Austin Maxi

The Austin Maxi is a medium-sized, 5-door hatchback family car that was produced by Austin and later British Leyland between 1969 and 1981. Despite its practical design and space efficiency, the Maxi never came close to reaching its projected sales targets. Just under half a million were built over a 12 year period. BL management decisions involving the Maxi had significant knock-on effects to the rest of the car line-up. BL marketing decreed that the Maxi should be the only car in the range to feature a hatchback. This stance prevented the Austin Allegro and Princess models gaining hatchbacks despite those designs being capable of receiving them.