page_title: Vauxhall Motors
section_title: Foundation to 1925
hierarchical_section_title: Vauxhall Motors / History / Foundation to 1925
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. So fuhr man vor 35 Jahren! Alte und neue Zeit. Ein Automobil aus dem Jahre 1895 und eine moderne Luxus-Limousine unserer Zeit bei einer Fahrt durch die Strassen Londons. So you drove 35 years ago! Old and new times. A car from 1895 and a modern luxury sedan of our time on a ride through the streets of London. The second vehicle is a 1930 or 1931 model Vauxhall Westminster seven-seater limousine (i.e. with a division between the driver and his passengers)
context_page_description: Vauxhall Motors Limited is a British Automobile manufacturer, subsidiary of French car manufacturer Groupe PSA and based in Chalton, Bedfordshire, England.
  Vauxhall's vehicle lineup is identical to that of Opel, but the Vauxhall brand is exclusively used in the UK. Vauxhall is one of the oldest established vehicle manufacturers and distribution companies in the United Kingdom.
  Vauxhall sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles under the Vauxhall marque, and formerly sold vans, buses, and trucks under the Bedford Vehicles brand. Vauxhall has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for more than two decades.
  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; he named the company Vauxhall Iron Works. It began manufacturing cars in 1903. It was acquired by American automaker General Motors in 1925. Bedford Vehicles was established as a subsidiary of Vauxhall in 1930 to manufacture commercial vehicles.
  It was a luxury car brand until it was bought by General Motors who thereafter built mid-market offerings.
context_section_description: Scottish marine engineer Alexander Wilson founded the company at 90–92 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, London, in 1857. 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. 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.  A 1903 model was entered in the London to Brighton car run in 2018.
  To expand, the company moved the majority of its production to Luton in 1905. The company continued to trade under the name Vauxhall Iron Works until 1907, when the modern name of Vauxhall Motors was adopted. 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 22, 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.
  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 and 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 three-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 derated 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. In spite of making good cars, expensive pedigree cars of the kind that had served the company well in the prosperous prewar years were no longer in demand; the company struggled to make a consistent profit and Vauxhall looked for a major strategic partner.
caption: Oldest surviving Vauxhall, delivered in November 1903[14]
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