When did each foreign car brand arrive in the UK?

When each foreign car brand arrived in the UK

As incredible as it may seem, some of the car brands you see represented out on the streets of Britain today have been selling their products on these shores since a time when most homes didn't even have a supply of electricity.

Indeed, you may remember the arrival of the Japanese and Korean brands, but a good number of arrivals are long beyond living memory. When, do you think, the first Renault was sold here?

Well, for the answer to that, and to the introduction of every other brand well known to the motoring enthusiast of today, get clicking. You might be in for a few surprises. Skoda more than half a century before Audi, anyone?

1895: Panhard-Levassor

What was the first car to be imported to Britain? A Panhard-Levassor, powered by a 3¾hp Daimler engine, on 4 or 5 July 1895. The buyer was the Honourable Evelyn Ellis, who purchased the car in Paris, from where it was driven to Le Havre, shipped to Southampton, put on a train to Micheldever and illegally driven home to Datchet. Panhard-Levassor itself was formed in 1887 and built its first car, with a Daimler engine, in 1890. It went on to produce several key innovations, found racing success and produced cars for the French president. In 1967, it was sold to Citroën and has made military vehicles since then. It moved to Renault in 2012.

1895: Peugeot

Just two months later, another car of French origin arrived: a Peugeot vis-à-vis, also with a 3¾hp Daimler engine. It was owned by the influential engineer Sir David Salomons and, alongside the 1895 Panhard-Levassor, was the first car publicly demonstrated in this country. By at least 1903, although likely earlier, a proper UK sales agent for Peugeot was established in London. An official British sales arm of Peugeot was established in 1955.

1895: Benz

The first British Benz arrived in November 1895. It was sold as a Roger-Benz by the German firm’s Paris agent, Emile Roger. The car was a 4hp model that resided in Birmingham. A UK Benz agent with a showroom in London was established by 1899. Meanwhile, Mercedes, which was owned by Daimler, had a UK sales agent by 1902. Following the creation of Daimler-Benz, the amalgamated Mercedes-Benz brand began sales in 1926.

1900: Renault

The last still-existent brand to arrive in the Victorian era was Renault; the earliest evidence of a vehicle from les frères français here is a 4.5HP from 1900. In 1902, a London showroom was set up with 30 cars for sale. Soon, this effort was bought by Renault itself, and annual sales rocketed to 450 by 1904.

1902: Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile was one of America's earliest car companies, and its Curved Dash of 1901 is considered the first mass-produced car. Sales of this "positively silent" car began in London in 1902. Oldsmobile became part of General Motors in 1908 but withdrew from the UK in the early 1960s. The marque itself was shuttered in 2004.

1902: Fiat

Fiats were the first Italian cars sold here, from 1902. At 1903's Crystal Palace motor show, the firm displayed 16hp (£800), 20hp (£1000) and 30hp (£1500) models, and that year a new showroom was opened in Westminster. Fiat itself resumed control of its British business in 1924.

1903: Ford

Three examples of Ford’s first car, the Model A, were imported to the UK in 1903. The year after, a proper UK agency was set up in London, preceding the creation of Ford England in 1909. In 1910, Britain’s first Ford dealership opened its doors in Southampton, and the next year the first non-US Ford factory was opened in Manchester to handle production of the revolutionary new Model T. This was enormously successful; in 1919, these models accounted for some 40% of all cars in Britain.

1903: Cadillac

Cadillac began selling cars in the UK just a year after its foundation, courtesy of London's Anglo-American Motor Car Co. The cheapest model cost 180 guineas. Cadillac had disappeared by the end of the 1960s but returned for a short, unfruitful period in the 2000s.

1905: Skoda

The Laurin & Klement firm from the Kingdom of Bohemia began selling its Slavia motorcycle in London in 1900. It produced its first car, the Voiturette A, in 1905, and this car was sold in the UK from around that date. In 1925, Laurin & Klement was bought by the Skoda arms manufacturer, with the latter’s name taking over on the cars.

1907: Lancia

A Lancia agent was set up in London in the autumn of 1907, and an example of the firm's appropriately named first car, the Alfa, was driven by Autocar that October. Lancia became one of the most successful car importers in Britain during the 1920s. It made some brilliant cars after the war, with sales peaking in 1978. A spiral begun by the Beta’s rust problems in the 1980s resulted in the brand withdrawing in 1995. The marque itself is now near its end, sadly.

1907: Buick

David Buick was actually born in Scotland, and after starting his eponymous company in Detroit in 1899, he began exporting his cars to the UK in 1907. A year later, the company became a founding member of General Motors. Then, from 1909, Buick shipped chassis from Michigan to be bodied by its new English company, British Bedford – unrelated to Vauxhall's Bedford of 1931. Buick last sold cars in the UK in the 1960s.

1908: Opel

German brand Opel made its arrival at the 1908 motor show at the London Olympia. Its imports were handled by Britain’s Electromobile Company, whose history is apparent from its name. A range of five models was offered, ranging from a 10HP to a 60HP. In 1929, Opel was purchased by America’s General Motors. It was melded with Vauxhall from 1980, beginning its disappearance from the UK.

1913: Bugatti

Britain’s (now long-defunct) Crossley company’s London sales agent had also long sold cars for France’s De Dietrich marque, for whom Ettore Bugatti had previously been a designer. This led to the agent becoming the sole Bugatti concessionaire for the British Empire in 1913. Then, between 1921 and 1924, Crossley built a total of 24 Bugatti Brescias in Manchester. Bugattis continued to be available in the UK until the brand went bust in 1952.

1917: Dodge

The Dodge Brothers motor car was introduced to the UK as early as 1917 by the famed De Dietrich agents Charles Jarrott and Letts. Dodge then opened a factory in Fulham in 1922, before moving to Chrysler's Kew facility, where cars and heavy trucks were produced. The Dodge truck factory in Dunstable was shut by new owner Renault in 1993. Dodge cars returned in the mid-1990s but were axed in 2010.

1919: Citroën

The first Citroën here was imported for the 1919 London motor show: a Type A 10HP. A London dealership was promptly set up, selling a remarkable 750 cars in its first year, before Citroën itself took over the growing number of imports in 1923. Three years later, a factory was opened at Slough and remained open until 1965.

1924: Alfa Romeo

In 1924, Englishman Fred Stiles was so impressed upon witnessing yet another dominant Alfa Romeo victory at the French Grand Prix that he decided to extend his holiday to visit the company’s factory in Milan. There, he was enthusiastically greeted by Mr Romeo himself, given test drives of the company’s production models and then offered the chance to become the sole British concessionaire. Stiles accepted and began importing Touring and Super Sports variants of the RL, advertising them as the 21/70 and 22/90.

1934: BMW

A pair of BMWs arrived in the UK in November 1934: a 315 Cabriolet and a 315 Sport. The London dealership sold more than 700 right-hand-drive sporting models, badged as Frazer Nash BMWs, until the outbreak of war in 1939. Imports resumed after the war ended.

1928: Chrysler

Former Buick head Walter Chrysler started his own brand in 1925. Predecessor Maxwell had been selling cars in the UK since the 1900s and had a plant in Kew, Surrey. From 1931, Chrysler built Plymouth and DeSoto models there from knocked-down kits and badged them as Chryslers. Kew was shut in 1967, the year when Chrysler bought Britain’s Rootes Group to form Chrysler Europe.

Just 11 years later, it collapsed, and new owner Peugeot rebadged the models as Talbots. Chrysler returned in 1996, at first with a rebadged Dodge Viper. It left once again in 2017, having been selling an MPV and a pair of rebadged Lancias.

1953: Volkswagen

Volkswagen was initiated in 1932 by the German Labour Front, to do what is name suggested: provide transport for the people. Adolf Hitler accelerated the drive to create this car when he came to power in 1933, and the first prototype emerged in 1938. This would become the Type 1, nicknamed the Beetle.

Delayed by the war, and with production having been restarted after it by the British, the Type 1 went on sale in the UK in 1953. With the animosity towards Germany still strong, many imported cars were vandalised at British docks, and just 945 cars were sold in 1954. However, in the 60 years since, the German brand has risen to become the world’s biggest.

1954: Porsche

A year after the Beetle came a sporting model derived from it. Indeed, the Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche and the Porsche 356 by his son. The first 356 was sold from the same London Frazer Nash dealership that introduced Britain to BMW, and in 1965 Porsche itself took control of the brand’s business in the UK.

1958: Ferrari

The first Ferrari road car officially in the UK was a 212 Barchetta, causing a throng at the 1951 Earl’s Court motor show and then purchased by racing driver Mike Hawthorn. Hawthorn owned and was loaned a few Ferraris over the next few years, based out of his TT garage in Farnham, Surrey, before retiring from motorsport to focus on this family business.

He struck a deal with Ferrari to sell two 250GT Pininfarina Coupés at the 1958 Earl’s Court motor show but met an untimely death in 1959. The purchaser of one of those 250GTs, Ford dealer Ronnie Hoare, then struck a deal with Ferrari to take over the British import business, forming Maranello Concessionaires. In its first year, 1960, it sold four cars, but this has today grown to around 450 cars per year.

1958: Volvo

The first Swedish model officially imported into the UK was the Volvo Amazon family car in 1958. The American-looking model was a lot pricier than its British rivals but offered superior performance.

1960: Saab

Volvo was followed two years later by its aeroplane-badged compatriot from Trollhättan, with the 96, quickly followed by the 95 estate. Saab didn’t bring out many new models during its decades as a manufacturer, and eventually disappeared altogether in 2012 after being neglected by owner General Motors.

1960: Maserati

Following decades of racing success, Maserati’s first proper series production model came with the 3500GT grand tourer of 1957. At the end of 1959, a British concessionaire was established in Fleetwood, Lancashire, with the first example being sold the next year. At first, annual UK imports averaged around 25. A Maserati-affiliated company was then set up to handle sales of the new Quattroporte saloon in right-hand drive form.

1965: Audi

Audi’s history is complicated. It was established in 1910 but merged with three other brands – DKW, Horch and Wanderer – in 1932 to form Auto Union. It was relaunched after the war, in 1949, and bought by Daimler-Benz in 1959. Due to worries over the diminishing popularity of Auto Union’s two-stroke products – some of which had been sold in the UK pre-war, but not under the Audi name – Daimler offloaded it to the Volkswagen Group, which promptly relaunched the historic Audi brand.

The first model sold in Britain was a reworked DKW model that was simply badged ‘the Audi’ and later renamed the 72. Just 32 examples were sold in the first year – a far cry from the 160,000 or so premium models the brand annually shifts today in the UK.

1965: Daihatsu

The first of the Japanese cars, whose excellence would play a key role in the large-scale demise of British car manufacturing, was not a well-known one: the Daihatsu Compagno. This two-door saloon was sold from one London dealership, beginning in early 1965. However, at £280 more than the Austin Mini, it managed to sell an embarrassing six examples over five years.

1965: Toyota

The Japanese’s notable splash came that October, from Toyota. It made its debut here with the Mk3 Corona saloon and estate, of which it sold around 100 in its first year. It had 85 dealers signed up by the end of 1967, and real success began shortly after with the arrival of the smaller Corolla.

1967: Honda

Honda had already achieved proper success in the UK by the time it made its car debut in January 1967, because the company’s motorcycles had been sold here since 1961. The first four-wheeled Honda model imported was the S800 sports car, which undercut the British-built Triumph Spitfire on price. Honda followed this up with a series of economical two-door saloons, before its big break came with the Mk1 Civic in 1973.

1967: Lamborghini

The first official Lamborghini concessionaire for the UK was set up in January 1967, in south-east London, selling the odd-looking 400 GT coupé and the legendary, gorgeous Miura supercar.

1967: Mazda

Mazda arrived with something properly interesting: a small, rotary-engined, space age-styled sports coupé. This was the Cosmo or, as it was known in the UK, the 110S. It was expensive, though, so Mazda didn’t trouble the mainstream market until late 1969, when it put out the 1800 saloon (otherwise known as the Luce).

1968: Nissan

Datsun arrived in the UK in September 1968, selling its four-door 1600 saloon from a building shared with German company NSU at the Sussex port of Shoreham. An estate and 1300 saloon model arrived soon after. Expansion was rapid, and the brand had 285 dealers by 1974. The brand’s name was changed to that of its owner, Nissan, in 1983, at great expense. In 2013, the Datsun brand was relaunched by Nissan as a budget brand in certain emerging markets such as India.

1970: Moskvitch

The Cold War may have still been freezing, but that didn’t stop Brits from seeing the value of the Soviet Union’s new Moskvitch cars. There were 268 dealers by 1973. The next May, importer Satra introduced the Lada 1200 saloon and estate models. The Ladas sold well as rugged, cheap but poor cars, but the awful Samara rang the death knell before Lada left the UK in 1997, unable to meet new emissions regulations.

1970: Jeep

The original Willys Jeep had been supplied to the British Army during World War 2, and many stayed after in military and civilian use. However, official civilian imports didn't begin until the Kaiser Jeep company was purchased by American Motors (AMC) in 1970, through a Rambler-AMC dealership in Eadon Bray, Bedfordshire. The model was the CJ (Civilian Jeep), produced until 1986 and followed by the Wrangler. The dealer also sold RHD-converted Wagoneers.

1974: Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi arrived in the UK using the Colt brand name, supposedly so as to avoid the British public making any negative connections with the company’s aeronautical role in World War 2. Its first models were the Lancer, a rival to the Ford Escort, and the Galant, a fighter of the Ford Cortina. The Colt name was dropped in favour of Mitsubishi in 1980.

1977: Subaru

Fuji Heavy Industries’ automotive concern marked its British arrival with the Leone, sold as the 1600 and 1800, at the end of 1977. Imports were handled by International Motors, which continues to be concessionaire to this day. Saloon, estate and pick-up truck bodystyles were made available, and the car was marketed at countryside dwellers by dint of its permanent four-wheel drive set-up.

1979: Suzuki

The tiny Suzuki company imported some models for evaluation in the UK in 1974, but it didn’t make any available for sale until five years later. The first model was the miniature SC100 coupé, better known as the Whizzkid. Next up was something rather different: the LJ 4x4, the predecessor of today’s Jimny.

1982: Dacia

In 1982, Dacia, the darling of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, began selling its "very acceptable" Denem family car in the UK. It was better than its fellow communist-era cars, but it was still obviously based on the Renault 12 of 1969. Sales were poor and the Denem ended production two years later, although its pick-up truck variant, the, er, Shifter, remained into the late 1990s, alongside the original Duster, a rebadged ARO 10 that had been introduced in 1985. Dacia was bought by Renault in 1999 and returned to the UK in 2012, finding great success with its Duster small SUV.

1982: Hyundai

With Japanese cars taking a large proportion of business here, so came the arrival of the South Koreans, from a country rocketing up the world order. Hyundai was in the vanguard, introducing its Mk2 Pony family car in the spring of 1982. Despite its relatively short history, it now plays a major role in the new car market.

1985: Seat

The next brand to arrive was Seat, Spain’s state-owned car manufacturer. Having acrimoniously split from Fiat, with which its foundation and early history was inextricably linked, it produced the Ibiza independently. It found mild success before being bought by the Volkswagen Group in 1986. It then struggled but in recent years has seemingly entered a golden era, launching a spin-off brand, Cupra, in 2018.

1990: Lexus

Toyota launched its luxury marque, Lexus, in 1989, and it didn’t take long for its flagship model, the LS saloon, to be introduced in Britain. That first car was revolutionary, although progress was slow until relatively recently, when sales exploded due to the fact that brand took out an early lead on hybrid technology.

1991: Kia

Kia arrived here with its Pride hatchback, a rebadged version of the Ford Festiva, a model sold in Asia and the Americas, in 1991. The South Korean company went bankrupt as a result of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 but was acquired by compatriot Hyundai, which outbid Ford. Since then, Kia has grown in stature as the two brands have worked co-operatively in an assault on the middle market.

1994: Ssangyong

South Korean 4x4 specialist Ssangyong’s history stretches back to 1954, attaining its current name 32 years later. It made a soft entry into the UK with the purchase of the Panther sports car company, before launching under its own name with the Musso SUV, developed with help from Mercedes-Benz, in 1994. Since then, it has been owned by Daewoo, SAIC and now Mahindra, but it remains a relative unknown to the British public.

1995: Daewoo

Another South Korean brand, Daewoo, launched the following year, with its Espero saloon and Nexia hatchback, and hit 1% market share in its first year. However, the Daewoo manufacturing conglomerate went bust in 2000, with multi-billion-dollar debts. The car-making arm's assets were sold to General Motors, and the brand was withdrawn entirely by 2003.

2000: Smart

The origins of Smart go back to 1982, when a stylish two-seat city car was dreamt up by the CEO of Swiss watch maker Swatch. A deal for production was signed with Volkswagen in 1991, but the German company terminated the contract in 1993. Swatch signed up with Daimler, which brought the Smart City Coupé to market in 1998. Left-hand-drive models were officially sold in the UK from October 2000, before right-hand-drive cars were introduced 12 months later.

2009: Tesla

Tesla opened its first dealership in the UK in June 2009, in Kensington. The American electric car maker began by selling its first model, the Roadster, which was based on the Lotus Elise and had a realistic range of around 130 miles. The brand was pushed into the mainstream in 2013 by the Model S luxury car and now has 18 dealerships around the country.

2009: Infiniti

Despite being launched in the same year as Lexus, in 1989, Nissan's luxury Infiniti brand didn't arrive in the UK until 12 September 2009, when the first dealership opened in Reading. It arrived with a full line-up: the G37 saloon/coupé/cabriolet and the EX and FX SUVs. More recently, big hopes have been placed on the Mercedes-Benz A-Class-based Q30 hatchback, but this has flopped, and Infiniti's market share remains at just 0.14%.