In article , Doctor Evil wrote:
But the Austin and Morris 1100s offered nothing different from
model to model,

No they didn't. But Austin dealers sold cars like the A40 and
(disastrous) 3-litre, later the Maxi, whilst Morris dealers had the
Minor, later the Marina.

"The dealers were right in their fears that cuts in their
organization would need to be made in order to fully amalgamate
Austin and Morris, but they wanted to maintain the status quo by not
accepting a single loss in the range and they fought very hard to do
so. Not only this, but they would not accept losses in their
distribution network, either. They used their influence with Lord to
ensure that there would not be a single compromise made. The dealer
principals could do this because they had direct access to Leonard
Lord and as such, had an exaggerated influence over direction of
BMC. They ensured that not only that Lord maintained separate
Nuffield Group and Austin model ranges, but also successfully
persuaded him to accept that the corporation required autonomous
dealer networks to sell them. If there had been a will within BMC to
break this stranglehold, then the dealer groups could call on
written contracts defining their positions, in some cases stretching
back fifty years."

http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/wschapter2f.htm

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