Austin-Healey

Austin-Healy was born out of an agreement established in 1952 between Austin’s chairman Leonard Lord and a prominent engineer and designer in the automotive industry named Donald Healey. Lord and Healey signed a 20-year long contract that resulted on the Austin-Healey brand. Donald Healey, however, would end up leaving the company before the expiry date, in 1968, in order to join another British car producer, Jensen Motors.   Austin-Healey stopped manufacturing vehicles in 1972, by the end of the 20 years defined by the agreement between Austin and Healey. The Healey family would sell Donald’s first car business, the Donald Healey Motor Company, in 2005 to a company named HFI Automotive, which kept the ‘Healey’ trademark as well.   Meanwhile, the Austin brand was now a part of the MG Rover Group, which is the corporation that the British Motor Company (BMC) ultimately evolved to, after several conversions. The giant Chinese automotive company Nanjing took over the MG Rover Group in 2005, saving it from insolvency; therefore Nanjing now owns the Austin trade name.   It was reported in mid-2007 that Nanjing and HFI Automotive had just signed a contract that aims to revive the Austin-Healey make. Nevertheless, no date has yet been set for the expected Austin-Healey comeback.