Contrary to many reports, the UK still has a thriving car industry. Home to four mainstream marques (JLR, MINI, Toyota and Nissan), it remains a specialist car and motorsport powerhouse. Those American names both regarded as British – Ford and Vauxhall – stopped making cars here in 2002 and 2022 respectively. Engines and gearboxes still emerge from Blue Oval factories in Dagenham and Halewood, while Griffin-badged vans, both electric and ICE-powered, are dispatched from Ellesmere Port and Luton.
Of course, before World War Two, things were very different. If we turn the clock back even further, to 1911, Trafford Park, Manchester became the first plant outside the USA to build the Model T. It at first assembled cars from kits, but was soon making cars in quantity with a large proportion of British content. Other foreign marques took note of Ford’s tax swerve, and as their own cars began to gain in popularity, balancing economies of scale against protectionism brought thousands of jobs into Britain.
CITROËN CARS LIMITED (SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE, 1926-1974)
British firms had been able to buy Citroën industrial gearing before World War One, but by 1919, its newly established car manufacturing concern was growing, rapidly. Some 750 rear-wheel-drive models were imported into Britain that year, handled by private concessionaires, Gaston Limited. Citroën
