FOREIGN BRANDS TIMELINE
8 APRIL 2 020 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 51
1900
Renault 4.5hp
Of the brands still in existence to
arrive in the Victorian era, Renault
was the last. The earliest evidence of a
vehicle from les frères français here is
a 4.5hp from 1900. In 1902, a London
showroom opened for business with
30 cars for sale. This effort was soon
bought by Renault itself, and annual
sales had rocketed to 450 by 1904.
1902
Fiat 16hp,
20hp and
30hp
1903
Ford Model A
T h r e e e x a mple s of Ford’s f i r s t- e v e r m a s s-pr o duc e d
car, the Model A, were imported in 1903. The year
after, a proper sales agency was set up in London,
preceding the creation of Ford England in 1909.
In 1910, the first Ford showroom in Britain opened
its doors in Southampton, and a year later the
f i r s t non-US Ford f a c t or y w a s op e ne d i n Tr a f ford
Park to handle production of the revolutionary
new Model T. Being affordable to the less-than-
rich, this was enormously successful: in 1919, it
accounted for some 40% of all cars on our roads.
1904
Cadillac
Model B
1905
Laurin & Klement A
Václav Laurin and Václav Klement from
the Kingdom of Bohemia began selling
their Slavia motorcycle in London in
- Their first car, the Voiturette A,
came in 1905, and received a glowing
r e v ie w f r om A ut o c a r. I n 192 5 , t he f i r m
was bought by armaments maker
Skoda, which began applying its own
name to the Mladá Boleslav-built cars.
1907
Lancia Alfa
The first Italian brand to reach these shores
was Lancia. A concessionaire was appointed in
London in the autumn of 1907, and an exampleof Vincenzo’s appropriately named first car, the
Alfa, was driven by Autocar that October. Lancia
became one of the most successful car importers
i n Br it a i n du r i n g t he 192 0 s , a nd it m a de s ome
brilliant cars post-war, with sales peaking in 1978.
A spiral begun by the Beta’s rust problems in the
1980s resulted in the brand withdrawing in 1995.
1913
Bugatti Type 17
The sales agent of Britain’s (now
long-defunct) Crossley company
h a d a l s o lon g s old c a r s for t he
French marque De Dietrich, for
which Ettore Bugatti had got his
break as a car designer. This led
to the agent becoming the sole
Bugatti concessionaire for the
British Empire in 1913. Added
to this, Crossley built a run of 24
Bugatti Brescias in Manchester
between 1921 and 1924. Bugattis
c ont i nue d t o b e av a i l a ble he r e u nt i l
the company went under in 1952.
1919
Citroën Type A
The first Citroën here was
imported for the 1919 Londonmotor show: the 10hp
Ty p e A. A de a le r sh ip
was promptly set up
in London, selling a
remarkable 750 cars
in its first year, before
Citroën itself took over
the growing number
of imports in 1923. Just
three years later, a factory
was opened in Slough; it
remained open until 1965.
1923
Chevrolet
Superior
(^1924)
Alfa Romeo RL
Englishman Frederick Stiles was so
impressed by yet another dominant
victory for the scarlet Alfa Romeos at
the 1924 French Grand Prix in Lyon
t h at he de c ide d t o e x t e nd h i s hol id ay
to visit the company’s factory in
Milan. There, he was enthusiastically
greeted by Nicola Romeo himself,
given test drives of the latest
production models and then
offered to become the sole British
concessionaire. Stiles accepted and
began importing Touring and Super
Sports variants of the RL, advertising
them as the 21/70 and 22/90.
1931
Chrysler Richmond
Former Buick boss Walter Chrysler created his
own brand in 1925, using the assets of Maxwell,
which had been selling cars in the UK for decades;
it even had a plant in Surrey. From 1931, Chrysler
built Plymouth and DeSoto cars there from knock-
down kits, rebadging them and naming them
after nearby towns. Kew was shut in 1967, the year
Chrysler bought Britain’s Rootes Group to create
Chrysler Europe. This collapsed after just 11 years,
and saviour Peugeot rebadged its cars as Talbots.
C h r y sle r r e t u r ne d i n 1996 but le f t a ga i n i n 2 017.
1934
BMW 315
1908
Opel 10hp,
20hp, 30hp
and 45-60hp
(^1953)
Volkswagen Type 1
Volkswagen was initiated in 1932 by the German Labour Front
to do what its name suggests: provide transport for the people.
The first prototype emerged in 1938. Delayed by the war, with
production being started after it by the British Army, the Type 1
went on sale in the UK, where it was nicknamed the Beetle, in
- With many people still feeling hostile towards Germany, a
nu mb e r of c a r s w e r e v a nd a l i s e d at t he do c k s a nd ju s t 9 45 fou nd
homes that year. No worries, though: over the past few decades,
Volkswagen has risen to become the world’s biggest car maker.