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Wolseley

Founded via Herbert Austin automobile company in 1896, then employed as a works manager at the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company, became interested in engines and automobiles. During the winter of 1895-96 he made his own version of a design by Léon Bollée that he had seen in Paris and adored. The auto car and how it worked intrigued him. He began numerous designs and through trial and error began producing cars in a small workshop which had almost come out of nothing. His ventture began to expand with his knowledge of cars and so did his profits.

They began to make short-lived international connections such as with other motor companies as far away as Japan and the U.S. From this, the new automaker learned the tricks of the trade and proper operating procedures. Despite this knowledge, the company entered receivership and was soon up for sale, over £2 million in debt.

William Morris bought the floundering company for £730,000 in February 1927 using his own money. Morris renamed the company Wolseley Motors (1927) Ltd and consolidated its production at the sprawling Ward End Works in Birmingham. In 1935, Wolseley was joined up with Morris’ own motor company ‘Morris motor company’ and began to take advantage of the engineering and design over at their new prestigious partner. For starters, their chassis design and production was given over almost entirely to Morris and their body design was heavily influenced by them for over a decade.

Production continued and through various models, their success began to decrease. However, an image update and re-design in the 60s carried the company for the following years and meant that they began to make profits worthy of their efforts. British Leyland took over for a period, however they somewhat diminished the brand by scaling back production and focusing more on their flagship marquees.

Today, the Wolseley marque is owned by Nanjing Automobile Group. They picked up the company under ‘assets’ of MG rover when they bought the company following their demise on the European market after the millenium.