Daimler
Daimler history in the UK starts when Frederick Simms bought the rights to the Daimler engine in 1893, using the name Daimler Motor Syndicate. In 1896 the Daimler Motor Company was formed by Simms and Harry Lawson and car production commenced in Coventry, using the Maybach designed vertical twin Phoenix engine. By 1910 Daimler and BSA (British Small Arms) And as the years progressed the sheer range of Daimler models produced was staggering. The Daimler sleeve valve engines, built on the Knight patents, were used exclusively from 1910 until the early 1930's when they were considered out of date, and Lawrence Pomeroy designed a new "conventional" Daimler engine for 1933. Post WW2 the company had cars with their 6 (such as the DB18) and 8 cylinder engines, but by this time many of the typical Daimler customers had switched their allegiance to Rolls Royce. So the smaller cars such as the Daimler Conquest models became the backbone of the company, while they developed the V8 for the Majestic, which led on to their most successful car, the SP250 (Daimler Dart).
Daimler was purchased outright by Jaguar in 1960, mainly because Jaguar needed to find larger premises and were continually being offered incentives by the government to move out of Coventry to an area having an unemployment problem, but Sir William Lyons was determined to stay put in Coventry. The purchase of Daimler added one million square feet of factory space. The Daimler SP250 was carried on with, alongside the larger Daimler V8 engine. Eventually all the Daimlers were all based on the Jaguar range, but with different specifications. During 1966 Jaguar became part of BMC (British Motor Corporation), and the Jaguar /Daimler side was eventually purchased by Ford in 1990 for $2.5 billion, possibly a mistake in hindsight as Ford pumped in huge investment, and had losses for years before selling out to Tata Motors 19 years later for less.
