England

Active 1901 – present Sports & Specialist

One of Britain's oldest car makers, AC began in West Norwood, London, in 1901 and moved to Thames Ditton, Surrey, in 1911. It is best known for the…

Discontinued 1912 – 1979 Mainstream & Utility

AEC (Associated Equipment Company) built London's buses, from the B-type to the Routemaster, and was Britain's biggest wartime lorry maker. Started in 1912 by the Underground Group, it…

Discontinued 1945 – 1958 Sports & Specialist

Sydney Allard built big-engined trials and sports cars in Clapham, south London, from 1945. His J2 finished third at Le Mans in 1950 and was raced by Carroll…

Discontinued 1919 – 1967 Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

T. G. John founded Alvis in Coventry in 1919, and its 12/50 and Speed 20 made it one of Britain's most respected makers of quality sporting cars. Car…

Active 1999 – present Sports & Specialist

Arash Motor Company of Newmarket, Suffolk, founded by Arash Farboud in 1999, builds supercars in tiny numbers, including the AF8 and the hybrid AF10 hypercar. Its earlier Farboud…

Active 1991 – present Sports & Specialist

Simon Saunders set up the company in 1991 to build the Atom, a lightweight exoskeleton sports car that began as a Coventry University student project. Based in Crewkerne,…

Discontinued 1919 – 1960 Luxury / Prestige

A Coventry maker of dignified, well-engineered luxury cars, Armstrong Siddeley grew out of the same Siddeley-Deasy business that also built aircraft engines, and its cars shared some of…

Discontinued 1955 – 1962 Kit Car

Ashley Laminates of Essex made glass-fibre bodies and chassis for home-built specials from 1955 to 1962, based on Austin Seven and Ford parts. Its 1172 body went on…

Active 1913 – present Sports & Specialist Luxury / Prestige

Founded in London in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, Aston Martin grew from a small maker of sporting light cars into Britain's best-known builder of luxury…

Discontinued 1937 – 1939 Sports & Specialist Luxury / Prestige

Atalanta Motors of Staines built about 20 advanced, expensive sports cars between 1937 and 1939, with tubular chassis, all-round independent suspension and a choice of twin-cam four or…

Discontinued 1905 – 1987 Mainstream & Utility

Herbert Austin left Wolseley to found the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge, south-west of Birmingham, in 1905. The little Austin Seven of 1922 put Britain on wheels, Austin…

Discontinued 1952 – 1972 Sports & Specialist

Austin-Healey was born at the 1952 Motor Show, when Austin's Leonard Lord saw Donald Healey's Healey Hundred and agreed to build it as the Austin-Healey 100. The big…

Active 2009 – present Sports & Specialist

Brothers Neill and Ian Briggs founded Briggs Automotive Company in Liverpool in 2009 to build the Mono, a single-seat, road-legal supercar launched in 2011. Its Mono R of…

Discontinued 1919 – 1931 Mainstream & Utility

Bean Cars, made by the Black Country ironfounders A. Harper Sons & Bean in Dudley and Coseley, briefly outsold Austin and Morris in the early 1920s. Car production…

Discontinued 1919 – 1966 Mainstream & Utility

Beardmore, the Clydeside shipbuilding and engineering giant, built cars and, from 1919 to 1966, the rugged Beardmore taxi, nicknamed "the Rolls-Royce of taxicabs". Production moved from Paisley to…

Discontinued 1931 – 1990 Mainstream & Utility

Bedford Vehicles was set up by Vauxhall in 1931 to build lorries, vans and buses, and grew into one of Britain's leading commercial vehicle brands. The wartime MW…

Discontinued 1901 – 1925 Mainstream & Utility

Belsize Motors of Clayton, Manchester, grew out of Marshall & Company, probably Manchester's first car maker. Before the First World War it employed 1,200 people and built cars,…

Active 1919 – present Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

W. O. Bentley founded Bentley Motors in Cricklewood, north London, in 1919, and his big sporting cars won Le Mans five times between 1924 and 1930. Owned by…

Discontinued 1956 – 1960 Sports & Specialist

Caravan maker Charles Panter and designer Lawrie Bond created Berkeley in 1956 at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, building small glass-fibre sports cars with motorcycle engines. About 4,100 were made, including…

Discontinued 1897 – 1899 Mainstream & Utility

The Bersey electric cab was London's first motor taxi. Designed by electrical engineer Walter Bersey, it went into service in August 1897, and its fleet of up to…