins were assembled and sold, but by 1955, the Austin A50 – completely built by Nissan and featuring a slightly larger body with 1489cc engine – was on the market in Japan. Nissan produced 20,855 Austins from 1953-59.Cusumano, pp 90-92

1959 - 1969: An era of revolution With the threat to fuel supplies resulting from the 1956 Suez Crisis Lord asked Alec Issigonis to design a new small car and the result was the revolutionary Mini launched in 1959. The principle of a transverse engine with gearbox in the sump and driving the front wheels was carried on to larger cars with the Austin 1100 of 1963, the Austin 1800 of 1964 and the Austin Maxi of 1969. This meant that Austin had spent 10 years developing a new range which entirely consisted of front-drive, transverse-engined models, while the vast majority of their competitors had only just started to make such changes. They were the first British manufacturer to make this transition. Ford Motor Company did not launch their first front-drive model until 1976, while Vauxhall Motors first front-drive model was launched in 1979 and Chrysler Europe first such car was launched in 1975.

1970 - 1979: An era of turbulence By 1970, Austin was part of the British Leyland combine which produced some of the most maligned cars ever to roll off United Kingdom production lines. Austin's most notorious model of this era was the 1973 Austin Allegro, successor to the 1100/1300 ranges, which was criticised for its bulbous styling, doubtful build quality, indifferent reliability and rust-proneness. It was still a strong seller in Britain, though not quite as successful as its predecessor.

The larger Austin Princess was a wedge-shaped large saloon that began life as a Wolseley in 1975, but adopted the Austin badge a year later. It wasn't quite as notorious as the Allegro, and in fact earned some praise thanks to its practical wedge shape, spacious interior and decent ride and handling, but build quality was suspect and the curious lack of a hatchback (which would have ideally suited its body shape) cost it valuable sales. It was upgraded at the end of 1981 to become the Austin Ambassador (and gaining a hatchback) but by this time there was little that could be done to disguise the age of the design, and it was too late to make much of an impact on sales.

By the end of the 1970s, the future of Austin and the rest of British Leyland was looking very bleak.

1980 - 1989: The Austin Rover era

The Austin Metro - launched in October 1980 - was heralded as the saviour of Austin Motor Company and the whole British Leyland combine. 21 years after the launch of the Mini, it gave British Leyland a much-needed modern supermini to compete with the recently-launched likes of the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Chevette and Renault 5. It was in instant hit with buyers and was one of the most popular British cars of the 1980s.

In 1982, the car division of the by now somewhat shrunken British Leyland company was rebranded as Austin Rover Group, with Austin acting as the "budget" and mainstream brand to Rover's more luxurious models. The MG (car) badge was revived for sporty versions of the Austin models, with the MG Metro 1300 being the first of these.

Austin revitalised its entry into the small family car market in March 1983 on the launch of its all-new Austin Maestro, a spacious five-door hatchback which replaced the elderly Austin Allegro and was very popular in the early years of its production life, though sales had started to dip dramatically by the end of the decade.

April 1984 saw the introduction of the Maestro-derived Austin Montego saloon, successor to the Morris Ital. The new car received praise for its interior space and comfort, but early build quality problems took time to overcome. The spacious estate version - launched in early 1985 - was one of the most popular load carriers of its era.

In 1989, the Austin badge was discontinued and Austin Rover became the Rover Group. The Metro (facelifted in 1990), Maestro and Montego continued in production until 1994 with Rover badges.

Possible revival The rights to the Austin badge passed to British Aerospace and later to BMW when each bought the Rover Group. The rights were subsequently sold to MG Rover, created once BMW had tired of the business. Following MG Rover's collapse and sale, the Austin name is now owned by Nanjing Automobile Group — along with Austin's historic assembly plant in Longbridge. At the Nanjing International Exhibition in May 2006, Nanjing announced that the Austin name might be used on some of the revived MG Rover models, at least on the Chinese market. However, Nanjing are for the moment concentrating on reviving the MG brand.

Models Cars

subcompact car

1910–11 Austin 7 hp
1922–39 Austin 7
1959-2000 Mini, as BMC
1980–90 Austin Metro, as Austin Rover

compact car

1911–15 Austin 10
1932–47 Austin 10 hp
1939–47 Austin 8 hp
1937–39 Austin 14 hp
1951–56 Austin A30
1956–59 Austin A35
1956–62 Austin A35
1954-61 Nash Metropolitan/Austin Metropolitan
1958–61 Austin A40 Farina
1961–67 Austin A40 Farina
1963–74 Morris 1100
1967–74 Morris 1100
1973–83 Austin Allegro

midsize car

1906–07 Austin 25/30
1907–10 Austin 18/24
1908–11 Austin 40 hp
1908–10 Austin 60 hp
1913–14 Austin 15/20
1914–16 Austin 30 hp
1919–30 Austin 20 hp
1922–47 Austin 12 hp
1927–35 Austin 16
1938–39 Austin 18 hp
1945–49 Austin 16 hp
1947–52 Austin A40 Devon
1948–50 Austin A70
1950–54 Austin A70
1952–54 Austin A40 Somerset
1954–58 Austin Cambridge
1954–59 Austin Westminster
1956–59 Austin Westminster Station wagon.
1956–59 Austin Westminster
1959–61 Austin Cambridge
1959–61 Austin Westminster
1961–69 Austin Cambridge
1961–68 Austin Westminster
1964–75 Austin 1800
1967–71 Austin 3-Litre
1969–81 Austin Maxi
1975–84 Austin Ambassador
1983–94 Austin Maestro
1984–94 Austin Montego

Limousines

1939 Austin 28 hp
1947–54 Austin Sheerline
1946–56 Austin Princess
1947–56 Austin Princess
1956–59 Austin Princess
1958–59 Austin Westminster

Sports cars

1948–50 Austin Atlantic
1949–52 Austin Atlantic
1950–53 Austin A40 Sports
1953–56 Austin-Healey 100
1958–70 Austin-Healey Sprite
1959–67 Austin-Healey 3000
1971 Austin-Healey Sprite

Australian Austin cars

1962-66 Austin Freeway
1970–73 Austin Kimberley
1958-62 Austin Lancer
1970–73 Austin Tasman

Military vehicles

WWI Austin Armoured Car
WWII Austin Ten Utility Truck
WWII Austin K2
1958-67 Austin Gipsy
c. 1968 Austin Ant

Taxis

1929-34 High Lot
1934-39 Lowloader
1948-58 FX3
1958- Austin FX4 — London Taxi

Ambulances

LD3
WWII Austin K2

Commercial vehicles

Austin also made a range of commercial vehicles, one of which was the FG, previously the Morris FG. Known for its "thrupenny bit" cabs, the FG was the everyday workhorse that kept Britain running in the 60's. These Austin FGs and later the Leyland FGs all had petrol or diesel longstroke engines, producing masses of torque, but very little in the way of speed. Forty mph was a good speed out of these vehicles. Leyland were to take over the FG, but before they did, in 1964, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) commissioned six rolling chassis FGs to be coach built by a Middlesex company, Palmer Coachbuilders. These six vehicles, registration 660 GYE to 666 GYE, were outdoor broadcast scenery vehicles.

Aircraft During World War I Austin built aircraft under licence, including the SE.5a, but also produced a number of its own designs. None of these progressed past the prototype stage. They included:

Austin-Ball A.F.B.1 (fighter)
Austin A.F.T.3 (fighter)
Austin Greyhound (fighter)
Austin Whippet (post-war civil aircraft)