The Austin Car

Austin History:
The Austin Motor Company was founded in 1905 by Sir Herbert, the former manager of the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company. The first car was a conventional 5 litre four cylinder model with chain drive with about 200 being made in the first five years. During the first word war, Austin manufactured artillery and aircraft for the government. 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. At one point it was built under licence by the fledgling BMW of Germany; 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.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. In 1952 Austin merged with the Nuffield Organisation to form the British Motor Corporation (later British Leyland) with Leonard Lord in charge. In 1952 Austin entered into a legal agreement with the 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 By 1970, Austin was part of the British Leyland combine which produced some of the most maligned cars ever to roll off British production lines. Austinsmost notorious model of this era was the 1973 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. By the end of the 1970s, the future of Austin and the rest of British Leyland was looking very bleak. The Austin Metro launched in October 1980 was expected to be the saviour of Austin Motor Company and the whole British Leyland combine. However, 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 Roversmore luxurious models. The MG badge was revived for sporty versions of the Austin models, with the MG Metro 1300 being the first of these. In 1989, the Austin badge was discontinued and Austin Rover became the Rover Group. The Metro, Maestro and Montego continued in production until 1994 with Rover badges.

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

Other Austin Details:
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 Roverscollapse and sale, the Austin name is now owned by Nanjing Automobile Group along with Austinshistoric 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 concentrating on reviving the MG brand at the moment.

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