Coventry was once the heart of the British motor industry. It is now the home of the sole remaining British volume car manufacturer, LTI. I will leave it to other commentators to explain how this decline has occurred. Here is a list of some of the many car manufacturers that once existed in the city. A definitive list is unlikely ever to be compiled.
| Name | Location | Dates | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy (EJ West) | Foleshill Rd | 1906-1908 | ||
| Aircraft | Shackleton Rd | 1919-1930 | ||
| Albatros | Croft Rd | 1923-1924 | ||
| Allard | 38 Moor St | 1899-1902 | became Rex | |
| Alpha (Johnston, Hurley & Martin) | Gosford St | 1914-1926 | ||
| Alvis (TG John) | Holyhead Rd | 1919-1967 | acquired by Rover 1965 | |
| Armstrong Siddeley | Parkside | 1919-1960 | site demolished 1996 | |
| Arno | Gosford St | 1908 | ||
| Autovia | Midland Rd | 1936-1938 | ||
| Barnet | High St | 1921-1930 | ||
| British Leyland (BL) | see Daimler, Jaguar, Morris, Riley, Standard, Triumph | |||
| British Motor Corporation (BMC) | see Morris, Riley | |||
| Brooks | Holbrook Lane | 1902 | ||
| Buckingham (TG John) | Holyhead Rd | 1913-1923 | ||
| Calcott | Far Gosford St | 1913-1926 | acquired by Singer | |
| Carbodies | Holyhead Rd | 1959-1984 | became London Taxis | |
| Carlton | Lockhurst Lane | 1901-1902 | ||
| Challenge | Foleshill Rd | 1912-1915 | ||
| Chrysler | Ryton | 1968-1979 | became Talbot | |
| Clarendon | 77 Moor St | 1902-1904 | ||
| Clement | Parkside | 1908-1914 | ||
| Cluley | Well St | 1922-1929 | see picture | |
| Coronet | Paynes Lane | 1904-1906 | became part of Humber | |
| Coventry Motette | Spon St | 1896-1899 | ||
| Coventry Premier | Read St | 1919-1923 | acquired by Singer 1920 | |
| Coventry-Victor | Cox St | 1926-1938 | ||
| Crawford | Holbrook Lane | 1901 | ||
| Crouch | Bishop St | 1912-1928 | ||
| Daimler | Draper's Fields | 1896-2005 | acquired by Jaguar 1960 | |
| Daisy | 96 Far Gosford St | 1912-1925 | ||
| Dawson | Clay Lane | 1919-1921 | premises bought by Triumph | |
| Deasy | Parkside | 1906-1908 | became Siddely-Deasy | |
| Duryea | 188 Widdrington Rd | 1902-1906 | ||
| Emms | Walsgrave Rd | 1922-1923 | ||
| Endurance | Gosford St | 1899-1901 | ||
| Forge | Holbrook Lane | 1903-1905 | ||
| Forman | Day's Lane | 1904-1906 | ||
| Garrard & Blumfield | Ford St | 1894-1896 | electric cars | |
| Glover | Barras Lane | 1910-1913 | see Spon End | |
| Godiva | Foleshill | 1900-1901 | ||
| Great Horseless Carriage Co | Drapers Field | 1896-1898 | became MMC | |
| Hamilton | Dale St | 1910 | ||
| Hill | Godiva St | 1919-1930 | ||
| Hillman-Coatalen | Pinley | 1907-1910 | became Hillman | |
| Hillman | Pinley | 1910-1968 | acquired by Rootes 1928 | |
| Hubbard | 133 Much Park St | 1906-1910 | ||
| Humber | Humber Rd | 1896-1968 | acquired by Rootes 1930 | |
| Iden | Fleet St | 1904-1907 | ||
| Jaguar | Browns Lane | 1945-2005 | acquired by Ford | |
| Lanchester | Sandy Lane | 1931-1954 | acquired by BSA | |
| Lea & Francis | Lower Ford St | 1904-1931 | later Lea-Francis | |
| Lea-Francis | Much Park St | 1937-1960 | former Triumph works | |
| London Taxis (LTI) | Holyhead Rd | 1985-date | ||
| Lotis (H Sturmey) | 160 Widdrington Rd | 1906-1912 | ||
| Marseel | Harefield Rd | 1919-1925 | ||
| Maudslay | Parkside | 1902-1915 | became part of AEC 1951 | |
| Motor Manufacturing Co (MMC) | Drapers Field | 1898-1907 | moved to London | |
| Morris | Gosford St | 1913-1982 | became part of BMC 1952 | |
| Neville-Sinclair | Fleet St | 1904-1907 | ||
| Omega | Swan Lane | 1925-1927 | three wheelers | |
| Peugeot | Ryton | 1986-2006 | ||
| Priory | Dale St | 1901 | ||
| Progress (EJ West) | Stoney Stanton Rd | 1899-1903 | became West | |
| Ranger (EJ West) | West Orchard | 1913-1914 | ||
| Remington | Foleshill Rd | 1919-1930 | ||
| Rex | 222 Osborne Rd | 1902-1914 | ||
| Ridley | Upper Well St | 1901-1904 | ||
| Riley | King St | 1899-1948 | moved to Abingdon | |
| Rootes | see Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam Talbot | |||
| Rover | West Orchard | 1904-1948 | moved to Solihull | |
| Rudge | Spon End | 1912-1913 | ||
| Siddeley | Parkside | 1902-1904 | ||
| Siddeley-Deasy | Parkside | 1912-1919 | became Armstrong Siddeley | |
| Singer | Canterbury St | 1905-1970 | acquired by Rootes 1956 | |
| SS Jaguar | Holbrooks Lane | 1936-1945 | became Jaguar | |
| Standard | Foleshill Rd | 1903-1963 | acquired by BL 1960 | |
| Stoneleigh | Parkside | 1912-1930 | ||
| Sturmey | see Duryea, Lotis | |||
| Sunbeam | Ryton | 1955-1986 | ||
| Sunbeam Talbot | Ryton | 1946-1955 | became Sunbeam | |
| Swallow | Holbrooks Lane | 1928-1936 | became SS Jaguar | |
| Swift | Cheylesmore | 1898-1931 | ||
| Talbot | Humber Rd | 1979-1986 | became Peugeot | |
| Tippen | Shakespeare St | 1948-1976 | vehicles for the disabled | |
| Triumph | Priory St | 1923-1986 | acquired by Standard 1945 | |
| Velox | Parkside | 1903-1904 | became part of Iden then Deasy | |
| Vernon | Earl St | 1906-1910 | ||
| West | Foleshill Rd | 1904-1908 | later Ranger | |
| Wigan-Barlow | Lowther St | 1912-1913 | ||
| Williamson | 77 Moor St | 1913-1916 | three wheelers | |
The above is by no means a full list of Coventry car makers. Others about which less detail is known include Acme, Ariel, Aster, Aurora, Awson, Bayliss, Beeston, Billings, Bramco, British Motor Traction, Broadway, Centaur, Condor, Cooper, Couder, Cunard, Dalton & Wade, Davidson, Doherty, Dutson Ward, Eagle, Emms, Ferguson, Forman, Forge, Grosvenor, Hamilton, Hobart-Bird, Hotchkiss, Hurley, Lady, Lee-Eabb, Manley & Buckingham, Moore & Owen, Noble, Norton, Pilot, Priory, Quadrant, Raglan, Record, Ryley, Taylor-Swetnam, Titan, Viking, Warwick (SH Newsome) and Whitley.
John W McSparron, Coventry, UK.