Sir Alec Issigonis: The flawed genius?

With the Morris Minor, Mini and BMC 1100/1300 in his design portfolio, Alec Issigonis clearly knew how to appeal to the masses. The Minor was a major hit, but it was the Mini’s transverse-engined, front-wheeldrive layout and innovative wheel-at-each-corner packaging that would really revolutionise the small car blueprint. Almost 5.4m were sold to all walks of life over a 41-year production run, which when combined with 1.6m units for the Minor and 2.1m for the 1100/1300 ADO16 range, shows the enormity of Issigonis’ impact on the motoring landscape.

Issigonis was pushed aside after