motors f.c. general motors uk limited trading as vauxhall motors trading name vauxhall motors type limited company industry automotive predecessor alex wilson and company 1857 1 vauxhall iron works 1897 founded united kingdom 1857 1857 2 founder alexander wilson headquarters luton bedfordshire england number of locations two manufacturing facilities in the uk area served united kingdom key people rory harvey chairman & managing director 3 products automobiles commercial vehicles production output 232 255 2012 sales 4 services vehicle financing revenue 3.785 billion 2004 5 operating income 131 million 2004 5 profit 176 million 2004 5 owner general motors company 6 exhibit 21 number of employees 4 029 2011 parent adam opel ag divisions vxr website vauxhall.co.uk footnotes references 6 vauxhall motors v ks l ; registered name general motors uk limited 7 is a british automotive manufacturing and distribution company headquartered in luton bedfordshire and an affiliated company of the german adam opel ag both being wholly owned subsidiaries of general motors gm in the united states . 8 the company sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under the vauxhall marque ; in the past it has also sold buses and trucks under the bedford brand . vauxhall has been the second largest selling car brand in the uk for more than two decades . 9 vauxhall was founded by alexander wilson in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer . it was bought in 1863 by andrew betts brown who began producing travelling cranes . it was he who named it vauxhall iron works . 10 it began manufacturing cars in 1903 . it was acquired by gm in 1925 . 9 bedford vehicles was established as a subsidiary of vauxhall in 1930 to manufacture commercial vehicles . having previously been a luxury car brand after the second world war vauxhall became increasingly mass market . since 1980 vauxhall products have been largely identical to those of opel gm s german subsidiary and most models are principally engineered in r sselsheim germany . 11 during the 1980s the vauxhall brand was withdrawn from sale in all countries apart from the uk the channel islands and the isle of man . at various times during its history vauxhall has been active in motorsports including rallying and the british touring car championship . vauxhall has major manufacturing facilities in luton commercial vehicles ibc vehicles and ellesmere port uk passenger cars . the luton plant currently employs around 900 staff and has a capacity of approximately 100 000 units . 12 the ellesmere port plant currently employs around 1 880 staff and has a capacity of approximately 187 000 units . 12 a high proportion of vauxhall branded vehicles sold in the uk are produced at opel factories in germany spain and poland and roughly 80 % of vauxhall production is exported most of which is sold under the opel brand . 12 notable former vauxhall production cars include the viva victor chevette and cavalier . the current vauxhall car range includes the adam city car viva city car ampera extended range electric vehicle astra small family car cascada convertible corsa supermini insignia large family car meriva compact mpv mokka subcompact suv and zafira tourer large mpv . vauxhall sells high performance versions of some of its models under the vxr sub brand . contents 1 history 1.1 foundation to 1925 1.2 1925 to 1945 1.3 1945 to 1970 1.4 1970 to 1990 1.5 1990 to 2000 1.6 2000 to 2010 1.7 2010 to present 2 current model range 2.1 passenger cars 2.2 commercial vehicles 2.3 vxr models 3 discontinued models 3.1 passenger cars 3.2 commercial vehicles 4 relationship with other gm products 5 operations 6 logo 7 sponsorships 8 motorsports 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit foundation to 1925 edit oldest surviving vauxhall delivered in november 1903 13 30 98 velox vauxhall griffin on a 1921 vauxhall 25 scottish marine engineer alexander wilson founded the company at 90 92 wandsworth road vauxhall london in 1857 . 14 originally named alex wilson and company then vauxhall iron works from 1897 the company built pumps and marine engines . in 1903 the company built its first car a five horsepower single cylinder model steered using a tiller with two forward gears and no reverse gear . 14 about 70 were made in the first year before the car was improved with wheel steering and a reverse gear in 1904 . a single survivor could still be seen at the london science museum in 1968 . 1 to expand the company moved the majority of its production to luton in 1905 . 14 the company continued to trade under the name vauxhall iron works until 1907 when the modern name of vauxhall motors was adopted . 1 14 the company was characterised by its sporting models but after world war i the company s designs were more austere . much of vauxhall s success during the early years of vauxhall motors was attributable to laurence pomeroy . he joined vauxhall in 1906 at the age of twenty two as an assistant draughtsman . in the winter of 1907 8 the chief designer f. w. hodges took a long holiday and in his absence the managing director percy kidner asked pomeroy to design an engine for cars to be entered in the 1908 rac and scottish reliability trial held in june that year . the cars were so successful that pomeroy took over from hodges . 14 pomeroy s first design the y type y1 had outstanding success at the 1908 rac and scottish 2000 mile reliability trials showing excellent hill climbing ability with an aggregate of 37 seconds less time in the hill climbs than any other car in its class . with unparalleled speeds around the brooklands circuit the vauxhall was so far ahead of all other cars of any class that the driver could relax accomplishing the 200 miles 320 km at an average speed of 46 mph 74 km h when the car was capable of 55 mph 89 km h . the y type went on to win class e of the trial . the y type was so successful that it was decided to put the car into production as the a09 car . this spawned the vauxhall a type . four distinct types of this were produced between 27 october 1908 up to when mass production halted in 1914 . one last a type was put together in 1920 . capable of up to 100 mph 160 km h the a type vauxhall was one of the most acclaimed 3 litre cars of its day . two cars were entered in the 1910 prince henry trials and although not outright winners performed well and replicas were made for sale officially as the c type but now known as the prince henry . during the first world war vauxhall made large numbers of the d type a prince henry chassis with de rated engine for use as staff cars for the british forces . after the 1918 armistice the d type remained in production along with the sporting e type . pomeroy left in 1919 moving to the united states and was replaced by c.e. king . 14 in spite of making good cars expensive pedigree cars of the kind that had served the company well in the prosperous pre war years were no longer in demand 1 the company struggled to make a consistent profit and vauxhall looked for a major strategic partner . 1925 to 1945 edit a mk iv churchill tank 75mm of which 7 368 were manufactured by vauxhall between 1941 and 1945 on 16 november 1925 vauxhall was acquired by general motors corporation for us 2.5 million . 15 the company s image and target market were gently but firmly changed over the next five and more years marked particularly by the introduction in late 1930 of the low cost two litre vauxhall cadet and the next year the first bedford truck which was chevrolet based . 1 vauxhall s chief engineer since 1920 charles evelyn king would retire as engineering director in 1950 . the company s future chief engineer harold drew left luton for a spell working as a draughtsman with gm s lansing based oldsmobile division . 1 as the first significant post acquisition passenger car the cadet initially retailing at 280 is generally regarded as demonstrating vauxhall s newly acquired interest and expertise in controlling production costs but it was also the first british car to feature a synchromesh gearbox . 1 during the second world war car production at luton was suspended to allow vauxhall to work on the new churchill tank . despite a bombing raid in august 1940 in which 39 employees were killed 16 it was taken from specification to production in less than a year and assembled there as well as at other sites . more than 5 600 churchill tanks were built . luton also produced around 250 000 lorries for the war effort alongside the new bedford dunstable plant which was opened in 1942 with bedford designs being common in british use . as a morale booster for the company employees on 23 24 and 25 february 1944 adelaide hall appeared in concert at the factory in luton where she entertained the employees during their lunch break . in all she performed in front of more than 10 000 workers ; it was the first time that vauxhall had contracted a star to perform at their factory for three consecutive days . 17 1945 to 1970 edit a buyer and seller looking under the bonnet of a vauxhall at a dealership in denmark in the 1950s passenger car production resumed after the end of the second world war . models were more mass market than pre war products helping to drive an expansion of the company . a manufacturing plant at ellesmere port cheshire was opened in 1962 initially making components to supply to the production lines in luton before passenger car production began there in 1964 . 18 in 1963 production of the vauxhall viva small family car commenced with the new car being aimed at the likes of the ford anglia and morris minor . the german version of the car was sold as the opel kadett . the locally assembled vauxhall viva was launched in australia in may 1964 . in 1966 vauxhall s slant four went into production the first production overhead camshaft inline four engine to use a rubber timing belt . also the fd victor was launched at the earls court motor show considered by many to be one of vauxhall s finest all british styling efforts . during the 1960s vauxhall acquired a reputation for making rust prone models . the corrosion protection built into models was tightened up significantly but the reputation dogged the company until the early 1980s . in 1967 vauxhall became a royal warrant holder motor vehicle manufacturers to hm the queen the royal mews . the warrant of hrh the prince of wales was added in 1994 . by the late 1960s the company was achieving five figure sales on its most popular models including the entry level viva and larger victor . 1970 to 1990 edit in 1970 the hc viva was launched which went on to become vauxhall s best selling car of the decade featuring among the best 10 selling cars in britain each year until after 1976 with production not finishing until 1979 when the viva nameplate was finally discontinued after 16 years and three generations . in 1973 the vauxhall firenza droopsnoot was unveiled at the earls court motor show introducing the public to vauxhall s new aerodynamic look for all of its subsequent 1970s models . by 1973 the victor was losing sales in a market that was becoming increasingly dominated by the ford cortina . this was not