60 Facts About Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors Limited is a British car company headquartered in Chalton, England.

Vauxhall Motors is one of the oldest established vehicle manufacturers and distribution companies in the United Kingdom.

Vauxhall Motors was originally founded by Alexander Wilson in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer.

Vauxhall Motors began manufacturing cars in 1903, changing its name back around this time.

Since 1980, Vauxhall Motors products have been largely identical to those of Opel, and most models are principally engineered in Russelsheim am Main, Germany.

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At various times during its history, Vauxhall has been active in motorsports, including rallying and the British Touring Car Championship.

Vauxhall Motors has major manufacturing facilities in Luton and Ellesmere Port .

Vauxhall Motors-branded vehicles are manufactured in Opel factories in Germany, Spain, and Poland as well as in the UK.

Vauxhall Motors sells high-performance versions of some of its models under the GSi sub-brand.

Vauxhall Motors continued to trade under the name Vauxhall Iron Works until 1907, when the modern name of Vauxhall Motors was adopted.

Vauxhall Motors was characterised by its sporting models, but after World War I, the company's designs were more austere.

Vauxhall Motors joined Vauxhall in 1906 at the age of 22, as an assistant draughtsman.

On 16 November 1925, Vauxhall was acquired by General Motors Corporation for US$2.

Vauxhall Motors was only making seventeen cars per week and was in a financial mess.

Vauxhall Motors had suddenly become a significant player in the British car market.

However the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 greatly restricted the sales of all new cars just as the new Vauxhall Motors range was entering the market and production was reaching full flow.

Vauxhall Motors was one of the first English car makers to switch from wartime to civilian production, mostly due to the ease with which Bedford trucks in production for military use could be redirected to the civilian market.

Vauxhall Motors planned and developed a new range of short-stroke overhead-valve engines for the E-Types but financial and production constraints meant that the first new Wyverns and Veloxes were launched with the same engines as the outgoing L-Type.

Since the restarting of car production in 1945 the limiting factor for Vauxhall Motors sales had been production, sometimes leading to lengthy waiting lists for customers.

Expansion of the body shop would require large investment that GM was reluctant to release and this was the main reason for Vauxhall Motors relying on a single body design across three distinct models.

In 1967, Vauxhall Motors became a Royal Warrant Holder: Motor Vehicle Manufacturers to HM The Queen – the Royal Mews.

In 1970, the HC Viva was launched, which went on to become Vauxhall Motors's best-selling car of the decade, featuring among the 10 best-selling cars in Britain each year until after 1976, with production not finishing until 1979, when the Viva nameplate was finally discontinued after 16 years and three generations.

Vauxhall Motors's sales began to increase from 1975, with the launch of two important new models, the Chevette, a small three-door hatchback that was the first car of its kind to be built in Britain, and the Cavalier, a stylish four-door saloon designed to compete head-to-head with the all-conquering Ford Cortina.

The Cavalier helped Vauxhall Motors regain lost ground in this crucial sector of the market, while the Chevette proved to be hugely popular in the growing supermini sector, as more buyers turned to smaller cars following the oil crisis of 1973.

However, Vauxhall Motors retained its two British factories at Luton and Ellesmere Port, with most cars wearing the Vauxhall Motors badge still being built in the UK.

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In 1978, Vauxhall Motors strengthened its position in the executive car market with the launch of its all-new Carlton saloon and estate, which were facelifted versions of the German-built Opel Rekord.

Early in 1980, Vauxhall Motors moved into the modern family hatchback market with its Astra range that replaced the aging Viva, and quickly became popular with buyers.

In January 1986, Vauxhall Motors launched the Belmont, a saloon version of the Astra, which offered more interior space and was almost as big as a Cavalier.

Vauxhall Motors won another "European Car of the Year" award with its all-new Vauxhall Motors Carlton, a rebadged Opel-built vehicle and badged Opel Omega in the rest of Europe, sealing the award for 1987.

Vauxhall Motors joined forces with Isuzu to produce the Frontera, a four-wheel drive off-roader available in short- and long-wheelbase versions.

Vauxhall Motors added another vehicle to its four-wheel drive line-up in the shape of the Isuzu-based Monterey.

Vauxhall Motors joined the expanding "compact coupe" market with its new Corsa-based Tigra model.

Cavalier nameplate was discontinued in 1995 after 20 years, a full model after Opel had dropped its Ascona nameplate, Vauxhall adopting the common Vectra nameplate for its successor, completing a policy by General Motors that aligned and identically badged all Vauxhall and Opel models.

In 1999, the seven-seater compact MPV Zafira, based on the Astra chassis, went on sale and the Vauxhall Motors Monterey was withdrawn from sale in the UK, although it continued to sell in the rest of Europe as an Opel.

The Vauxhall Motors range received particular criticism for breakdowns, build-quality problems, and many other maladies, which meant that quality did not reflect sales success.

Nevertheless, Vauxhall Motors was competing strongly in the sales charts, and by 1999 was closer to Ford in terms of sales figures than it had been in years.

In 2000, Vauxhall Motors entered the sports car market with the Lotus-based VX220 roadster.

On 12 December 2000, Vauxhall Motors announced that car production at its Luton plant would cease in 2002, with the final vehicle being made in March 2002 following the end of production of the Vectra B and production of its replacement moving to Ellesmere Port alongside the Astra.

In 2006, the third generation of the Vauxhall Motors Corsa went on sale, after having its world premier launch at the 2006 British International Motor Show at ExCeL London.

The Vauxhall Motors Insignia was launched at the 2008 British International Motor Show at ExCeL London, replacing the Vectra and won another "European Car of the Year".

In 2010, the new Vauxhall Motors Movano was launched and a new Meriva went on sale in mid-2010.

In December 2015, safety officials asked Vauxhall Motors to initiate a full safety recall of the Zafira B model, due to a worrying level of "improper repairs"'.

On 7 May 2019, Vauxhall Motors left its Griffin House headquarters in Luton for new offices at Chalton House, based in Chalton, on the northern outskirts of Luton.

The 1963 HA Viva was developed under some secrecy and exhibited remarkable similarities with the Opel Kadett released a year previously, while the 1972 FE Victor was essentially the first overt exponent of this strategy, sharing its platform and several body fittings with the Opel Rekord D, although it still retained Vauxhall Motors-designed running gear and had no interchangeable body panels.

The Chevette, Cavalier and Carlton were restyled versions of the Kadett, Ascona and Rekord respectively, all featuring the distinctive sloping 'Droopsnoot' front end first prototyped on the HPF Firenza, with Vauxhall Motors engines preserved in the form of the Viva-sourced 1256 unit fitted to the Chevette and Cavalier, and the much larger 2279cc slant-four for the homologation-special Chevette HS.

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Opel was instead repositioned as a performance-luxury brand – the Opel Manta coupe remained, whilst the Vauxhall Motors Royale was replaced in the line-up by its Opel equivalent .

Similarly, the Vauxhall Motors brand was dropped by GM in Ireland in favour of the German brand Opel.

From 1994, Vauxhall Motors models differed from Opels in their distinctive grille – featuring a "V", incorporating the Vauxhall Motors badge.

Model unique to the Vauxhall Motors range was the high-performance Monaro coupe, which was sourced from and designed by Holden in Australia.

Vauxhall Motors confirmed the importation of the GTS just after the reborn Opel GT roadster was announced as not being imported into the UK.

Vauxhall Motors has built some Holdens for export, too, notably Vectra-As to New Zealand and Astra-Bs to both Australia and New Zealand.

Vauxhall Motors is headquartered in Luton, Bedfordshire, and has major manufacturing facilities in Luton and Ellesmere Port, the United Kingdom .

From 1942 to 1987 Vauxhall Motors operated a truck and bus vehicle assembly plant in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Vauxhall Motors sponsored the Football Conference, the highest non-league division of English football, from 1986 until 1998.

In 2011, Vauxhall Motors became the primary sponsor for the home nations national football teams .

From 1976, Vauxhall Motors decided to heighten their profile in the sport by building a homologation-special version of the Vauxhall Motors Chevette, known as the Chevette HS.

Vauxhall Motors campaigned successive versions of the Astra in the British championship until the late 1990s.

Vauxhall Motors first entered the British Touring Car Championship with the Vauxhall Motors Cavalier in 1989.

Vauxhall Motors won the Manufacturers Award and Teams Award every year.

Fabrizio Giovanardi finished 3rd in the championship in 2009 before Vauxhall Motors pulled sponsorship out at the end of 2009 due to and the economic crisis and lack of official manufacturers in the BTCC.