As the source of the world industrial revolution, Britain has produced many well-known automobile brands and once became the most competitive country in the global automobile field. However, after years of tempering, most of the beautiful brands have closed down, and some well-known automobile brands, such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, MG and MINI, have been acquired by foreign investors. Among the many declining British car brands, one brand we have to mention is? TVR？ . As early as 1946, a 20-year-old boy named Tr evo r Wilkinson was born in Blackpool, England, and saved money to buy a building called? Willett? Did the garage change its name? Trey Fuka Motor Company? , this is? TVR？ The predecessor of.
At the beginning of creation? Tr evo r car? There are only nine employees including founder Trevor Wilkinson, so the production capacity is limited. 1947, Trevor Wilkinson made a two-seater sports car using the chassis of British Alves car, which was inspected in the second year and officially produced in the third year. However, the limited production capacity makes it possible to produce only the same type of car. But it is such a small factory that reached a state of balance of payments in the seventh year after its establishment, which made the founder Trevor Wilkinson more confident. At the same time, at the suggestion of partner Jac k Pickard, the company changed its name to? TVR project? .
Under the leadership of Trevor Wilkinson, TVR has made seven models with four engines from suppliers such as Ford and BMC. These engines are basically engines with displacement less than 2L and maximum power100 p s horsepower. In the mid-1960s, Trevor Wilkinson sold the company to Martin Lilly. Since then, TVR's Tuscan models have basically used Ford's V6 3.0L naturally aspirated engine, and the performance of 0- 100km/h was 8.3 seconds, which was quite excellent at that time. Just then, an American car dealer named Jacques K. Griffith found TVR. He wants to customize a sports car with V8 4.7L naturally aspirated engine and name it? Griffith? After that, TVR was officially introduced into the American market.
Since then, TVR has been developing steadily. Until 1980s, TVR wanted to challenge the status of traditional Italian supercars, so under the leadership of the new manager of TVR, Peter Wheeler, they began to develop their own engines. Based on the Rover V8 engine, they built a car called? AJP8？ This series of engines were produced by TVR in 1997 and have been used in Cerbera and Tuscan series since 1990s. Speed six? The entry model of. This move is a risky thing for TVR. After all, the annual profit is not enough to support the research and development of engines. At this point, TVR can only continue to develop cautiously.
TVR in the 1990s seems to have been helped by the times, and people like bold and avant-garde design more and more. At this time, TVR has brought customization and innovation to the extreme, and many of its models have won the appreciation of the industry, known as? English ghost? . But the temporary glory doesn't mean anything. TVR can't resist the fatal blow brought by the economic crisis in the new century. In 2004, Russian rich second generation Nikolai Smolenski bought TVR, and then invested a lot of money to start developing Sagaris and Tuscan 2, but this move could not change the impact of the British economic crisis. In the same year, TVR's Cerbera model and independent V8 engine were discontinued, and the factory in Blackpool was closed two years later. Since then, TVR has not launched new models, and finally announced that TVR was completely discontinued in July 20 12.
Comments: Although British entrepreneur Les Edgar bought TVR on 20 13, TVR has not declared bankruptcy so far, but in recent years, TVR has not made any big moves, and one or two new cars released have not been mass-produced. It seems that the road to the revival of TVR is not easy.
Mercury (1935 -20 10 year)
I believe that when it comes to the brand of Mercury, 60% people will feel strange. In fact, its status in the United States can be said to be very high, especially in? Muscle car? In the era of fashion. 1935, Mercury was built by edsel? Founded by Ford, it belongs to the mid-to high-end automobile brand of Ford Motor Company. It turns out that Mercury is not a car brand, but a department of Ford, which is mainly responsible for market research and competitive product analysis. It was not until 1938 that the first model of Mercury was born and named Mercury 8. Once listed, it was snapped up, and the annual sales volume actually reached 60,000 units!
In the history of Mercury, there are many classic models, such as Cougar, Grand Marquis, and especially Cougar, which often appear in many American movies and can be described as the representative models of American muscle cars. In fact, in the 1990s, Mercury was once brilliant, because many models were introduced at that time, and 1993 created an annual sales volume of 500,000 units!
In the new century, the development of Mercury has become extremely difficult, and fewer and fewer models have been launched. Moreover, due to Ford's unified platform strategy, the differences between models have become smaller and smaller, and Mercury has gradually lost its own characteristics. Until 20 10, the annual sales volume of Mercury was only over 80,000 units, and its share in the American market was even less than 1%! So in June of the same year, Ford announced that it would close the production line of Mercury at the end of the year.
Comments: If you know a little about Ford's history, you will find that Mercury Puma and Ford Mustang actually use the same platform, which is why they are so famous. But relying too much on Ford's technology and platform, Mercury finally lost its character and fell into a trough.
Expand the remaining full text (1/5) 2 Hummer/Pontiac Pontiac Hummer (1992 -20 10)
As we all know, Hummer H2 is a very tough car in the hearts of fans, and there are also many modification enthusiasts in Japan who will modify this car even more! But you may not know that Hummer can be traced back to 1983 at the earliest. At that time, it was a special model for the US military, not called Hummer, but called HMMWV. Until 1992, Am General Motors introduced a civilian version of the car and named it Hummer. Because of its excellent off-road performance and rough appearance, it is also called "Hummer" by fans. King of cross-country Seven years later, GM obtained the right to use the trademark and the right to produce Hummer from Am General.
Since 1999 Hummer officially became a brand of GM, GM began to develop and produce Hummer H 1, H2 and H3 models that we are familiar with now. The first Hummer H 1 model followed the appearance of the military HMMWV, and its original intention was not for civilian use, but to meet the needs of the US military in harsh operations. The US military requires that the service life of this vehicle can reach 13 years when it is fully loaded! With superior dynamic performance and durability, it can be applied to almost all special roads!
After Hummer H 1 was born, in 2003, GM began to produce the civilian version of Hummer and launched Hummer H2. Different from the oversize and simple configuration of the military Hummer H 1, the original intention of Hummer H2 is to reduce the size and improve the configuration of a family car driving on ordinary roads, which is more suitable for daily use. In 2005, GM introduced two versions of Hummer H2 SUT pickup truck and Hummer SUV.
In the same year, GM introduced the Hummer H3 model, which is positioned below H2, smaller in size and more affordable. Hummer H3 is a general canyon pickup truck produced on the same platform. In addition to retaining the design style of Hummer, smaller body size and better fuel economy make Hummer H3 more in line with market demand. Although Hummer is favored by some off-road enthusiasts, it still has no good market performance due to its niche, high price and high fuel consumption. Until the global financial crisis in 2008, GM itself was in a difficult situation, but in desperation, it pushed its Hummer brand to the brink of bankruptcy. Two years later, the brand disappeared completely.
Comments: Although in 20 10, Sichuan Tengzhong wanted to acquire Hummer brand, the acquisition failed because of its special market positioning and extreme design intent. At present, the second-hand market still occasionally encounters Hummer H2, but it is just a big toy for the rich.
Pontiac Pontiac (1899 -2009)
1899 set up a small factory specializing in the production of auto parts in the United States. This small factory is the predecessor of Pontiac. It was not until 1907 that this small factory officially produced cars. After just two years of automobile production, 1909 was wholly-owned by General Motors Group and officially became a brand of General Motors, with a slightly higher positioning than Chevrolet. However, after Pontiac joined GM, he did not produce his own cars at first, but helped GM produce other brands of cars. It was not until 1926 that the first Pontiac car was officially produced.
After years of running-in and development with General Motors, Pontiac was formally established in 1950s. High-end sports car? At the same time, the earliest Indian head logo was changed into a classic arrow logo. And then it happened in the United States in the 1960s? Muscle car? Popular, Pontiac has also introduced many classic models that everyone is familiar with now, including GTO and Firebird. Until the end of 1960s, the total sales volume of Pontiac reached 6.5438+0.5 million, ranking third in the United States!
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, Pontiac was affected by the global oil crisis and had to start its transformation. Instead of focusing on large-size and high-displacement muscle cars, they devoted themselves to the small and medium-sized family car market, and even produced a car with a minimum displacement of 1.4L at one time. The second generation Firebird was born during this period, with a maximum displacement of 2.5L.
Pontiac slowly reached the bottom after the global oil crisis. Pontiac lost its common platform strategy after 1990? Soul? After that, except for the slightly different logo and appearance, the power and interior of the models produced are almost the same as other GM brands. In 2009, due to the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, GM had to apply for bankruptcy protection from the US government and announced that it would cancel the Pontiac brand. At the same time, it was announced that Hummer and SAAB were also cancelled. A year later, General Motors Group only retained four brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, and Pontiac, a classic brand with a history of 100 years, officially closed down!
Comments: Pontiac is a tough guy in Need for Speed series games. Whether it is GTO or Firebird, it is the dream car for everyone who plays Need for Speed.
3 TVR/ upper TVR of Mercury (1946-2012)
As the source of the world industrial revolution, Britain has produced many well-known automobile brands and once became the most competitive country in the global automobile field. However, after years of tempering, most of the beautiful brands have closed down, and some well-known automobile brands, such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, MG and MINI, have been acquired by foreign investors. Among the many declining British car brands, one brand we have to mention is? TVR？ . As early as 1946, a 20-year-old boy named Tr evo r Wilkinson was born in Blackpool, England, and saved money to buy a building called? Willett? Did the garage change its name? Trey Fuka Motor Company? , this is? TVR？ The predecessor of.
At the beginning of creation? Tr evo r car? There are only nine employees including founder Trevor Wilkinson, so the production capacity is limited. 1947, Trevor Wilkinson made a two-seater sports car using the chassis of British Alves car, which was inspected in the second year and officially produced in the third year. However, the limited production capacity makes it possible to produce only the same type of car. But it is such a small factory that reached a state of balance of payments in the seventh year after its establishment, which made the founder Trevor Wilkinson more confident. At the same time, at the suggestion of partner Jac k Pickard, the company changed its name to? TVR project? .
Under the leadership of Trevor Wilkinson, TVR has made seven models with four engines from suppliers such as Ford and BMC. These engines are basically engines with displacement less than 2L and maximum power100 p s horsepower. In the mid-1960s, Trevor Wilkinson sold the company to Martin Lilly. Since then, TVR's Tuscan models have basically used Ford's V6 3.0L naturally aspirated engine, and the performance of 0- 100km/h was 8.3 seconds, which was quite excellent at that time. Just then, an American car dealer named Jacques K. Griffith found TVR. He wants to customize a sports car with V8 4.7L naturally aspirated engine and name it? Griffith? After that, TVR was officially introduced into the American market.
Since then, TVR has been developing steadily. Until 1980s, TVR wanted to challenge the status of traditional Italian supercars, so under the leadership of Peter Wheeler, the new manager of TVR, it began to develop its own engine. Based on the Rover V8 engine, they made a model called? AJP8？ This series of engines were produced by TVR in 1997 and have been used in Cerbera and Tuscan series since 1990s. Speed six? The entry model of. This move is a risky thing for TVR. After all, the annual profit is not enough to support the research and development of engines. At this point, TVR can only continue to develop cautiously.
TVR in the 1990s seems to have been helped by the times, and people like bold and avant-garde design more and more. At this time, TVR has brought customization and innovation to the extreme, and many of its models have won the appreciation of the industry, known as? English ghost? . But the temporary glory doesn't mean anything. TVR can't resist the fatal blow brought by the economic crisis in the new century. In 2004, Russian rich second generation Nikolai smolenski bought TVR, and then invested a lot of money to start developing Sa garis and Tuscany 2, but this move could not change the impact of the British economic crisis. In the same year, TVR's Cerbera model and independent V8 engine were discontinued, and the factory in Blackpool was closed two years later. Since then, TVR has not launched new models, and finally announced that TVR was completely discontinued in July 20 12.
Comments: Although British entrepreneur Les Edgar bought TVR on 20 13, TVR has not declared bankruptcy so far, but in recent years, TVR has not made any big moves, and one or two new cars released have not been mass-produced. It seems that the road to the revival of TVR is not easy.
Mercury (1935 -20 10 year)
I believe that when it comes to the brand of Mercury, 60% people will feel strange. In fact, its status in the United States can be said to be very high, especially in? Muscle car? In the era of fashion. 1935, Mercury was built by edsel? Founded by Ford, it belongs to the mid-to high-end automobile brand of Ford Motor Company. It turns out that Mercury is not a car brand, but a department of Ford, which is mainly responsible for market research and competitive product analysis. It was not until 1938 that the first model of Mercury was born and named Mercury 8. Once listed, it was snapped up, and the annual sales volume actually reached 60,000 units!
In the history of Mercury, there are many classic models, such as Cougar, Grand Marquis, and especially Cougar, which often appear in many American movies and can be described as the representative models of American muscle cars. In fact, in the 1990s, Mercury was once brilliant, because many models were introduced at that time, and 1993 created an annual sales volume of 500,000 units!
In the new century, the development of Mercury has become extremely difficult, and fewer and fewer models have been launched. Moreover, due to Ford's unified platform strategy, the differences between models have become smaller and smaller, and Mercury has gradually lost its own characteristics. Until 20 10, the annual sales volume of Mercury was only over 80,000 units, and its share in the American market was even less than 1%! So in June of the same year, Ford announced that it would close the production line of Mercury at the end of the year.
Comments: If you know a little about Ford's history, you will find that Mercury Puma and Ford Mustang actually use the same platform, which is why they are so famous. But relying too much on Ford's technology and platform, Mercury finally lost its character and fell into a trough.
4 Land Rover Land Rover/Plymouth Backtop Land Rover Land Rover (1887 -2005)
Speaking of Rover, I don't think many people know it, but speaking of SAIC Roewe, I believe most people in China are very familiar with it, yes! SAIC Roewe's predecessor was Rover in England. As early as 1887, John? Kemp. Starry and Sutton founded the Rover brand, but the original Rover made bicycles and didn't officially produce cars until 1904. Rover's first car was named Rover 8. Although it used a single cylinder 1.3L engine with the maximum power of 8Ps, it was already very strong at that time. Once released, it was sought after by fans, and the total sales reached 2 100 units!
With the best-selling of Rover 8, Rover officially entered the development period and easily passed World War I and World War II. Such tenacious vitality is rare in the automotive field. Rover not only survived World War II, but also founded the famous? Land rover? Brand, the first Land Rover model is based on Rover P3. Then, at 1958, the model that really brought Rover to the peak was Rover P5, which was comparable in brand awareness and value to Rolls-Royce. For this reason, Queen Elizabeth II and the Vatican Pope and other dignitaries have chosen Rover P5 as their own cars!
As the saying goes? The wind and water turn around? In the 1960 s, the crisis of the rover slowly appeared. With the abolition of high tariffs in Britain, Rover has been strongly impacted and competed by a large number of foreign automobile brands. In order to get rid of the predicament, the British government integrated many mainstream automobile brands, which also made the then brands such as MG, Rover, Triumph and Jaguar merge into Leland Automobile and become a new automobile joint group. Unfortunately, this practice did not get Rover out of trouble. After all, the price of a Land Rover abroad is extremely high, and the British currency is surprisingly strong, which makes the British automobile industry gradually enter a trough.
In the late 1970s, Rover also cooperated with Honda to launch three economical family cars. However, the bid change made Rover fail to seize this opportunity, but continued to decline. Until 1994, BMW officially acquired Rover, and then BMW vigorously promoted Rover and launched Rover 25, 45 and 75 models, but after all, it was desperate and did not make Rover better. Instead, BMW was once caught in a development dilemma!
Comments: In 2005, Rover declared bankruptcy, and its two brands, MG and Rover, were acquired by Nanjing Automobile. Soon after, Nanqi was acquired by SAIC. Because of the right to use commercial standards, SAIC can only use it? Roewe Roewe? This brand is sold in China.
Plymouth Plymouth (1927-2001) 2065438+00 When I was a university student in England, I once went to Plymouth, a famous British port city, and instantly found that the name of this city was the same as that of a brand owned by Chrysler Automobile Company of the United States. As a result, the local people told me that there is indeed some connection between the two. The thing is, a long time ago, a group of people came to America by boat from Plymouth port in England. After returning to the United States, one of them set up a car company called Plymouth, and the company's trademark also used the sailing boat he was riding at that time.
PLYMOUTH was founded in 1927, and it is positioned between Chrysler and Dodge in order to occupy more market share. In the second year after its establishment, it produced the first model. Its four-cylinder engine has excellent power performance and has been favored by many consumers once it is launched. Subsequently, Plymouth automobile entered a stage of steady development, and many classic models were born, the most famous of which was Plymouth Valiant, which came out in 1959. This model was the exclusive car of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling!
1983, the former Chrysler automobile company produced the first station wagon in Canada, which was Plymouth Jielong, the originator of Chrysler Jielong model. This car was strongly sought after by local consumers in the United States as soon as it went on the market. In the first year, the total sales of two station wagons of Dodge Caravan actually reached 265,438+00,000! Although the United States was experiencing an economic crisis at that time, Jerome did make an indelible contribution to the rise of Chrysler Automobile Company.
With the changes of the times, Plymouth models are not so popular. From 65438 to 0995, Chrysler invested a lot of money to save the Plymouth brand, but no matter how to modify the trademark, launch a special model of Prowler, or carefully design, it could not change the downward trend of the Plymouth brand. Until 1999, Chrysler's loss made the group uneasy. For the sake of future planning and development, in 2002, Chrysler announced the cancellation of Plymouth brand, but Plymouth owners will still enjoy maintenance services.
Comments: Plymouth brand is not well-known in China, but Chrysler's Grand Jetron and Prowler have been sold in China for some time. For Plymouth, it was once brilliant, but it was too short to be eliminated.
5 Saturn Saturn/Daewoo Saturn Earth Planet (1982 -2009)
In the early 1980s, in order to resist the impact of Japanese cars on the American auto market, General Motors established Saturn brand in Tennessee. This brand has a strong pertinence and a clear positioning, which is to produce small economical cars with the most advanced design, technology and quality of General Motors Group. After eight years of research and development and design, Saturn was officially put into production on 1990, and the first car was officially launched the following year.
Although Saturn has only survived for 27 years, it is precisely because it has no historical burden that the brand is easy to develop and serves the market demand with the most advanced design and technology. Such a move seems to imitate the production concept of many Japanese brands. 1993, Saturn became the top ten best-selling models in the American auto market, and in the same year, J.D.Power ranked third in the new car quality survey! Second only to Lexus and finidi, England, it tied for the first place with Lexus in the evaluation of 1997!
However, the good times did not last long. Saturn, which was still in full swing in the late 1990s, was almost destroyed because of insufficient support. At that time, General Motors Group focused on its Buick brand models, and then Saturn encountered financial problems, and sales were getting worse and worse! As a result, it was too late for GM to respond. Saturn brand did not wait for GM's exclusive revival plan, and announced to give up Saturn brand in 2009.
Comments: As a brand that specializes in countering Japanese brand models, Saturn has completed its mission, and it is really a smash hit in just 27 years.
Daewoo Daewoo (1967-2000; 2002 -20 1 1 year)
After talking about so many car brands that were once very popular, they are basically European and American brands. Finally, the brand I want to talk about is a Korean car company, but it is somewhat similar to Spyker. This Korean car brand has also gone bankrupt twice. The owner of the second bankruptcy is the same as that of many brands above. They are all General Motors Group, and this brand is Daewoo.
As early as 1967, Jin Yuzhong established Shinhan Company, which was later renamed as Xinjin Company, and was officially renamed as daewoo motor Company in 1983. At that time, daewoo motor Company was the second largest automobile manufacturer in Korea, second only to Hyundai Motor Company, with an annual output of over 600,000 vehicles. Daewoo has been in close contact with the American General Motors Group from the beginning, and cooperated in the production of cars, trucks and buses. As early as 1984, Daewoo exported cars to the American market. Until 1997, South Korea's economic crisis was imminent, and Daewoo Group was also shattered, and it was officially declared bankrupt at the end of 2000.
In the second year after bankruptcy, General Motors Group wholly acquired Daewoo brand and established General daewoo motor Company in Hancheng, South Korea. After Daewoo became a brand of GM, it produced Chevrolet and Buick. Labeling? Cars, this move also makes the brand DAEWOO go to the second trough.
Like this? Labeling? The behavior lasted until 20 1 1, and then GM decided to cancel the Daewoo brand and not sell it locally in Korea? Labeling? Car, but put its Chevrolet and Buick into the Korean market, and in Seoul? General daewoo motor Company? Also officially renamed as? General Motors Korea Company? Since then, the Daewoo brand has completely withdrawn from the historical stage.
Comments: the success of Daewoo brand lies in serving most consumers who need cars, and its excellent market performance has also enabled General Motors of the United States to find commercial machines and put its own Chevrolet and Buick? OEM? The behavior of sales also laid the groundwork for the decline of Daewoo.
In short, these brands may not appear again, but I believe they will be remembered. Classic is like this, you can not only copy, but also forget. They have all been brilliant, and they can't avoid being eliminated, but they have all been very popular and are destined to make many valuable contributions to the development of the global automobile industry. (Text: Yang Zhen)
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