Lamborghini: From Heritage to High-Tech Supercars

Lamborghini, a name synonymous with luxury and high-performance sports cars, was founded in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini, an Italian industrialist who initially built a successful business manufacturing tractors from surplus military equipment. Frustrated by mechanical issues in his Ferrari, Ferruccio set out to build a more refined grand touring car, establishing Automobili Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy.

The company’s first production model, the Lamborghini 350 GT, launched in 1964, embodied exceptional design and engineering, setting the stage for the brand's future success. In 1966, Lamborghini revolutionized the automotive industry with the Miura. Featuring a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, the Miura set the template for modern supercars and became an instant icon, celebrated for its sleek styling and advanced mechanics.

Despite its early success, Lamborghini faced major setbacks during the 1973 oil crisis, which drastically reduced demand for high-performance vehicles. Financial instability led to a series of ownership changes and ultimately to bankruptcy in 1978. However, the brand's legacy endured, buoyed by models like the wedge-shaped Countach in the 1970s and the Diablo in the 1990s, which maintained Lamborghini's reputation for bold, futuristic design.

In 1998, Lamborghini was acquired by the Volkswagen Group through its Audi division. This ushered in a new era of innovation and stability. Under Audi’s management, Lamborghini launched technologically advanced models such as the Gallardo, Huracán, and Aventador—each blending Italian flair with German engineering precision. The Aventador, introduced in 2011, featured a carbon fiber monocoque and a powerful V12 engine, solidifying its status as a flagship model.

Today, Lamborghini remains at the forefront of the automotive industry, embracing hybrid and electric technologies. In 2023, it unveiled the Revuelto, its first plug-in hybrid supercar, signaling a commitment to sustainability without sacrificing performance. As the world shifts towards greener mobility, Lamborghini continues to evolve, merging its rich heritage with innovation to remain a benchmark in luxury and high-performance automotive design.
Lamborghini: From Heritage to High-Tech Supercars

Borgward: A Legacy of German Innovation and Resilience in Automotive History

Founded by Carl F. W. Borgward in 1933, the Borgward car manufacturing company became a cornerstone of German automotive history, producing cars under four brands: Borgward, Hansa, Goliath, and Lloyd. With its headquarters in Bremen, Borgward established a reputation for engineering excellence and innovative design. One of the company’s standout achievements was the Borgward Isabella, introduced in 1954. The Isabella, with its sleek lines and advanced engineering, quickly became a symbol of German quality, regarded as one of the top premium vehicles of the 1950s and a serious competitor to Mercedes-Benz models.

Carl Borgward’s entry into the automotive world began in 1924 with the creation of the Blitzkarren, a small, three-wheeled delivery vehicle. Aimed at small business owners and tradespeople, the Blitzkarren was affordable and functional, filling a post-war demand for simple, reliable transport. Encouraged by its success, Borgward developed the Goliath Pionier, another three-wheeler, which further cemented his role in the industry. By 1929, Borgward had gained control of Hansa-Lloyd, integrating it with his company to create the Borgward Group, which became known for a diverse portfolio ranging from compact cars to trucks.

The Borgward Group faced challenges during World War II, as its factories suffered extensive bombing damage. However, with remarkable resilience, the company rebuilt and resumed production, and by the 1950s, Borgward was again a leader in the automotive market. Its models often showcased advanced technology, such as air suspension and automatic transmissions, rare for the time.

Despite its achievements, Borgward encountered severe financial problems, partly due to overproduction and mismanagement. The company was forced into insolvency in 1961, a controversial decision that some argue was hastened by political pressure rather than pure financial necessity. This marked the end of an era for the original Borgward company.

The brand was revived in 2015 by Borgward Group AG, based in Stuttgart, with financial backing from China’s Foton Motor. This revival introduced modern SUVs, built in China and primarily marketed in Asia, a nod to Borgward's reputation for quality and innovation. The legacy of Carl Borgward and the Isabella model remains influential, symbolizing a unique chapter in German automotive history marked by resilience and ingenuity.
Borgward: A Legacy of German Innovation and Resilience in Automotive History

History of Renault S.A: French multinational automobile manufacturer

In February 1899 Renault was created by The Renault brothers (Louis, Marcel and Fernand) assisted by two friends (Thomas Evert and Julian Wyer). Louis Renault was born in Paris on February 12, 1877.

Following preparatory studies at Ecole Monge, Louis failed the entrance exam for the elite national engineering school, Ecole Centrale. He seized the opportunity to indulge in his passion for machines.

In the autumn of 1898, upon his return from military service, he built his first little car or Renault Voiturette, equipped with an original “direct drive” transmission system. The system of chains and belts that earlier builders had used to transfer energy to the wheels was replaced by a gearbox and differential, directly linked to the rear axle by a crankshaft and two universal joints. It was an elegant solution, typical of Louis Renault.

Renault Voiturette was the first ever produced automobile. It was designed by Louis Renault and manufactured between 1898 and 1903. The name was used for five different models.

On December 24, 1898, at a Christmas party in Montmartre, Louis demonstrated the advantages of this motorcar by driving up steep Rue Lepic. The vehicle performed so convincingly that his friends immediately pledged funds to the venture, placing orders for twelve copies of the Voiturette.

He and his brothers Fernand and Marcel then built a series of small cars and formed the automobile firm Renault Frères (“Renault Brothers”). Renault vehicles attracted much attention by winning numerous road races until Marcel was killed during a Paris-Madrid run in 1903.

Renault’s victories in many automobile races across Europe were its best advertisement. Seeing this, the Renault brothers did not hesitate to quickly expand their commercial network, both in the domestic market (where Renault had more than 100 commercial agents only five years after its establishment) and abroad.

From 1905, the young factory received an order for 205 taxis and adopted mass production techniques.

The first commercial agents were established in London and Milan as early as 1900. Shortly afterwards, more agents were added in Chicago, New York, Vienna, Buenos Aires, and Berlin.

At the end of World War II, the company was nationalized (largely caused by the alleged collaboration with the Nazi enemy). Louis Renault died in prison in October 1944; he had been accused of collaborating with the Nazi occupation. His company was nationalized a few months later.

From 1945, the Renault brothers company implemented new production sites and modernized its plans. Between 1950 and 1975 Renault failed to conquer the American market. However, the international expansion of Renault was launched.

Renault is privatized again in the 1990s in order to revive its brand after the disastrous decade of 1980.
History of Renault S.A: French multinational automobile manufacturer

History of Citroen Car Company

Andre Citroën graduated from École Polytechnique in 1900 with a degree in engineering and thereafter worked as an engineer and an industrial designer. In 1908 he helped the Mors automobile firm increase its production from 125 cars to 1,200 cars per year.

He interested in developing engineering processes that would make mass production possible so that non-elite could also afford to buy cars. He started his eponymous car company in 1919, choosing a logo inspired by the double chevron helical gear that Citroën was instrumental in developing.

The Type A Citroen was manufactured in the year 1919 in May. The Type A brand was followed by other productions of Type B2 in 1926, Type C in 1922 and this was the trend until 1927 when the Type B18 was produced.

In 1934, Citroën made its most revolutionary technical mark on the industry with the debut of the Traction Avant, the first mass-produced front-wheel drive vehicle and one of the first to feature unibody construction.

Citroën was experiencing hard times in the late 1930s. However, at the 1938 Motor Show it launched a new Traction Avant, the 15 Six, which was a range topping model with exceptional performance and road holding.

History of Citroen Car Company

History of Audi cars

The Audi name is one of the oldest German car marques. Audi can trace its history back to 1899 when August Horch produced his first car. When Horch was forced out of the company he founded, he started producing cars under the name August Horch Automobilwerk.

Naturally, his former associates were horrified at the creation of a rival make with the same name and they sued him. The matter was resolved when Horch renamed his company Audi – the translation of his surname into Latin, meaning ‘listen’.

In 1932, Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer merged to form Auto Union, best remembered for its pre-war racing car.

After 23 year separation, Audi and Horch were reunited under the Auto Union umbrella.

Mercedes Benz acquired the company and produced cars using the DKW brand. In 1964 Volkswagen acquired a 50 per cent holding in the Auto Union business, by then owner of the Audi brand which included the new factory in Ingolstadt and the trademark rights’ of the Auto Union.

It was Volkswagen that revived the Audi name which in return helped its parent company with advanced front-wheel drive technology.

Audi became a Volkswagen owned subsidiary in 1966, the ambition has been to keep the Audi brand distinct from the Volkswagen brand, but it wasn’t successful until a more pronounced differentiation was initiated in the early 1980s.

In 1985, Audi made history when a Sport Quattro S1 rally car equipped with DCT won the Pikes Peak hill climb.
History of Audi cars

Daimler AG

In 1926, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie formally merged, forming Daimler-Benz AG. Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft was founded by Gottfried Daimler while Benz & Cie, founded by Carl Benz.

Both companies agreed that from the actual date of the merger on, each and every car produces in Daimler-Benz factory would use the brand name “Mercedes-Benz”. which was until the only the name of a series of cars from Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft.

For most of its history, Daimler-Benz has been a luxury car and premium truck producer - presented by the Mercedes-Benz brand. In the 1980s, Daimler-Benz started to pursue a strategy of building a technology conglomerate.

Having sold about 4.75 million cars in 2006, Daimler-Benz is one of the biggest car manufacturers throughout the world. In 2007, the company’s name was changed to simply "Daimler AG".
Daimler AG

Mini Cooper in history

Mini, a British icon, was produced by British Motor Corporation (BMC) in 1959. During the Suez crisis and to confront the competition from other car manufacturers in 1956, Lord Leonard from BMC decided to seek help of a car designer and engineer, Sir Alec Issigonis.

In 1957, Alec Issigonis set up small, secretive, long term research department and it was there that the original Mini – ADO 15 – was born.

Original design work began in 1957 full approval for production on two sites – Longbridge (existing Austin plant) and Cowley (The Morris plant) – came in mid 1958, and the new Austin and Mini-badged 848 CC versions were launched simultaneously in August 1959.

The name Mini was sued for the first time in 1961. The debut of the sporty Cooper version in July 1961, developed by racer John Cooper, and its subsequent motorsports victories were major factors toward increasing interest in the mini.

In 1961, it was renamed Austin Mini, and eight years later in 1969 – ten years after the first Mini rolled off the production line - the Mini became a marquee on its own right.

When the classic Mini production stopped in 2000, BMW announced a Mini replacement.

Since its launch in 2001, BMW’s modern Mini has become the pinnacle of small yet funky family cars in the premium small car segment.
Mini Cooper in history

British Leyland Motor Corporation

Leyland, one of the country’s leading bus and truck manufacturers, expanded into the car business by pursuing the strategy, used by William Morris to build his motor empire in the 1930’s of purchasing financially troubled companies.

Since the Second World War, Leyland had been growing through acquisition. Its core business was in commercial vehicles. It had purchased Albion in 1951, Scammell in 1955, AEC, Thorneycroft, Park Royal and Charles Roe in 1962, Bristol Commercial Vehicles in 1965, and finally Aveling Barford in 1967.

In 1952, the British Motor Corporation (BMC) appeared as a result of merger between Austin and Morris. Soon BMC, joined forces with Jaguar to form British Motor Holdings.

All major British-owned brands were owned by Leyland and BMC. The government then encourages Leyland and BMC to merge, convinced that scale was essential for long term survival.

On January 1968 the formation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) was announced. BLMC became the only indigenously owned British producer of mass-maker cars and offered a wide range of niche market models, commercial vehicles, and nonautomotive products.

During the 1970s the Corporation was badly affected by an ageing product range, increasing foreign competition, indifferent management and very poor relations.

In 1975 British Leyland was effectively bankrupt and was saved from liquidation only by a state takeover.
British Leyland Motor Corporation

Morris Motor Company

The two seater Morris Oxford was announced at the 1912 Motor Show and the car first appeared in March 1913.

William Morris starting with the repair of bicycles, he branched out into selling them. Then he progressed to motorcycles, before to the sale and hire of motorcars.

The Morris Motor Company was started in 1910 when he turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car.

A factory was opened in 1913 in a former military college at Crowley, Oxford, United Kingdom and the company’s first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford ‘Bullnose’ was introduced.

Morris bought almost all the parts from various producers, with only final assembly being undertaken in the Morris works.

The only part that was his design was the ‘face’ of the car, the so-called bull-nosed radiator. In a year, he sold more than 1000 cars. In 1921, Morris Company countered a serious slump in the motor trade by reducing the prices of the car, but always competitive, the company doubles the production each year.

Production boomed in the 1920s and Morris became a millionaire.

After 1923 and until 1950s, Morris started purchasing the suppliers, the Birmingham engineering work of Wrigley, one of his main competitors, the Wolseley Motor, the S.U Carburetter Co and the Coventry firm.

By 1925, Morris produced 67,000 cars, more than one-third of the country’s car output.

Morris named ceased to appear on motorcars after 1983 when Morris Motors was part of British Leyland, but the MG (Morris Garages) badge has survived under British Leyland’s successor , Rover Cars.
Morris Motor Company

History of Maserati

Maserati is one of the most evocative names in the marketplace. Mid 19th century Europe was the era of the railway train and in the medieval city of Piacenza a few miles north of Modena, Rodolfo Maserati, a young engineer working with the railways met and married Carolina Losi.

Shortly afterward they moved to Voghera and raised a large family of seven boys, six of whom survived childhood. The brothers’’ names were Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore, Ernesto and Mario.

All of the Maserati brothers, expect for Mario, were interested in mechanics and engineering.

The oldest son, Carlo had a fascination for anything mechanical, particularly if it happened to have wheels. He was apprenticed to a bicycle factory in Affori. At the age of 17 he had designed a single cylinder engine for bicycles; in other words, a motorcycle.

In 1901, Carlo found work with the Italian carmaker, Fiat. Later, he went to work for Isotta Fraschini, He even convinced his new employer to hire his 16 year old brother, Alfieri. Carlo and Alfieri served as test-drivers and technicians.

Maserati was founded by Alfieri and his brothers in December 1914; the company built only race cars.  They named their company Societa Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati.

The Maserati brothers started out fine-tuning Isotta Fraschini engines for racing.  They were known for designing and racing cars for other companies.

The first car with the Maserati name was built in 1926. This race car was called the TIpo 26, Alfieri drove the Tipo 26 in a road race called Raga Florio.

Through the takeover by the Adolfo Orsi family in 1937, Maserati continued to build only race cars. It was not until 1947 that the first sports car was introduce, the A6. In 1958, Maserati introduced their first large-scale production model, the beautiful 3500 GT coupe.

Since 1993, Fiat has owned Maserati.
History of Maserati

The Austin Motor Company

The Austin Motor Company was formed in the summer of 1905 as a private company under the ownership of Herbert Austin with an initial capitalization of £11,000. In November that year he moved his factory into the former premises of White and Pike printing works at Longbridge site near Birmingham.

Austin first displayed his cars in public in 1912 at the motor show, where he criticized the authorities for their lack of discrimination in favor of British manufacturers. In the first year of production the company produced 120 cars 1nd by 1939 it was producing over 75,000 cats at the Longbridge..

The most famous car produced by Austin Motor Company was The Austin Seven. It was unveiled in 1922, quickly became the best selling model in Great Britain and continued in production until 1939.

The company initially produced unprofitable cars in small numbers but for the first time registered a profit of £41,130 on turnover of more than £400,000 in 1913.

In 1952, Austin Motor Company merged with Morris Minor Limited to form new holding company British Motor Corporation. The government approved the merger a being in the public interest. It was expected to lower production costs through achieving economies of scale.
The Austin Motor Company

History of Ferrari

At age 20 Enzo Ferrari trying several jobs, he moved to Milan and ended up working with company that built CNM automobiles. They gave him his first shot at driving a race car in a hillclimb near Parma.

With the help of a friend and on the strength of his growing reputation as a driver, he eventually landed to a seat on the Alfa Romeo team and Ferrari got off to a good start, finishing second in 1920 in the difficult Targa Florio in Sicily.

Enzo Ferrari had founded Scuderia Ferrari in 1928 in Maranello, Italy, and the team quickly became noted for its racing cars.

After having worked at Alfa Romeo for 10 years, during which he ran the company’s racing department under Scuderia Ferrari banner, Enzo Ferrari left Portello in 1939 due to continual disagreements with the directorship, in particular the new technical boss, Spaniard Wilfredo Ricart.

Enzo Ferrari’s separation terms for Alfa Romeo prohibited him from building a car bearing his name for four years. Therefore his new car which was built in 1939 named Auto Avio Costruzione.

The first race car was built in the old Scuderia Ferrari workshop in Modena. In 1945 Enzo Ferrari began to warm the idea of building a car that would finally carry his own name.

A good ‘agitator of men’, as he liked to define himself, Ferrari resumed contact with some his Alfa colleagues, including technician Giuseppe Busso, test driver Luigi Bazzi and designer Gioachino Colombo.

On May 11, 1947, the very first car bearing the Ferrari name appeared in public in Italy.

By 1948, the Ferrari factory was producing a small number of twelve-cylinder competition models.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Ferrari continued to build on the company’s reputation as the most exclusive sports car manufacturer in the world.

The last car create under Ferrari’s control was the F40. Ferrari died at the age of 90.
History of Ferrari

History of Aston Martin

In 1912, when Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford set up their modest mechanical business Bamford and Martin Ltd in Henniker place, Chelsea, it was possible for tiny concerns such as theirs to operate burgeoning motor car manufacturing business. Martin and Bamford met each other while selling cars.

They decided that they wanted to quit selling cars and started making their own.  They added ‘Aston’ to the name for a hill where Lionel Martin raced car.

In 1922, Aston Martin built two cars to compete in the French Grand Prix. The Aston Martin racing team also broke ten world records in 1922. In 1932 an Aston Martin International racing model own the Biennal Cup at Le Mans.

In 1925, Aston Martin displayed its wares at the Olympia Motor Show for the first time. Bamford left soon after war’s end. Martin left in 1925, after production had begun in 1923 and around 50 road cars had been produced, along with some competition specials.

Between 1925 and the outbreak of World War II Aston Martin was kept alive by a string of individuals. Due to financial problems, in 1932, Sutherland bought the company. In 1947, David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin.

It was under David Brown Limited’s leadership that Aston Martin created the world-famous DB series.
History of Aston Martin

Alfa Romeo history

Alfa Romeo was founded on 24 June 1910 as a company called ALFA located near Milan, Italy. ALFA is acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili.

In 1910, the company came out with tis very first car, called the 24 HP. It has four cylinders and a top speed of 62 miles per hour (100 km/h). ALFA made its first racecar, the Corsa in 1911.

1933 Alfa Romeo

The company came under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo in August 1915, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts.

In 1920, ALFA changed its name to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20-30 HP becoming the first car to be badged as such. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Alfa Romeo became known for its racing wins.

In 1950, Alfa Romeo showed the 1900 sports sedan at the Paris Motor Show, this was the first Alfa Romeo built on a production line.

Alfa Romeo began exporting cars to the United States in 1961. The first car to come to the United States was the Giulietta.

Alfa Romeo has been part of the Fiat group since 1986.
Alfa Romeo history

History of Subaru car

Fuji Heavy Industries was one with high technology antecedents. The company can trace its origins back to the second decade of the 20th century, when the company was founded as an aeronautical research laboratory.

Airplane manufacturer Nakajima Hikoki increased production of military airplane during the outbreak of war in Manchuria in 1931 and World War II. It soon became the largest airplane manufacturer in Japan.

With the end of World War II, Nakajima Hikoki was dissolved. Some of its former employees established Fuji Industries which began producing electrical parts and small motors.

Active in the Japanese space programme, the company’s technological expertise was used to design and build the Lunar Lander FTB (Flying Test Bed) for the Japanese Space Agency.

The company launched its first motor car in 1958, which was a mini car with a 360 engine. Subaru 360 a compact car and the production expanded rapidly after 1960.

The Subaru sold nearly 250,000 units of the 360 in its 12 years production run.

Then in May 1966, the company launched a new model, the FF-1, the first mass –produced front wheel drive vehicle in Japan. By 1968 the company was producing 100,000 vehicles annually with exports representing 73 percent of that.

The word Subaru means ‘to gather together.’ The five stars on the logo today represent the five companies uniting to form Fuji Heavy Industries. 

The technological developments continued with launch of the first all-wheel drive vehicle in 1980, a design which has since been the basis for all Subaru drive systems.
History of Subaru car

History of Mazda

Mazda’s true beginning can be traced to 1920 when the Toyo Cork Kyogo Company was founded by Jujiro Matsuda.

As the name suggests the Hiroshima-based from initially concerned itself with cork products, but in the following year, Matsuda saw the need for heavy industrial equipment and he decided to move into the manufacture of machinery.

Matsuda was born in August 1875, and despite being brought up in the fishing trade, developed and early interest in metalworking.

After various other enterprises, Matsuda eventually decided to move into the supply of cork, as the First World War had cut off Japan’s; supply of soft wood from Europe.

In July 1927, the business was renamed the Toyo Kogyo Co Ltd, which roughly translates as the Orient Industry Company. In 1984, it adopted the name Mazda Motor Corp.

Production began in 1931 in a brand-new factory built on a former salt farm, just outside of downtown Hiroshima. The truck was called the Type-DA but when a catchier name was needed, it was christened the Mazda-go.

In 1967, Mazda Motor Company became the world’s first carmaker to manufacture cars with three types of engines, the regular piston engine, a diesel engine and first newly developed Wankel rotary engine.

In the 1970s, Mazda linked up with Ford to help both automobile makers. Mazda has supplied axles and other automotive products to Ford Motors Co.

Mazda has always kept a fairly low profile, with little advertising or promotion and despite obvious talent in its design capability the brand had nearly faded into oblivion by the time it was acquired in 1996 by Ford.
History of Mazda

Business history of Volvo

In 1927, Volvo completed its first automobile, essentially hand –built on an island near Gothenburg. Volvo was founded in August 1926 as a spin off from the Swedish company SKF.

Initially the company was founded in 1915 for the manufacture and marketing of bearings for the automotive industry.

Volvo gradually emerged as a quality produce of durable, affordable but non fancy cars that could be sold in export markets at reasonable prices, at the time because of low Swedish wages.

Volvo managed to become internationally competitive despite its small scale of operations.

During the 1960s, Volvo’s production was far smaller than that regarded by industrial economists internationally as the viable minimum and even the Swedish Treasury refused to support financially Volvo’s attempt to launch its cars in the US market.

By the early 1970s the US Volvo’s largest market. By the mid to late 1990s Volvo had begun to introduce a series of new products that would literally change its image: the S80 luxury sedan, the C70 coupe and convertible, the V70 T5 turbocharged high performance sports-wagon, the S&V40 (new smaller Volvos) and the SUV-like Cross Country all-wheel-drive wagon.

In 1999, Volvo has been acquired by Ford, before to be sold to Chinese Geely in 2010.
Business history of Volvo

Volkswagen

The “Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagen mbH” was founded on 28th May 1937 and the name was changed to “Volkswagenwerk GmbH” in September 1938.

The success was beginning with the intention to provide affordable cars for the German people.

After years of developing further models, acquisitions of other car manufacturers such as Audi and SEAT, and starting international operations, the Volkswagen has become the largest automobile manufacturer in Europe and one of the leading car producers worldwide.

In 1934 Chancellor Hitler commissions the Porsche Design Bureau to build a Volkswagen or People’s Car for less than 1000 Reichsmarks, or USD142.

It was given ten months to complete the work. By 1937 Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, little known designer had built three prototypes and put total of 100,000 miles on the three.

In the same year Hitler announced that the Volkswagen will be both financed and built by the German Reich as a national project.

With the design finalized by 1938, a factory site was chosen in northern Germany, on the bank of the Mitteland Canal, which joins the rivers Rhine and Elbe.

The first Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the assembly line on August 15, 1940, less than a year after World War II started.

Production continued throughout the war, but most resources going to defense factories.

In 1947, the Beetle was first offered to the public. Also in 1947, the Beetle made its first border crossing, when 56 cars were exported to the Netherlands, and made its first appearance American, brought across the Atlantic by a few returning soldiers.

Volkswagen was first imported into the United States in 1949. In 1973, Volkswagen announced that would be marketing its own version of the Audi 80 under the name Passat. The Scirocco was launched in March 1974 and was well received.

It was followed in July that year by the three-door Golf, which was then joined one month later by a five doors version.

Today, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder is the German car manufacturer Porsche with a share of 18.5 percent, while 40 percent are still state owned.
Volkswagen

Morgan Motor Company

By focusing on the values of traditional British, top down, sports car motoring, the Morgan Motor Company has successfully found a way to differentiate itself from all competitors.

At the age of twenty-eight, Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan designed and built his first single-seater three-wheeled experimental car.

By November 1910 the Morgan Motor Company had been formed and the partners made a their first public appearance by exhibiting two different models, both single seaters at the Motor Cycle Show at Olympia, attracting much attention but few orders.

Both men were disappointed and Morgan’s partner decided that was too risky and withdrew. Morgan continued alone, building a few cars to fulfill orders that were received.

After changing to the manufacture of two seat cars with three wheels, sales took off a bit. It quickly became known for its speed, road holding and performance.

With a low retail price of 85 guineas and 69.4 mpg fuel economy, Morgan were well-suited for low-cost transportation and sold fairly well.

The name ‘Morgan’ first became known in racing circles in 1913 when Henry Martin won an International Cyclecar Race.

Later he continues to use the same factory in England’s West Midlands to produce automobiles seemingly unchanged from those produce before World War II.

From the start it was very much a family business, with Morgan’s sister Dorothy a regular entrant in reliability trials and gaining many first class awards in a Morgan three-wheeler.

In 1912, the company became the Morgan Motor Company Ltd and made a small but significant profit of £1314.
Morgan Motor Company

History of Ford Motor

History of Ford Motor
Henry Ford (1863 – 1947) stands alone as a lone visionary personally responsible for the creation of the automobile industry in America.

A self trained mechanic with a lifelong disdain of experts with university degrees, Ford built his firsts automobile in 1893, and a decade later he founded the Ford Motor Company.

He intended to produce “the car for the great attitude,” and to do he had to harmonies mass production with mass consumption. Ford was not the first manufacturer to use interchangeable parts or to run an assembly line, but in his quest to produce an inexpensive and standardized product he perfected assembly line production techniques.

The result proved dramatic. In 1908, before he introduced the assembly line, Ford made 10,607 Model Ts – the “Tin Lizzie” – which he sold for $850 each. He shifted to an assembly line in 1913, and production quickly rose to 300,000 cars a year.

In 1916 he sold 730,041 Model Ts for $360 each, and in 1924 he produced two million of the cars retailing at $290 each. A total of fifteen million Model Ts rolled out of Ford plants before production ceased in 1927.

Prior to Ford, it took over twelve hours to assemble a car. By contrast his first assembly line turned out a model T every 93 minutes, and by 1927 Ford was making a Model T every 24 seconds.

The Ford Motor Company became not only the word’s largest automobile manufacturer but the world’s largest industrial enterprise.
History of Ford Motor