The British Motor Corporation came into being in 1952 with the merger of two great British motor companies namely, Nuffield Motors and Austin.
Due to the unrest after the Second World War and the Suez Crisis, which resulted in shortage of petroleum in Britain, there was a need for a high mileage car in the market. This is when Leonard Lord, chairman of British Motor Corporation went to engineer Alec Issigonis to design a car that could compete with the high-mileage German import cars.

In October 1952, the world saw and admired the Austin Healey 100 model sports car at the Earls Court Motor Show in London. Austin-Healey was a sports cars manufacturer that came into existence in 1952 when Leonard Lord of the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation joined hands with Donald Healey, an automotive engineer.