Up to BMC selling off Morris, I'm with you. I don't think BMC would be thrilled with Leyland having an okay to build/sell Minis under the Morris badge, whatever the deal looked like: they'd be undercutting themselves, losing Morris' sales to a competitor. That seems irrational to me. Selling the company, sure; selling all the badge-engineered models with it, no.
Looks like it.![]()
Not necessarily
BMC had a serious need to rationalize their brands (kill off Riley, Wolseley, etc) to prevent product overlap as well as a need to invest in new tooling for the A-Series engines that while superseded by the upcoming 9X engines still had plenty of life left (along with the existing classic Mini, ADO16).
Perhaps a better way of explaining the intent is that Leyland would have the rights to the A-Series (to slot below the ATL Triumph Slant-4 until smaller or 3-cylinder versions appear), classic Mini and ADO16 to develop them as they wish upon BMC releasing its all-new generation of models in the late-60s (powered by 750-1300cc 9X, 2.0 O-Series and 1600-2800cc E-Series engines).
That way Leyland's updated version of the Mini might end up being called the Morris / Innocenti Clubman (with BMC keeping the Mini name), while Leyland's updated version of ADO16 would essentially be a 3/5-door hatchback version of the OTL Austin Victoria called the Morris / Innocenti Nomad (powered by 1098-1293cc A-OHC and 1400-1600cc Triumph Slant-4 engines) that as the following pictures of the real-life 4-door saloon model shows would complement the Triumph Dolomite.
Morris under Leyland would essentially be downmarket and utilitarian Triumphs, Innocenti being the stylish "continental" marque and adopting the Bertone styling theme on the Innocenti Clubman (ATL Innocenti Mini) for its models including Clubman-based 2-door convertible / coupe versions.
The Morris / Innocenti Nomad would soon be replaced by a near Allegro-sized version of ADO74 with a smaller version of the platform forming the basis of a sporty-premium 3-door hatchback-coupe Triumph Herald supermini, with smaller ADO74 versions not being developed further due to featuring inferior packaging in comparison to the Clubman models.
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