1905–1918: Formation and development , which he had made into Britain's largest motor vehicle manufacturer, Austin obtained the backing of steel magnate Frank Kayser for his own enterprise. Kayser provided funds through mortgages and loans, debentures and guarantees to the
Midland Bank thereby allowing Austin to keep virtually total ownership of the business through his personal savings. Further assistance came from
Dunlop patent holder Harvey du Cros. Two things were noticeable about Austin's new design. He had parted from the Vickers brothers because he had refused to use the then more conventional vertical engine in Wolseley cars. His new car had a vertical engine and, in all but minor detail, was identical to the English-built
Clément-Gladiators assembled in the same factory. A further injection of capital was needed in 1906 and William Harvey Du Cros (1846–1918) joined the board of directors. After that Harvey Du Cros junior of the
Swift Cycle Co and Austin each held approximately half of the ordinary capital. Herbert Austin remained chairman and managing director. Sources Note: in 1912 Wolseley sold 3,000 cars. In February 1914, Austin-manufactured bodies in tourer, limousine, landaulette and coupé styles could be provided with engines of 15, 20, 30 and 60 hp. Ambulances and commercial vehicles were also provided. The
American Austin Car Company struggled to sell tiny Austin cars in the US market. It operated as a largely independent subsidiary from 1929-34 was revived after bankruptcy under the name "
American Bantam" from 1937-41. They became best known as the first company to submit the Bantam Reconnaissance Car working prototype, saving time by using Austin nose and wing parts of what would evolve into the extremely successful and iconic WWII
Willys MB "Jeep". The design was unfortunately handed over to Willys and Ford for production with a revised nose and fender design, while Bantam would largely just manufacture trailers during the war. With the help of the
Seven, Austin weathered the worst of the Great Depression and remained profitable throughout the 1930s, producing a wider range of cars which was steadily updated by the introduction of all-steel bodies,
Girling brakes, and
synchromesh gearboxes. However, all the engines retained the same
side-valve configuration. Deputy chairman Ernest Payton became chairman in 1941 upon the death of Lord Austin. In 1938,
Leonard Lord joined the company board and became chairman in 1946 upon the death of Ernest Payton.
Datsun In 1932,
Datsun built cars infringing Austin patents. From 1934, Datsun began to build Sevens under licence and this operation became the greatest success of Austin's overseas licensing of its Seven. It marked the beginning of Datsun's international success.
1939–1958: War years and post-war years of new mainstream Austin models between 1947 and 1956 recalled the "flying-B" on
post-war Bentley models During
the Second World War Austin continued building cars but also made trucks and aircraft, including
Short Stirling and
Avro Lancaster bombers. The post-war car range was announced in 1944, and production 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 company's first
overhead valve engine.
Austin J40 pedal cars were manufactured during this era.
Austin of England From late 1950 to mid-1952 products, brochures and advertisements displayed in flowing script
Austin of England as if in response to Morris'
Nuffield Organization. It fell out of use with the financial merger with Morris in BMC.
BMC , ca 1951 ) in
Budapest, end of 1950sIn 1952, The Austin Motor Company Limited merged ownership, but not identity, with long-term rival
Morris Motors Limited, becoming
The British Motor Corporation Limited, with
Leonard Lord in charge.
William Morris was first chairman but soon retired. Lord, who had stormed out of Morris declaring he would "take Cowley apart brick by brick", ensured Austin was the dominant partner and its (more recently designed OHV) engines were adopted for most of the cars. Various models followed the Morris policy and became
badge-engineered versions of each other.
Austin-Healey In 1952, Austin made a deal with
Donald Healey leading to a new marque,
Austin-Healey, and a range of sports cars.
1959–1969: Era of revolution With the threat to fuel supplies resulting from the 1956
Suez Crisis, Lord asked
Alec Issigonis, who had been with Morris from 1936 to 1952, to design a small car; the result was the revolutionary
Mini, launched in 1959. The Austin version was initially called the Austin Seven, but Morris' Mini Minor name caught the public imagination and the Morris version outsold its Austin twin, so the Austin's name was changed to Mini to follow suit. In 1970,
British Leyland dropped the separate Austin and Morris branding of the Mini, and it was subsequently simply "Mini", under the Austin Morris division of BLMC. The principle of a transverse engine with gearbox in the sump and driving the front wheels was applied to larger cars, beginning with the
1100 of 1963, (although the Morris-badged version was launched 13 months earlier than the Austin, in August 1962), the
1800 of 1964 and the
Maxi of 1969. This meant that BMC had spent 10 years developing a new range of front-drive, transverse-engined models, while most competitors had only just started to make such changes. The big exception to this was the
Austin 3-litre. Launched in 1968, it was a rear-wheel drive large car, but it shared the central section of the 1800. It was a sales disaster, with fewer than 10,000 examples being made. BMC was the first British manufacturer to move into front-wheel drive so comprehensively.
Ford did not launch its first front-drive model until 1976 (in Britain), Ford-Germany in 1962 with the Taunus 12M(P4), while
Vauxhall's first front-drive model was launched in 1979 and
Chrysler UK's first such car was launched in 1975. Front-wheel drive was popular elsewhere in Europe, however, with
Renault,
Citroen and
Simca all using the system at the same time or before BMC. East Germany's
Trabant used the system from 1958. In September 1965 BMC completed the purchase of its major supplier,
Pressed Steel. Twelve months later it completed the purchase of
Jaguar and in December 1966 changed its name from BMC to BMH,
British Motor Holdings Limited. In early 1968 under government pressure BMH merged with
Leyland Motors Limited and Austin became a part of the large
British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) combine.
1970–1979: Era of turbulence One of Austin's new models of this era was the 1973
Allegro, successor to the 1100/1300 ranges. It was criticised for its bulbous styling which earned it the nickname "Flying pig" as well as the doubtful build quality and indifferent reliability. It was still a strong seller in Britain, although not as successful as its predecessor. The wedge-shaped
18/22 series was launched as an Austin, a Morris and a more upmarket Wolseley in 1975. But within six months, it was rechristened the Princess and wore none of the previous marque badges, becoming a marque in its own right, under the Austin Morris division of British Leyland that had been virtually
nationalised in 1975. It was upgraded at the end of 1981 to become the
Austin Ambassador (and gaining a hatchback) but by that 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 (now known as BL) was looking bleak.
1980–1989: Austin Rover era , launched in 1980 , launched in 1983 , launched in 1984 The
Austin Metro, launched in October 1980, was heralded as the saviour of Austin Motor Company and the whole BL combine. Twenty-one years after the launch of the Mini, it gave BL a much-needed modern supermini to compete with the recently launched likes of the
Ford Fiesta,
Vauxhall Nova,
VW Polo and
Renault 5. It was an instant hit with buyers and was one of the most popular British cars of the 1980s. It was intended as a replacement for the Mini but the Mini went on to outlast it. It was facelifted in October 1984 and gained a 5-door version. In 1982, most of the car division of the by now somewhat shrunken British Leyland (BL) company was rebranded as the
Austin Rover Group, with Austin acting as the "budget" and mainstream marque to Rover's more luxurious models. The
MG badge was revived for sporty versions of the Austin models, of which the MG Metro 1300 was the first. The Morris and Triumph marques were axed in 1984. Austin revitalised its entry into the small family-car market in March 1983 with the launch of its all-new
Maestro, a spacious five-door hatchback that replaced the elderly
Allegro and
Maxi and was popular in the early years of its production life, although sales had started to dip dramatically by the end of the decade. April 1984 saw the introduction of the Maestro-derived
Montego saloon, successor to the
Morris Ital. The new car received praise for its interior space and comfort as well as its handling, but early build-quality problems took time to overcome. The spacious estate version, launched six months later, was one of the most popular load carriers in Britain for several years after its launch. In 1986, Austin Rover's holding company BL plc became
Rover Group plc and was
privatised by selling it to
British Aerospace (BAe) in 1988. Plans to replace the Metro with a radical new model, based on the ECV3 research vehicle and aiming for 100 mpg, led to the Austin AR6 of 1984–86, with several prototypes tested and production expected to start before the end of the decade. The desire to lose the Austin name and take Rover "upmarket" led to this project's demise in early 1987. In 1988, the Austin badge was phased out and Austin Rover became the Rover Group from the following year. The Austin cars continued to be manufactured, although they ceased to be Austins. They became "marque-less" in their home market with bonnet badges the same shape as the Rover longship badge but without "Rover" written on them. Instead any badging just showed the model of the car: a Montego of this era, for instance, would have a grille badge simply saying "Montego", while the rear badges just said "Montego" and the engine size/trim level. A revamped Metro was launched in May 1990 and got the new
K-series engine. It then became the Rover Metro. Despite sales of both the Maestro and Montego being in decline by 1990, these ranges continued in production until 1994 and never wore a Rover badge on their bonnets in Britain. They were, however, sometimes referred to as "Rovers" in the press and elsewhere. Their place in the Rover range was gradually filled by a new generation of Rover models.
Revival The rights to the Austin name passed to
British Aerospace and then to BMW when each bought the Rover Group. The rights were subsequently sold to
MG Rover, created when BMW sold the business. Following MG Rover's collapse and sale,
Nanjing Automobile Group owned the Austin name and Austin's historic assembly plant in Longbridge. At the Nanjing International Exhibition in May 2006, Nanjing announced it might use the Austin name on some of the revived MG Rover models, at least in the Chinese market. Nanjing Automobile Group itself later merged with
SAIC Motor. In 2012, a new "Austin Motor Company" was registered by former Longbridge worker Steve Morgan. Morgan had no rights to the brand itself and stated that he had no intention to trade, but rather registered the name as an effort to preserve the memory of the company. The company was dissolved in 2014. In 2015, the "Austin Motor Company", alongside the 1930's "Flying A" logo was registered by British Engineer John Stubbs, owner of specialist suspension company Black Art Designs. By 2021, a prototype electric vehicle named the Austin Arrow had been revealed and was seeking investors, with a supposed release date around late 2022. The revived Austin Motor Company subsequently revealed the Arrow 2, a two seater version of the Arrow, alongside announcing an electric commercial Austin van to be released approximately 18-24 months after the launch of the Arrow 1 and 2. By May 2023, a production line had been set up by MJP MOTORS based in
Rajkot, India. The Austin Arrow subsequently entered production in October 2023. In July 2025, ex-McLaren Automotive, Automobili Lamborghini SpA and Group Lotus veteran senior director, Nigel Gordon-Stewart was appointed as Chairman and CEO of the Austin Motor Company Limited. == Plant ==