England

Discontinued 1901 – 1954 Mainstream & Utility Sports & Specialist

Brothers Benjamin and William Jowett began making cars in Bradford in 1901, and their durable flat-twin engines powered cars and the Bradford van for half a century. After…

Discontinued 1908 – 1970 Mainstream & Utility

Karrier was a Huddersfield maker of municipal vehicles, light lorries and trolleybuses from 1908. It gave Britain the Cob "mechanical horse" and the Ro-Railer, and after being bought…

Discontinued 1906 – 1990 Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

American-born former opera singer Wilbur Gunn founded Lagonda at Staines in 1906, naming it after the Shawnee settlement of Lagonda near his home town of Springfield, Ohio. Lagonda…

Discontinued 1899 – 1955 Luxury / Prestige

The three Lanchester brothers built one of Britain's first petrol cars in Birmingham in 1895 and founded their company in 1899, becoming famous for inventive engineering, including the…

Active 1948 – present Mainstream & Utility

Britain's defining off-road and utility marque, launched by the Rover Company in 1948 and built at Solihull ever since. Land Rover has become shorthand worldwide for rugged, go-anywhere…

Discontinued 1895 – 1962 Sports & Specialist Mainstream & Utility

Richard Lea and Graham Francis founded their Coventry cycle business in 1895 and moved into cars in 1903. A Lea-Francis Hyper, Britain's first supercharged production car, won the…

Discontinued 1920 – 1923 Luxury / Prestige

Leyland Motors, the Lancashire lorry and bus maker, built one of the most ambitious British luxury cars ever, the Leyland Eight of 1920-23. Designed by J. G. Parry-Thomas…

Active 1954 – present Sports & Specialist

Brian Lister began building racing cars at his family's Cambridge engineering works in 1954, and his Jaguar-engined "Knobbly" became one of the most successful sports-racing cars of the…

Active 1952 – present Sports & Specialist

Founded by engineer and racing driver Colin Chapman, Lotus built its reputation on lightweight construction and Formula One success before becoming one of Britain's most respected specialist sports…

Discontinued 1959 – 2007 Sports & Specialist Kit Car

Marcos Engineering built low, elegant sports cars with an unusual plywood chassis, from its 1959 founding in Wales through decades based in Wiltshire. Best known for the Marcos…

Active 1979 – present Kit Car

Marlin was founded in Plymouth in 1979 by Paul Moorhouse, whose Triumph-based Roadster, with a grille that hints at a pre-war Alfa Romeo, became one of the best-known…

Active 1985 – present Sports & Specialist

McLaren grew out of the Formula One team Bruce McLaren founded in 1963. Its road-car business built the record-breaking McLaren F1 of 1992, and since 2010 McLaren Automotive…

Discontinued 1987 – 2006 Mainstream & Utility

The Metrocab, launched by Metro-Cammell Weymann in 1987, was the first London black cab designed for wheelchair users. Built later by Reliant, Hooper and Kamkorp, it was made…

Active 1924 – present Sports & Specialist

MG grew out of Morris Garages, William Morris's Oxford dealership, where Cecil Kimber began selling tuned, specially bodied Morrises in the early 1920s. Built for half a century…

1978 Kit Car

The Midas, a rust-free composite coupé on Mini and later Metro parts, was launched in 1978 by Harold Dermott, who had taken over the Mini Marcos. With aerodynamic…

Active 1959 – present Mainstream & Utility

Alec Issigonis's Mini was launched by BMC in 1959, badged as the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor, and became a marque in its own right under British…

Active 1910 – present Sports & Specialist

H. F. S. Morgan founded the Morgan Motor Company at Malvern Link, Worcestershire, in 1910, building three-wheelers before the first four-wheeled 4/4 of 1936. Still hand-building sports cars…

Discontinued 1912 – 1984 Mainstream & Utility

William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, turned an Oxford cycle and garage business into Britain's biggest car maker of the 1920s and '30s. Morris merged with Austin in 1952…

Discontinued 1933 – 1983 Mainstream & Utility

Morrison-Electricar of Leicester was one of Britain's biggest makers of milk floats and battery-electric delivery vehicles. Its first electric van was built for a baker in 1933, and…

Discontinued 1900 – 1924 Luxury / Prestige Sports & Specialist

D. Napier & Son, a London precision engineering firm founded in 1808, built some of the fastest and finest cars of the Edwardian era between 1900 and 1924.…