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AustinHerbert Austin (1866–1941), later Sir Herbert, the former manager of the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company founded The Austin Motor Company in 1905, at Longbridge, 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.
After 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 Dixi); Japanese Datsun; as Bantam in the United States; and as the 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.
When the first accounts for the company were published in October 1906 the net turnover for the company was £14,772 with 23 cars being sold: mainly 25/30's with a few 15/20's. By the following year the net turnover was nearly £100,000 and 147 sold. Austin enjoyed some small success during this period: the first car produced was entered in the 1906 Scottish Reliability Trial, and made a 3 day non-stop run. The second car built won the 100 guineas Dunlop Challenge Cup in the Irish Reliability Trial. Also in this year the 15/20 model had its bore increased by 1/8" and became the 18/24.
A private limited liability company was formed in 1908 by Austin, Kayser and du Cros with turnover going up to £119,744 and 254 cars sold. The 18/24 remained but the 25/30 got bored out to become the 40. Other manufacturers were making 6 cylinder engines, Austin could not ignore this development so he added 2 extra cylinders to the 40 and so the 60 was born.
Illustration from 'Our First 50 Years'
1909 saw the introduction of a smaller, cheaper engined car: the 15. The 15 was unusual in that the driver sat centrally and above the engine. The 15 continued in production until 1919.
By 1910 nearly 1,000 workers were employed at Longbridge and a night shift was found to be necessary.
The 10 was announced at the Motor Show of 1910. This was another small, cheap model aimed at the Continental market, and made available in Britain in 1911. 1910 also saw the introduction of a very small, single cylinder engined model 7. Only 1 model 7 was built at Longbridge before production was transferred to the Swift Works in Coventry, a company owned by Harvey du Cros.
The Company successfully diversified into marine engines and also produced a 2/3 ton lorry in 1913.
In February 1914 the Company went into public ownership, the capitalisation realising £250,000.
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.
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) 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-engineered versions of each other.
1973 Austin Allegro
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 1100 of 1963, the 1800 of 1964, the Maxi of 1969, the Allegro of 1973 and the Metro of 1980.
1954 Austin A30
In 1952 Austin entered into a legal agreement with Nissan Motor Company 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. (Reference: Cusumano, pp 90-92.)
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. Sports models were often badge-engineered Austins with an MG badge. However, the continuing bad publicity associated with build and rust problems on the Metro, Maestro and Montego models meant that the badge was dropped, with the company becoming the Rover Group. The last Austin-badged car was built in 1989.
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.
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