Rootes Group
The Rootes Group was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. From headquarters in the West End of London, the manufacturer was based in the Midlands and the distribution and dealers business in the south of England.
In the decade 1928-38, brothers William and Reginald Rootes, made prosperous by their very successful motor car distribution and servicing business, were keen to enter manufacturing for closer control of the products they were selling. With the financial support of Prudential Assurance, the two brothers bought many well-known British motor manufacturers—including Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot, Commer and Karrier. At its height in 1960, Rootes Group had manufacturing plants in the Midlands at Coventry and Birmingham, in southern England at Acton, Luton and Dunstable, and a brand-new plant in the west of Scotland at Linwood. From its offices in Devonshire House on Piccadilly in central London, it controlled exports and international distribution for Rootes and other motor manufacturers, as well as its own local distribution and service operations in London, Kent, Birmingham and Manchester. There were assembly plants in nine countries outside the UK.
Rootes Group was under-capitalised in its last years and unable to survive industrial relations problems at its facilities and losses from the 1963 introduction of a new aluminium-engined small car, the Hillman Imp. By mutual agreement, from mid-1964, Rootes Motors was taken over in stages by US auto company Chrysler; it acquired control from the Rootes family by 1967 and refashioned the group as Chrysler United Kingdom. By the end of 1978, the last of the various elements of Chrysler UK had been resold to French automotive group Peugeot SA, which itself subsequently merged with Chrysler to form Stellantis.
History
Dealer and distributor for other manufacturers
Rootes was founded in Hawkhurst, Kent, in 1913 by William Rootes as a car sales agency independent from his father's Hawkhurst motor business. Rootes had moved his operations to Maidstone by 1914 and there he contracted to repair aero engines. In 1917 he formed Rootes Limited to buy the Maidstone branch of his father's motor business, founded by his father in 1897, to expand his aircraft engine repair business and the manufacture of aircraft parts.In 1919 the distribution of cars and commercial vehicles resumed and operations extended to London and other part of the country. As early as 1924 Rootes had become the largest truck and car distributor in the United Kingdom. They advertised that their showrooms in Devonshire House, Piccadilly could supply new cars priced from £145 to £3,000 manufactured by Rolls-Royce, Daimler, Sunbeam, Austin, Hillman, Fiat or Clyno.
Humber Limited
A particular effort was put into overseas sales and it became clear the export opportunities warranted a move into car manufacture, which was achieved in 1929 by the purchase of controlling interests in first Hillman followed by Humber and Commer. Hillman and Commer were made wholly owned subsidiaries of Humber Limited and the Rootes brothers' holding eventually became 60 percent of the Humber ordinary shares. The Rootes brothers could now show their ability to manufacture handsome cars with a strong sales appeal.Humber Cycles
There was a resurgence in domestic and export demand for pedal bicycles, and in February 1932 Raleigh acquired all the Humber cycles trade marks. Manufacture was transferred to Raleigh's Nottingham works.Rootes Securities Limited
Rootes Limited was renamed Rootes Securities Limited in 1933. During the Depression more businesses were picked up as they came available: Karrier, Sunbeam, Clement Talbot and British Light Steel Pressings were all bought and made subsidiaries of Humber Limited. London's Mayfair coachbuilders and Rolls-Royce and Daimler dealers Thrupp & Maberly had been bought in 1926 their royal warrant always proudly displayed.Rootes Limited and exports
A new Rootes Limited was incorporated in 1933 to hold the very profitable core business of the Rootes brothers: the motor distribution and servicing functions, and its extension and development of export markets. It had been the largest truck and car distributor in the United Kingdom in 1924 and generated the capital to buy manufacturer Hillman, merge Hillman with manufacturer Humber and give the Rootes brothers control of Humber and the manufacturing subsidiaries they would have Humber buy.Overseas representation of British motor manufacturers was not limited to group members.
Ownership and control, Rootes family
Rootes Motors Limited was the new name assumed 16 November 1949 of holding company Rootes Securities Limited. Substantially the whole of 1917's initial capital had been provided by the two Rootes brothers. Thereafter the business's expansion was financed by retained profits supplemented where necessary, for example the purchase of Hillman, by loans from Prudential and the company's bankers principally Midland Bank. On 24 November 1949 shares in Rootes Motors Limited were issued to the public in exchange for £3,025,000. Rootes was now a public company and the new capital repaid the Prudential and Midland Bank loans. The listed shares however were preference shares. The equity capital remained in the hands of the Rootes family now with new partner Prudential who had taken up all of the offered £1,000,000 of ordinary shares. External shareholders continued to hold a large proportion of Humber Limited. The preference shares issued to the public by Humber remained listed. In addition there were external shareholdings in the Rootes Acceptances vehicle exporting business and in Automobile Products of India.At this time employees totalled 17,000. Rootes owned, on average, about 80 per cent of the capital of its subsidiaries. The manufacturing subsidiaries were held through partly owned Humber Limited. Manufacture was carried out in three factories in Coventry with more at Luton, Cricklewood and Acton. There was a wholly owned assembly plant in Australia and similar facilities owned with associates in Argentina, Republic of Ireland and India. From Devonshire House in Piccadilly the original business, the marketing subsidiary, directed operations at five branches in Kent, their North Kensington service department and Birmingham and Manchester branches together with distribution companies overseas sometimes jointly owned.
Barely twelve months after listing preference shares the Rootes brothers recognised the effect death duties would have on their holdings and their businesses and the two brothers offered one quarter of Rootes Motors' ordinary shares to current holders of Rootes preference shares. Further issues of preference shares and debenture stock followed in November 1954 and November 1959. Rootes Acceptances Limited, the export financing arm, was sold.
World War II
With the outbreak of World War II, Rootes, like most other British car manufacturers, became involved with the production of armaments. In 1940, under the Government's shadow factory scheme, Rootes built its massive assembly plant in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, initially manufacturing aircraft, one of the first types being the Bristol Blenheim. Production included a Royal Air Force heavy bomber, the Handley Page Halifax. These were built at a shadow factory at Speke Airport near Liverpool and at Blythe Bridge in Staffordshire from 1941 to 1943. Rootes also manufactured military vehicles, based on the Humber and Commer.Rootes had a rare lapse of business judgement shortly after World War II. When he visited the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg to evaluate it for war reparations, he opined that it – and the Beetle – had no value.
Postwar acquisitions
with its subsidiary Vulcan Motors, both old-established and well-known commercial vehicle and bus manufacturers, was bought in the second half of 1950.A new acquisition in 1956 was Singer Motors. Rootes' Singers, badge-engineered Hillmans, were aimed at slightly more upmarket small car buyers.
Post-war development
Following the war, Rootes also sponsored satellite manufacturing operations around the world, notably in Australasia and the Middle East. The best known example of the latter was the Iranian-built Paykan, based on the Hillman Hunter. In 1950 it acquired Tilling-Stevens, a truck and bus manufacturer based in Maidstone, Kent.Rootes successfully sold a range of cars priced at a slight premium to their major home market competitors, justified on the basis that they offered a level of superiority in design and finish.
Studebaker stylist Raymond Loewy was a design consultant to Rootes; evidence of his influence is most readily seen in the 1956 Audax range of cars, which included the contemporary Hillman Minx, a model also produced under licence by Isuzu of Japan as the Isuzu Hillman Minx.
Engineering innovation
Rootes introduced a novel supercharged diesel engine in 1954, based on a Sulzer Brothers concept. This was the Commer TS3 2-stroke 3-cylinder engine, with 2 opposed inward facing pistons per cylinder, which drove the crankshaft through bell cranks. The 3.25 litre engine developed, equivalent to contemporary 4-stroke diesel engines of more than twice the capacity.The engine was used in Commer trucks as well as an industrial engine. Production ceased in 1968 after the Chrysler takeover.