Authi

Authi was a car manufacturer based in Pamplona, Spain, founded in 1965 through a collaboration between the British Motor Corporation and the Spanish metalworking business Nueva Montana Quijano. BMC wanted a way to sell its cars in Spain, where strict rules protected local manufacturers from imports and local companies from foreign takeover, so Authi built almost identical copies of a range of Austin and Morris cars. The name stands for Automoviles de Turismo Hispano Ingleses. The firm was registered in November 1965 with its head office at Arazuri near Pamplona, its first car, an MG 1100, appeared in January 1967, and volume production began when the Pamplona plant opened in 1969. The Mini was its best seller, with more than 140,000 shipped. British Leyland took a controlling share of the parent in 1967, and the company survived only until 1976, when British Leyland ran out of money and the plant was sold to SEAT.