of leisure vehicles including caravans and motorhomes . started in 1964 the company is based in cottingham east riding of yorkshire . it celebrated its golden 50th year in 2014 1 with the launch of smart ht the first fully composite caravan without any timber and ply in the body and using a patent pending aluminum jointing systems and a patent pending floor construction . contents 1 history 1.1 timeline 2 group brands 3 references 4 external links history edit swift was founded in 1964 by ken smith . 1 the company started with the single swift brand of caravans based on a distinctive tri front window design all of which opened unique at the time which also allowed easy see through to the rear for the driver whilst travelling . following the break up of the travelling caravan business of cosalt plc in 1994 the company acquired the cosalt brand of abbey followed in 1994 with the purchase of sprite leisure and the ace brand in 2001 . since late 2008 swift leisure has dropped the abbey and ace brands of touring caravans . within the swift international division the company has operations in denmark the netherlands and new zealand . 2 the company moved manufacturing from hedon road kingston upon hull to dunswell lane near cottingham in 1970 . in the early 2000s the company moved to an adjacent site in cottingham to allow expanded production facilities . 3 4 5 timeline edit key events in the companies history 6 1964 swift caravans founded 1986 swift motorhomes launched 1992 abbey caravans purchased 1994 sprite leisure purchased 1995 sprite leisure renamed sterling 1996 bessacarr caravans purchased 1997 bessacarr motorhomes launched 2001 ace caravans purchased 2001 ace motorhomes launched 2004 swift holiday homes launched 2004 sprite caravans relaunched 2008 autocruise purchased group brands edit abbey caravans until 2008 ace caravans until 2008 motorhomes until 2008 autocruise purchased in 2007 motorhomes bessacar caravans until 2006 motorhomes escape motorhomes mondial motorhomes sprite caravans sterling caravans swift caravans motorhomes references edit caravans the bee s knees as far as hull is concerned . yorkshire post . 28 august 2001 . retrieved 6 december 2013 . dave king ; liz king 30 october 2007 . down the line . www.outandaboutlive.co.uk . retrieved 6 december 2013 . caravan comeback . www.managementtoday.co.uk . 8 january 2005 . retrieved 6 december 2013 . a b swift celebrate 50 years with more product innovation . swift group . 18 february 2014 . retrieved 2 june 2014 . swift leisure swift international archived 6 march 2008 at the wayback machine . plans unveiled for multi million pound scheme to safeguard jobs and ease traffic problems . www.hull.co.uk . 15 june 2005 . retrieved 2 february 2013 . remarkable spirit of a community . this is hull and east riding . 13 july 2009 . retrieved 2 february 2013 . . . cottingham s own caravan maker the swift group based at dunswell road . the story of swift caravans is a rags to riches affair since a company that in 2007 had sales of 191.3 million began life in 1964 as a small operation located in a garage on hedon road hull . the company moved to cottingham in 1970 and since then has expanded its facilities there with a training centre and a new factory complex caravan firm expansion approved . this is hull and east riding . 3 april 2008 . retrieved 2 february 2013 . swift leisure history archived 20 april 2008 at the wayback machine . external links edit official website official swift owners club uk website this article about a company of the uk is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title swift leisure & oldid 711272933 categories companies established in 1965recreational vehicle manufacturerscompanies based in the east riding of yorkshirecottingham east riding of yorkshireunited kingdom company stubshidden categories articles with wayback machine linksuse dmy dates from march 2016all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 march 2016 at 22 07 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view