Alex Govan built the first Argyll voiturette in 1899 at his Hozier Engineering Company in Bridgeton, Glasgow. It was closely modelled on the contemporary Renault, with a de Dion engine and shaft drive, and larger two- and four-cylinder models with Aster engines soon followed.
Success brought ambition. In 1906 Argyll Motors moved into a grand purpose-built factory at Alexandria, near Loch Lomond, covering 12 acres with its own railway line, opened by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. But the works was never used to capacity, Govan died in 1907, and the company went into liquidation in 1908.
Revived as Argylls Ltd in 1910, the firm introduced the Flying Fifteen, a taxi version of the 12/14 that was exported as far as New York, patented four-wheel brakes, and from 1912 the Burt-McCollum single sleeve-valve engine, which powered the whole range by 1914. That year the Alexandria factory was sold to the Royal Navy for torpedo production, and a much smaller company carried on at the old Bridgeton works. The last cars were probably made in 1928, although Argyll was still advertising until it closed in 1932.
The name was revived in 1976 for the Argyll GT, a mid-engined sports car developed at Lochgilphead, but although it was shown in production form in 1983, none were sold.
