The Authi car company of Pamplona

Pamplona

Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, was founded in 1965 as a result of a collaboration between BMC (the British Motor Corporation

British Motor Corporation

The British Motor Corporation, or commonly known as BMC was a vehicle manufacturer from United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Organisation in 1952...

) and NMQ (Nueva Montaña Quijano).

BMC needed a way to sell their cars in Spain, which at the time had strict rules to protect local automobile manufacturers from imported competitors and to protect local companies from foreign takeover. Thus, Authi built almost identical copies of a range of Austin

Austin Motor Company

The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...

 and Morris

Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque...

 cars. The company survived only until 1976 when British Leyland ran out of money and the almost new Authi plant was sold to the SEAT

SEAT

SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....

 car company after the failure of a bid for it from General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

.

The company's name stands for Automoviles de Turismo Hispano Ingleses: it is generally written and spoken as a word rather than as an acronym.

The Authi firm was officially registered on 12 November 1965 under the chairmanship of Eduardo Ruiz de Huidrobo y Alzurena, with its head office and premises at Arazuri, a few kilometers to the west of Pamplona. The share capital was held by a Santander

Santander, Cantabria

The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. Located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao, the city has a population of 183,446 .-History:...

 metal working business called Nueva Montaña Quijano S.A. (NMQ) which had originally been founded in 1899. The real owners of the business were the Banco de Santander

Grupo Santander

The Santander Group is a banking group centered on Banco Santander, S.A., the largest bank in the Eurozone and one of the largest banks in the world in terms of market capitalisation. According to Forbes Magazine Global 2000, it is the 13th largest public company in the world...

 and the Quijano family. The bank

Grupo Santander

The Santander Group is a banking group centered on Banco Santander, S.A., the largest bank in the Eurozone and one of the largest banks in the world in terms of market capitalisation. According to Forbes Magazine Global 2000, it is the 13th largest public company in the world...

 also had a controlling interest in Fasa Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

 which had been building Renaults at their Valladolid

Valladolid

Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...

 plant for the Spanish market since 1951. NMQ had been supplying engines for the Spanish built Renaults. Work dried up when Renault moved their engine production in-house. Therefore, BMC's search for a Spanish partner able to build their cars for the Spanish market in Spain had coincided with NMQ's search for another automotive partner able to provide designs that could be produced locally.

The first Spanish built Authi product, an MG 1100

BMC ADO16

ADO16 is the codename for the development of what became the Morris 1100, a small family car built by the British Motor Corporation and, later, British Leyland...

 emerged in January 1967. A Mini C 1275

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

 followed in October, featuring leather seats and a walnut dashboard, along with various other pieces of additional equipment not featured by Minis produced in England.

It was announced in July 1967 by BLMC Chairman, Lord Stokes that his company had taken a controlling 51% share in NMQ. There was a further capital injection by Leyland in 1973 which raised the share capital to 2,400 Million pesetas and left the residual minority share holders with very little influence over the business. In this year presidency of the company passed to Manuel Diez Alegria. Highlighted at the time was the company's new spare parts centre, featuring a state of the art computer inventory control system, employing punch-cards.

Volume production started with the opening of the Pamplona plant in 1969. In April of that year two versions of the Mini 1000

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

 came to the market, respectively Standard and Special (Standard y Especial): even the standard version was seen as relatively well equipped at the time. The Mini would achieve the highest sales volumes of any model in the short history of Authi, with more than 140,000 shipped by the time the plant closed down just seven years later. The car was entirely assembled at Pamplona. The bodywork and under panels were delivered from England. The engine and the gear box were manufactured at NMQ's own plant at Los Corrales de Buelna

Los Corrales de Buelna

-Politics:The current mayor of the municipality is Mercedes Toribio Ruiz, from PP. Unlike most other municipalities, Falangist forces were present in the municipal council for many years following the transition to democracy.-Demographic development:...

. Other parts including axle, suspension, windows and smaller components were produced locally and in Catalonia

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 in order to comply with the government's determinedly protectionist

Mercantilism

Mercantilism is the economic doctrine in which government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and security of the state. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from...

 trade policies.

In January 1970 a Mini 850 was added to the range, featuring virtually the same engine that had been fitted in the original English built Mini back in 1959. A reduced specification Mini 1000 followed. This broadened the appeal of the range in the still acutely price sensitive Spanish auto-market, but it also dragged the Authi brand down-market which would compromise the company's future ability to price its cars at a premium against competitor Fiat and Renault designed products.

By this time the company's reputation was beginning to suffer the effects of inadequate investment in the dealership network. After-sales service suffered because the cars, in some ways more sophisticated than the old models offered by SEAT

SEAT

SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....

 and Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

, were often not sufficiently understood by workshop personnel at the Authi dealers.

In 1971 the company introduced the Mini 1275 GT, it specification closely matched to the corresponding English built car. This replaced the company's first model, the Mini C 1275

Mini

The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...

. The leather seats and walnut dashboard of the old model disappeared. The 1275 GT was, however, more aggressively priced than its predecessor.
The following cars were built by Authi:

• Authi Mini
  Mini
  The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
  
    1968-1975.
• Authi Mini Cooper 1973-1975
• Morris 1100/1300
  BMC ADO16
  ADO16 is the codename for the development of what became the Morris 1100, a small family car built by the British Motor Corporation and, later, British Leyland...
  
    1966-1972
• Austin Victoria - Austin Victoria De Luxe 1972-1975
• Austin de Luxe
  Austin de Luxe
  The Austin De Luxe is family car which was produced by the Authi subsidiary of the British Leyland Motor Corporation, at its Pamplona plant, between 1974 and 1975....
  
   1974-1975

SEAT later built the SEAT 124

SEAT 124

The SEAT 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT in its Barcelona Zona Franca and Landaben Pamplona plants between 1968 and 1980...

, SEAT 131

SEAT 131

The SEAT 131 is a small/medium family car produced by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT from 1975 to the middle of 1982. The SEAT 131 was presented on May 1975 in the Barcelona Motor Show as a response to the consumers' demand for greater fuel economy combined with spaciousness, under the raising...

, SEAT Panda and Lancia Beta

Lancia Beta

The Lancia Beta is a car produced by Lancia. It was the first new model introduced by Lancia after it had been taken over by Fiat in 1969.-Berlina:...

at the former Authi factory.

Production figures

Year	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975
Total annual production				21,020	15,789	18,570	31,401	34,199	43,318	30,763	15,121

External links

• http://www.authi.net Website of Authi enthusiasts (in Spanish)
• Mini Clasico