List of British Car Manufacturers

Last Updated : 12 Mar, 2024

UK is one of the leading country in automobile manufacturing across the globe. In fact the history of British automobile industry goes way back to the early 19th century, when the UK overtook France to become the biggest manufacturer of cars in Europe and became the biggest exporter of automobiles, especially after World War II when the demand for cars soared in foreign countries. Although the British automotive industry is way past its glory days, most manufacturers in the UK today specialize in premium and sports cars and when it comes to quality, British cars are among the best.

List of British Car Manufacturers:

Given below is a list of major British Car manufacturers.

S.No.	Name of the British Car Manufacturer	Founded In
1.	MINI	1959
2.	Aston Martin	1913
3.	McLaren	1985
4.	Jaguar	1935
5.	Bentley	1919
6.	Lotus	1948
7.	Land Rover	1948
8.	MG	1924
9.	Vauxhall	1857
10.	Rover	1878
11.	Ariel	2001
12.	Rolls-Royce	1998
13.	TVR	1946
14.	Westfield	1982
15.	Morgan	1910
16.	Ascari	1995

Major British Car Manufacturers:

The British car manufacturers and their contribution to the global automobile industry is discussed in detail below. Please read further for more information.

MINI

Specialty	Cars with great fuel efficiency, good customization range.
Founded In	1959
Owner	BMW
Headquarters	Oxford, England; With various outlets in countries like Netherlands, Austria, USA

The car manufacturing brand, MINI is famous for its stylish, trendy, nicely packaged small cars. This elegant brand became widely popular in 1960’s as a British icon. The brand was acquired by BMW in 1994 launched several models like Mini Hatch/Hardtop, Clubman, Convertible, Countryman, Roadster. MINI’s performance models got the name ‘Cooper’ in honor of the British racing idol John Cooper. Owning a MINI Cooper is nothing short of a style statement even to this day.

Aston Martin

Specialty	Cars with a fusion of latest technology, traditional craftsmanship and graceful styling.
Founded In	1913
Founder	Lionel Martin; Robert Bamford
Headquarters	Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom

The specialty of the Aston Martin brand is luxury sports cars and grand touring cars. The brand debuted on the international stage with two cars competing in French Grand Prix in 1922 and since around 1950’s the company began to manufacture elite touring cars . The company has changed owners throughout its history and currently has joint owners with Italian private equity fund. Some of the famous models from this brand are the grand tourer DB9, their smallest sports car, Vantage, the stylish Vantage Roadster, four-door Rapide S, One-77-inspired Vanquish, Vulcan, and DB11.

McLaren

Specialty	High-performance sports cars and supercars.
Founded In	December 1985
Founder	Ron Dennis
Headquarters	McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom

Since their debut, McLaren chased the idea of creating the finest road car in the world. They achieved this goal in 1992 when they introduced McLaren F1, the world’s first road car with carbon chassis. The company’s aggressive pricing strategy helped them to conquer many new customers. They helped make supercars affordable. Currently McLaren is represented through a wide network of more than 50 dealerships in different countries.

Jaguar

Specialty	Light weight, fuel efficient, rust proof cars.
Founded In	1935
Owner	Jaguar Land Rover
Headquarters	United Kingdom

Luxury car brand Jaguar, shot to fame after their sports cars brilliantly performed in overseas competitions. Since Jaguar is an elite British car company, it has manufactured high-class custom made models for the British Prime Minister and has royal warrants from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles as well. Some of the top car models from this brand are top-line F-type Coupe, long-awaited Jaguar XE and upper-medium executive saloon Jaguar XF etc.

Bentley

Specialty	Exclusive cars with highest quality craftsmanship
Founded In	January 1919
Founder	H. M. Bentley; W. O. Bentley
Headquarters	Crewe, England, United Kingdom

Car brand Bentley is inseparably associated with luxury. It also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times from 1924 – 2003 . Bentley also provides hand-built cars via franchised dealers worldwide. Bentayga, Continental Flying Spur, Continental GT, and Mulsanne are some of the most popular models in the current range.

Lotus

Specialty	Flawless sports and race cars
Founded In	1948
Founder	Colin Chapman
Headquarters	Hethel, Norfolk, United Kingdom

Lotus Cars is a manufacturer of sportive & racing vehicles. The brand specializes in creating street vehicles and delivering racing autos for clients. The glory of the brand has been resurrected again after the engineers of the firm started the manufacturing of the models Elise and Esprit again.

Land Rover

Specialty	Sturdy and Adaptable incredible four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Founded In	1948
Founder	Spencer and Maurice Wilks
Headquarters	Great Britain

Land Rover is the oldest four wheeled vehicle brand on the planet after Jeep and and is recognized as the best manufacturer of four-wheel-drive cars. The company has survived several difficult periods like recessions, fuel crises, reliability problems and changes of owners throughout its history.

MG

Specialty	Sports Cars, especially two seater sports car.
Founded In	1924
Founder	Cecil Kimber
Headquarters	Longbridge, Birmingham

This company designs, creates, assembles the vehicles under the MG marque. Currently most of MG vehicles are being produced in China before being transported to the Longbridge for the final assembly, as it was acquired by Nanjing Automobile Corporation . Best known models from this company are open two-seater sports cars, saloons and coupés, MGB GT V8 etc.

Vauxhall

Specialty	Produces reliable, sturdy cars
Founded In	1857
Founder	Alexander Wilson
Headquarters	Chalton, Bedfordshire, England

Vauxhall has one of the best selling vehicle brand in the UK for over two deacdes. In the middle of the 20th century, Vauxhall linked its activity to the German firm Opel. The main reason for this company’s popularity is the reliability of their products. Some of the famous car models under them are the Corsa, Viva and Astra, owned by many in the general public of the UK.

Rover

Specialty	Sturdy four wheelers
Founded In	1878
Founder	John Kemp Starley & William Sutton
Headquarters	England: Longbridge, West Midlands

Rover was initially established as a bike manufacturer called Rover Company in 1878, following which they moved to assembling vehicles in 1904. The rights to the make of the car currently belong to Jaguar Land Rover, however, no Rover vehicles are made anymore, and the models have been discontinued. The logo of the brand is the notable Viking longship.

Ariel

Specialty	Mostly produces Sports Car
Founded In	2001
Founder	Simon Saunders
Headquarters	Crewkerne, Somerset, United Kingdom

Situated in the county Somerset, Ariel is a comparatively small scale manufacturer and has a small production plant with 7 people involved, who manufacture only around 100 cars a year. Currently the company mostly focuses on car and sports cars production.

Rolls-Royce

Specialty	Luxury hand-made to order cars designed by highly skilled craftspeople and designers.
Founded In	1998
Parent Company	BMW
Headquarters	Goodwood, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom

The car brand Rolls-Royce produces luxury handcrafted vehicles with great attention to detail; Handcrafted vehicles are the reason why fewer than 6,000 cars are sold per year across the globe. The built, quality and the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament are the iconic pieces the car. Owning a Rolls-Royce is a status symbol; The company faced many financial hardships like bankruptcy throughout its history.

TVR

Specialty	Lightweight sports cars with powerful engines.
Founded In	1946
Founder	Trevor Wilkinson; Jack Pickard
Headquarters	Walliswood, Surrey

TVR is an autonomous British producer of sports autos, who became successful after the creation of Grantura, a short-wheelbase sports vehicle sold in packs structure. TVR’s products have been popular for good performance because of their enormous power and simplicity, but they have also been criticized for poor construction quality . Despite having a rich history, the company’s future remains uncertain.

Westfield

Specialty	Quality Sports cars and cars.
Founded In	1982
Founder	Chris Smith
Headquarters	Kingswinford , England

The company manufactures factory built and kit versions of two-seater, open top sportscars. Some famous models from the brand are FW400, Megabusa, Megablade, MegaS2000, 7SE, SE, SEi etc. Westfield does not often replenish its model range for new cars, but its quality and the high rates are the reason for its continued success.

15. British Car Manufacturers: Morgan

Specialty	Deluxe sports cars.
Founded In	1910
Founder	Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan
Headquarters	Malvern, Worcestershire

Morgan Motor Company is a small English firm that manufactures limited deluxe class sports cars. All Morgan cars are assembled by hand, which is why it produces approximately 850 cars per year. The waiting list to buy this car ranges from 6 months to ten years. The most unique feature of Morgan cars is that wood has been used in their construction for a century, and is still used to this day, for framing the body shell. All the Morgan cars have a classic design or a stylized one , made to look like sport cars of the 30s-40s.

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