Bedford Vehicles

### Fate

Renamed to *AWD Trucks* in 1987, most products were discontiniued in 1992, with the last remaining one being re-branded as a Vauxhall, and it was discontiniued in 1998, the company's assets were later used to form IBC Vehicles.

**Bedford Vehicles** or just simply **Bedford** was a commerical vehicles manufacterer that was owned by Vauxhall Motors, which then was a subsidiary of General Motors. The company was established in 1932, although Chevrolet trucks were built in Britain as early as 1921. Bedford also exported many vehicles all over the world and was overall a very succesful truck company, although by the early 1980s, most of the company's products were seen as outdated, but were very affordable and reliable so sales remained good.

In 1987 the company was renamed to **AWD Trucks**, however the *Bedford* name was still used on all the company's commerical vehicles. In 1992 most of the company's products were discontiniued, and the only vehicle that was still in production was the Bedford TJ, however, by that time it was renamed to the Vauxhall Type J. It's production lasted until 1998, when all Bedford vehicles were re-branded as Vauxhalls.

Currently, Vauxhall still produces commerical vehicles, but is now owned by PSA Peugeot Citroën, who is owned by Stellantis.

## History

In 1921 General Motors opened a factory in Luton to assemble to Chevrolet vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Series 490 passenger vehicles and trucks. These GM passenger vehicles did saw some success in Britain, mostly as staff cars, but trucks were overall more popular, so in 1925 all passenge vehicle production was cut off and the plant focused only on trucks. In 1932 the factory was severly modernized and renamed to *Bedford Vehicles*.

The first vehicle produced by the company was the Bedford WS truck, which was basically a re-skinned GM truck but with a more comfortable cab and modernized interior. Compared to other vehicles by Leyland or Karrier, it was much more fuel efficient and much faster since it had an American engine, which made a lot more power than these other trucks.

Production of the WS trucks lasted until 1939, when it was finally discontiniued. In 1935 the company had already started producing the newer Bedford M-Series trucks which were a completely independent design and the Bedford HC light truck which started getting produced in 1938. When the Second World War started taking place the company started producing the Bedford QL and the Bedford O-Series trucks for use by the British military, and for export to other allied countries.

Production of the M-Series re-started in 1948 and the production of the Bedford O-Series trucks continiued, along with the Bedford HC light trucks. In 1950 the production of the Bedford S Type trucks started, which were based on the 1950s Chevrolet COE trucks. In 1952 the company started producing the Bedford CA light trucks, as a replacement for the HC ones, and in 1953 the production of the legendary Bedford TA started, the TA (like the S Type trucks) was based on a GM truck, specifically the Chevrolet Advance Design truck.

By that time over 700,000 Bedford trucks had been built and sold which made the company the most popular brand of trucks in Britain. In 1958 the Bedford TA trucks were modernized as the Bedford TJ trucks and in 1959 the S Type trucks were replaced by the Bedford TK.

By that time the company was exporting vehicles to various countries such as Greece, Ireland, South Africa, Portugal and some were even exported to China. Production of Bedford trucks had also started in India by Hindustan Motors and in Pakistan by Iran Khodro.

All Bedford trucks were produced in large numbers and the most popular one was the Bedford TK, with over 20,000 units being built and sold in 1962. Some months later, the company started producing the Bedford HA light trucks which were lighter than the Bedford CA and were seen as a spiritual successor to the Bedford HC. Bedford trucks were also largely used by the military. From 1961 to 1968 Bedford trucks were also built in Argentina from knock-down kits. In 1968 the company started producing the Bedford KM truck which was a more heavy-duty version of the Bedford TK truck. The company also started producing a number of buses.

In 1969 the Bedford CA was discontiniued and replaced by the newer Bedford CF range of light trucks which competed directly with the now market leading Ford Transit and so were not very succesful. The tooling for the CF light trucks was also used in 1970 by General Motors to create the third generation of the Chevrolet Van light trucks. Some reasons that the CF was not very succesful is that it used the engine of the Vauxhall Victor which consumed a lot of fuel and that it was not very reliable.

The more modernized CF 2 light truck used the more reliable engine from the Opel Ascona, and that slightly boosted sales. In Australia, Holden (a GM subsidiary) started assembling CF light trucks with modernized engines to compete with the Australian version of the Ford Transit which also had a changed, modernized engine than the one that was sold elsewhere.

In 1975 the company started producing the Bedford Chevanne, based on the Vauxhall Chevette, which was released a few months before, that was the company's smallet product. Bedford trucks continiued to be popular even during the 1980s, but by that time, the only products that the company offered were the Bedford TJ, the Bedford TK, the Bedford HA and the Bedford CF commerical vehicles, all of which were pretty outdated by that time. In 1982 the company started producing the Bedford TL truck, which was based on the Bedford TK but had an upgraded exterior, some months later the Bedford HA stopped getting produced. By that time the company did not get any serious investment and the vehicles were getting increasingly outdated and soon they were beaten in popularity and sales by other truck brands, such as Volvo, MAN and Mercedes-Benz.

The Bedford TM was the largest Bedford truck with payloads up to 42 tons, that was a popular truck, but was still beaten by other brands such as Volvo and Scania, on which it could not compete much with. A major blow came when Bedford failed to win a UK Ministry of Defence contract to produce the standard 4–ton 4x4 GS (general service) truck for the British forces, although in extensive tests the Bedford candidate had been the equal of the Leyland (later Leyland DAF) candidate, and the British Army expressed a preference to continue the trusted relationship with Bedford trucks.

The reasons for this decision were seen by many as political, as the Army 4–tonner contract was seen by the Thatcher government as essential for the long-term survival of Leyland, and the formation of Leyland DAF. The implications of the decision were also noted by GM in Detroit, who had already been refused permission to buy the Land Rover division of British Leyland, which they had intended to operate in tandem with the Bedford Truck division as a major force in the military and civilian 4x4 market.

In 1980 the company started producing the Bedford Midi which was based on the Isuzu Fargo and in 1986 the company started producing the Bedford Rascal, which was based on the Suzuki Carry, but production of the older Bedford trucks also continiued.

Nevertheless, sales were still moderately good and so the Bedford vehicles continiued to be produced, but the only vehicles that were produced in 1985 were the Bedford TK, the Bedford TJ, the Bedford CF, Bedford TL, the Bedford TM, the Bedford Rascal and the Bedford Midi trucks. The Bedford TJ (which was based on late 1940s tooling) was very outdated by that time, but due to good sales, especially in export markets, production continiued. In 1987 the company was renamed to *AWD Trucks* but the *Bedford* name was still kept in the company's products.

In 1992, all the Bedford vehicles were discontiniued, except the Bedford TJ which was renamed to Vauxhall Type J and was produced until 1998 when all Bedford vehicles were discontiniued and the Bedford factory being renamed to IBC Vehicles, which still produces light trucks from Vauxhall, Peuegot and Opel brands.

## Models

* Bedford WS (1932-1939)
* Bedford M-Series (1935-1952)
* Bedford HC (1938-1951)
* Bedford QL (1941-1945)
* Bedford O-Series (1938-1952)
* Bedford CA (1952-1969)
* Bedford TA (1953-1958)
* Bedford TJ (1958-1998)
* Bedford TK (1960-1992)
* Bedford HA (1962-1982)
* Bedford VAL (1965-1975)
* Bedford VAM (1965-1969)
* Bedford KM (1968-1989)
* Bedford CF (1969-1992)
* Bedford Y Series (1970-1987)
* Bedford TM (1974-1987)
* Bedford Chevette (1975-1982)