I remeber hearing on the radio 'If you see an Armstrong Siddely...salute' is Siddely spelt correctly? Made me think how many makes have gone in my time. We are heading for a market dominated by the big boys but that is how the world seems to be going. Austin, Morris, Simca, Rover, all gone.
Must be many more.
Maybe the backroomers should start a car company...................
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I have a book called ROADS TO OBLIVION by Christopher Balfour published in 1996. It gives detailed accounts of the demises of 24 British car makers from Allard to Wolseley. It's a fascinating but depressing read.
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Woolworths have gone, as have BSA, The Daily Herald, BOAC, Triang and Freeman Hardy Willis, to name but a tiny few.
It is the nature of the commercial world that nothing is permanant.
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Not just the commercial world actually RR...
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Quite true Lud, even Sir Terry has gone.
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Surely he's still with us? The fellow's only my age. Not that I often hear his mellow tones.
No, I was thinking of other stuff. Dinosaurs. Dodo. British sense of fair play and decency. Stuff like that.
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Even Bill Hayley and his comets are still with us! At least they are get played occassionaly in the rock clubs.
I can see the car market completly lacking in choice soon. There are few car companies left now and I think the two companies which are making the most exciting main stream cars are Ford and FIAT.
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I actually have a Glass`s guide from 1936 and there are at least 100 different marques that have gone for ever, which is very sad and never to be repeated now with the might of VW/Audi/Porsche, Ford, Toyota and G.M.!!
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>>It is the nature of the commercial world that nothing is permanent.<<
What not even Toyota ??
Joking apart though - I am a great believer that if you make something that people want and you make it well and look after your customers, then you will last forever. The problem with all the UK companies that have gone bust is that they did not sell what people wanted and if they did they made it very poorly and didn't look after customers. The Toyota board actually have a 100 year plan of where they want the company to be in that time. Allot of people are very quick to criticise Toyota and stuff like the Prius but only because they only see the short term view on the need for this type of car. You look at all the other car makers and they are now all following suit with electric cars and if you believe what Mercedes Benz say, the small diesel that was always better on CO2 than the Prius will be too expensive to make after 2015. Maybe Toyota will be proved correct after all ??
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True, OmNo.
But any company only needs to get it wrong for a relatively short period of time before the cash dries up and the business collapses. Every decision a firm takes with it's development of future products is a gamble. Sink all the R&D into developing electric cars and if an unexpected and cheaper alternative fuel source is discovered, as unlikely as that may appear at the present, then it's good night Vienna.
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I have to agree RR - I think that is why Toyota will be ok when you look at the spread of vehicles it makes from Iq and Yaris diesels, through to prius, monster 4x4 and luxury cars. But as you say - put all your r&d and get it wrong like gm & ford then you will struggle.
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Glass' guide from 1936, intiguing! whats in there?
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Georgiano's Encyclopaedia of Motoring shows every make ever made in the world.
There are thousands and some are still being discovered which are not in the book !
Montague's 'Lost causes of Motoring ' gives a good account of some British ones.
Of my own interest, the Jowett, he writes, aptly, ' Better to go out in a blaze of glory with a Jupiter than to be badge-engineered into oblivion '
So many were.
Ted
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Woolworths have gone .........
Woolworths still trades online.
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Barclay Bros who own a Littlewoods company trades on line as woolworths.co.uk
Woolies as in stock market listed company is no more (13 mths)
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Barclay Bros who own a Littlewoods company trades on line as woolworths.co.uk Woolies as in stock market listed company is no more (13 mths)
Badge engineering.
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>>Badge engineering.<<
Spot on - and the world leaders in Badge Engineering are of course VAG.
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A few years ago Prof. Garel Rhys said that eventually there would be only six motor manufacturers in the world - plus Morgan.
I tried googling his name but can't find the reference. Any ideas of which six he would have gone for, and by which date? - my guess would be:
Ford
VAG
Toyota
Honda
Kia/Hyundai
GM (he might by now have changed his mind on this one, or been prescient and never named them)
If so the other one might perhaps be Nissan / Renault.
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Sometimes old names still exist in limbo, having been bought by other companies years ago.
Maybach has recently reappeared, last seen in about 1914 powered by Zeppelin engines.
Squire I think is another example.
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British Leyland Motor Corporation had swallowed up:
Austin
Austin Healey
MG
Morris
Riley
Wolseley
Vanden Plas
Rover / Land Rover
Triumph
Jaguar
Daimler
Alvis
AEC
Albion
Guy
Leyland
Scammell
Other names that were already defunct but owned by companies swallowed up by BL include:
Lanchester
Standard
Maudslay
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Toyota is unusual in that it has never yet taken over any other brands. It started Lexus and Scion from scratch as new brands.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 20/12/2009 at 11:20
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The list of British Leyland's victims is interesting.
At least one of them made an escape though. Alvis was bought by United Scientific Holdings and is still making vehicles, albeit of a military nature.
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I wonder just how distantly related is Spyker, the potential buyer of SAAB, to the Spyker who made the car driven by Kenneth More in "Genevieve" and Y-16 in the Models of Yesteryear series. They're both Dutch.
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Quote:...."Spot on - and the world leaders in Badge Engineering are of course VAG."
What VAG is a bit more than badge engineering. Badge engineering is where identical cars are sold as different brands, with just badges and superficial details altered - like what BMC and Rootes used to do.
VAG's SEATs, Skodas and some Audis share mechanical components and platforms with VWs, but the bodywork is different.
So I think that SEAT and Skoda can be regarded as glorified bodybuilders really.
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From what I understand the 2 companies are not related.
The previous Spyker company went bankrupt in 1929.
The current Spyker Cars only has the legal right to the brand name.
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