Vauxhall

Founded in 1857 by Alexander Wilson, Vauxhall was originally called Alex Wilson and Company and it was a pump and marine engine manufacturer which only started manufacturing cars in 1903. The company's second name was Vauxhall Iron Works but it was again changed in 1907 to the current name Vauxhall Motors.

Vauxhall 30/98

© photo courtesy of: Vauxhall

Vauxhall's first car was a five HP model with two forward gears only. In 1908 Laurence Pomeroy was given the chance to design a new engine that ended up wining the class E for the 1908 RAC and Scottish Reliability Trial. That same Y-Type was a sucess so the company decided to produce it as the A09 car that spawned the Vauxhall A-Type which was produced until 1920.

In 1925 Vauxhall was acquired by General MotorsGMUnited States of America, 1998 > present8 models
240 photos
and faced a subsequent change in its public image as it was considered to be expensive before the war and now it was producing the first Bedford truck and a low-cost 2.0l Vauxhall Cadet.

During the Second World War car production was suspended in order to focus on the manufacture of the new Churchill tank. After the war the production was activated again and Vauxhall designed more mainstream cars which led to the expansion of the company. A new manufacturing plant was opened in Ellesmere Port in 1962 and by the end of the decade Vauxhall's VivaVauxhall VivaUnited Kingdom, 1963 > 19793 series
5 versions
1 photo
and VictorVauxhall VictorUnited Kingdom, 1957 > 19785 series
16 versions
2 photos
were achieving a large number in sales.

The Viva was one of the best-selling and popular models in the UK but the brand was still outrun by FordFordUnited Kingdom, 1909 > present33 models
3718 photos
5 videos
and British LeylandLeylandUnited Kingdom, 1896 > 19204 models
. So in the beginning of the 1980's Vauxhall started marketing a new family hatchback, the AstraVauxhall AstraUnited Kingdom, 1979 > present2 series
74 versions
127 photos
, but it was the Cavalier that marked the road to sucess for the english automaker. In the following years the company marketed the Calibra, Carlton, CorsaVauxhall Corsa Gen.4United Kingdom, 2006 > present86 versions
114 photos
1 video
and Vectra.

From the year 2000 on, Vauxhall was able to get closer to Ford's numbers, with the updated Corsa taking the second place as Britain's most popular new car and the fifth generation of the Astra reaching the second spot of Britain's best selling car in 2005 and 2006.

Currently, most of Vauxhall cars are produced in Germany, Spain and Poland, in OpelOpelGermany, 1863 > present85 models
5151 photos
8 videos
factories and a high percentage of that production is exported, mainly to be sold under the Opel name.