the Mini was originally sold below cost

A 1960s publicity photo featuring a young Charlotte Rampling

One of the interesting items on the BBC program Business Nightmares screening currently on the Living Channel was about the pricing of the Mini in the UK, introduced in 1959 (see earlier post). Apparently the Boss of British Motor Corporation (BMC) at the time was given a ride in a prototype, decided he liked it and gave it the go-ahead, with the instruction to set a selling price for it of £500. 

Arch-competitor British Ford could not understand how the car could be sold at such a low price, took one apart piece by piece and costed how much they would need to spend to produce it. They concluded that the Mini had to cost £35 more to produce than what BMC were selling it for, thus every one that was sold was losing money, and there were a lot sold!