The Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, and the market for German bubble cars boomed. Leonard Lord , the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a 'proper miniature car'.

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Alec Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 and, with his skills in designing small cars, was a natural for the task. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small: as well as Issigonis, there was Jack Daniels (who had worked with him on the Morris Minor), Chris Kingham (who had been with him at Alvis), two engineering students and four draughtsmen. Together, by October 1957, they had designed and built the original prototype, which was affectionately named "The Orange Box" because of its colour.

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The Mini used a conventional BMC water-cooled engine,but departed from tradition by mounting it transversely, with the engine-oil-lubricated, four-speed transmission in the sump, and by employing front-wheel drive. Almost all small front-wheel-drive cars developed since have used a similar configuration, except with the transmission usually separately enclosed rather than using the engine oil.

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The suspension system, designed by Issigonis's friend Dr. Alex Moulton used compact rubber cones instead of conventional springs.

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Sliding windows allowed storage pockets in the hollow doors; reportedly Issigonis sized them to fit a bottle of Gordon's Gin!

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The Mini was designed as a single shell with welded seams visible on the outside of the car running down the front and rear pillars, and between the body and the floor pan to provide more room inside the car. To further simplify construction, the hinges for the doors and boot lid were mounted externally.

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In 1959, BMC and Alec Issigonis won the Dewar Trophy, for the design and production of the Mini.

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Mark I Mini: 1959–1967

The production version of the Mini was demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales.The Mini was officially announced to the public on 26 August 1959. Some 2,000 cars had already been sent abroad and would be displayed that day in nearly 100 countries.

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The Mini was marketed under BMC's two main brand names, Austin and Morris until 1969, when it became a marque in its own right. The Morris version was known to all as "the Mini" or Mini-Minor. One name proposed for the Austin version was Austin Newmarket. Austin dealers sold their almost identical car as an Austin Seven (sometimes written as SE7EN in early publicity material – the '7' the letter V rotated left so it approximated the number 7), which recalled the popular small Austin 7 of the 1920s and 1930s.

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In 1964, the suspension of the cars was replaced by another Moulton design, the hydrolastic system. The new suspension gave a softer ride, but it also increased weight and production cost. In 1971, the original rubber suspension reappeared and was retained for the remaining life of the Mini.

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Slow at the outset, Mark I sales strengthened across most of the model lines in the 1960s, and production totalled 1,190,000. Ford purchased a Mini and dismantled it to see if they could offer an alternative. Ford determined that the BMC must have been losing around £30 per car, and so decided to produce a larger car – the Cortina, launched in 1962 – as its competitor in the budget market. BMC insisted that the way company overheads were shared out, the Mini always made money. Larger profits came from the popular De Luxe models and from optional extras such as seat belts, door mirrors, a heater and a radio, which would be considered necessities on modern cars, as well as the various Cooper and Cooper S models.

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The Mini entered into popular culture in the 1960s with well-publicised purchases by film and music stars.

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The Cooper S version was also used by some British police departments as a plainclothes car.

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Mark II Mini: 1967–1970

The Mark II Mini was launched at the 1967 British Motor Show, and featured a redesigned grille, a larger rear window and numerous cosmetic changes. A total of 429,000 Mk II Minis were produced.

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Mark III: 1969–1976

The Mark III Mini had a modified bodyshell. The most obvious changes were larger doors with concealed hinges. Customer demand led to the sliding windows being replaced with winding windows.

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Production at the Cowley plant in Oxford had ended, and the simple name Mini completely replaced the separate Austin and Morris brands. In April 1974 a heater became standard equipment on the entry level Mini 850 as well, having by now already been included in the standard specification of the other models for some time.

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Variations

The popularity of the original Mini spawned many models that targeted different markets.

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Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf (1961–1969)

Released in 1961 as more luxurious versions of the Mini, both the Wolseley Hornet and the Riley Elf had longer, slightly finned rear wings and larger boots that gave the cars a more traditional three-box design.

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Morris Mini Traveller and Austin Mini Countryman (1961–1969)

These models were two-door estate cars with double "barn"-style rear doors. Both were built on a slightly longer chassis.

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The luxury models had decorative, non-structural wood inserts in the rear body which gave the car a similar appearance to the larger Morris Minor Traveller which had some of the look of an American-style 1950s woodie. Approximately 108,000 Austin Mini Countrymans and 99,000 Morris Mini Travellers were built.

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Mini Van (1960–1983)

The Mini Van was a commercial panel van. Built on the longer Traveller chassis but without side windows, it proved popular in 1960s Britain as a cheaper alternative to the car: it was classed as a commercial vehicle and as such carried no sales tax. A set of simple stamped steel slots served in place of a more costly chrome grille. The Mini Van was renamed as the Mini 95 in 1978, the number representing the gross vehicle weight of 0.95 tons. 521,494 were buit.

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Mini Moke (1964–1989)

A utility vehicle intended for the British Army was built with a twin-engined 4-wheel-drive. Although the 4WD Moke could climb a 1:2 gradient, it lacked enough ground clearance for military use. The single-engined front-wheel-drive Moke enjoyed some popularity in civilian production. About 50,000 were made in total, from 1964 to 1968 in the UK, 1966 to 1982 in Australia and 1983 to 1989 in Portugal. The Moke was marketed in holiday locations such as Barbados and Macau, where they were also used as police cars. "Moke" is archaic British slang for a donkey.

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Mini Pick-up (1961–1983)

A pick-up truck was built on the longer Mini Van platform, with an open-top rear cargo area and a tailgate. The factory specified the weight of the Pick-up as less than 1,500 lb with a full 6 gallon tank of fuel. A total of 58,179 Mini Pick-up models were built.

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Mini Cooper and Cooper S: 1961–1971; 1990-2000

Issigonis' friend John Cooper, owner of the Cooper Car Company and designer and builder of Formula One and rally cars, saw the potential of the Mini for competition. Issigonis was initially reluctant to see the Mini in the role of a performance car, but after John Cooper appealed to BMC management, the two men collaborated to create the Mini Cooper. The Austin Mini Cooper and Morris Mini Cooper debuted in 1961.

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The 848 cc engine from the Morris Mini-Minor was given a longer stroke to increase capacity to 997 cubic centimetres increasing power from 34 to 55 bhp. The car featured a racing-tuned engine, twin SU carburettors, a closer-ratio gearbox and front disc brakes, uncommon at the time in a small car. One thousand units of this version were commissioned by management, intended for and designed to meet the homologation rules of Group 2 rally racing. The 997 cc engine was replaced by a shorter stroke 998 cc unit in 1964. In 1962, Rhodesian John Love became the first non-British racing driver to win the British Saloon Car Championship driving a Mini Cooper.

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A more powerful Mini Cooper, dubbed the "S", was developed in tandem and released in 1963. Featuring a 1071 cc engine with a 70.61 mm bore and nitrided steel crankshaft and strengthened bottom end to allow further tuning; and larger servo-assisted disc brakes, 4,030 Cooper S cars were produced and sold until the model was updated in August 1964. Cooper also produced two S models specifically for circuit racing in the under 1,000 cc and under 1,300 cc classes respectively. The smaller-engine model was not well received, and only 963 had been built when the model was discontinued in 1965. The 1,275 cc Cooper S models continued in production until 1971.

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Mini Clubman and 1275 GT: 1969–1980

In 1969, under the ownership of British Leyland, the Mini was given a facelift by stylist Roy Haynes, who had previously worked for Ford. The restyled version was called the Mini Clubman, and has a squarer frontal look, using the same indicator/sidelight assembly as the Austin Maxi. The Mini Clubman was intended to replace the upmarket Riley and Wolseley versions. A new model, dubbed the 1275 GT, was slated as the replacement for the 998 cc Mini Cooper. The Clubman Estate replaced the Countryman and Traveller. The original "round-front" design remained in production alongside the Clubman and 1275 GT.

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Mark IV and onwards: 1976–2000

The Mark IV was introduced in 1976. Twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals. From 1977 onwards, the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them. In 1980, the engine was uprated to the improved A-Plus unit from the Metro. This was then followed by a number of later incremental developments:

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In 1978, the Mini was one of the key cars made available to disabled motorists under the new Motability scheme.

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Reports of the Mini's imminent demise surfaced again in 1980 with the launch of the Austin Mini-Metro. Faced with competitions from more practical and modern designs like the Ford Fiesta, Renault 5 and Volkswagen Polo, the Mini was beginning to fall out of favour in many export markets, with the South African, Australian, and New Zealand markets all stopping production around this time. Although the Mini continued to be produced after the Metro's launch, production volumes were reduced as British Leyland and successor combine Rover Group concentrated on the Metro as its key supermini. 1981 was the Mini's last year in the top ten of Britain's top selling cars, as it came ninth and the Metro was fifth.

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Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the British market received numerous "special editions" of the Mini, which shifted the car from a mass-market item into a fashionable icon. It was this image that perhaps helped the Mini become such an asset for BMW, which later bought the remnants of BMC as the Rover Group. It was even more popular in Japan, which took the lion's share of the 40,000 Minis produced annually in the early 1990s.] It was seen there as a retro-cool icon, and inspired many imitators.

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In 1994, under Bernd Pischetsrieder, a first cousin once removed of Issigonis, BMW took control of the Rover Group, which included the Mini, fitting an airbag to comply with European legislation.

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By March 2000, Rover was still suffering massive losses, and BMW decided to dispose of most of the companies. BMW retained the Mini name and the planned new model, granting Rover temporary rights to the brand and allowing it to manufacture and sell the run-out model of the old Mini. By April 2000, the range consisted of four versions: the Mini Classic Seven, the Mini Classic Cooper, the Mini Classic Cooper Sport and—for overseas European markets—the Mini Knightsbridge. The last Mini (a red Cooper Sport) was built on 4 October 2000 and presented to the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust in December of that year.

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A total of 5,387,862 cars had been manufactured, nearly 1.6million of which were sold in Britain, although the majority of these were sold at least 20 years before the Mini's demise, meaning that the majority of those sold had been scrapped before the end of the original Mini's production life.

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After the last of the Mini production had been sold, the 'Mini' name reverted to BMW ownership. The new model made by BMW is technically unrelated to the old car but retains the classic transverse four-cylinder, front-wheel-drive configuration and "bulldog" stance of the original.

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The last Mini to leave the Longbridge plant did so in 2012, when a 1970s 1275GT which was used by staff to travel around the car plant was recovered from the disused tunnels under the plant. The car was damaged by a storage container falling on it and had been left without an engine or gearbox for around 30 years before being recovered during work to infill the tunnels. This car was sold at auction in July 2013 for £1400.