The Morris Minor was the first truly sophisticated English popular car, the equivalent of (and at least as good as) the Volkswagen, Citroën 2CV and Fiat 500, but the huge potential of Issigonis's advanced design was never fully realised by its makers. BMC was formed from the merger of Morris and Austin in 1952 and became one of the first English manufacturers to adopt US-style automated manufacturing technology, but always under-invested in production, so never achieved economies of scale and never accumulated funds progressively to develop the design in the way that Volkswagen did the Beetle. And, in any case, by the mid-Fifties, Alec Issigonis was diverted by his next project, XC9003, the car that became the ineffable Mini. Still, by 1961 a million Minors had been made: a short celebration run was put on sale with 1000000 badges on the bootlid and finished in a fetching King's Road lilac with white upholstery to match mini-skirt and boots.