Lotus Logo

Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports and racing cars based at the former site of RAF Hethel, a World War II airfield in Norfolk. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling characteristics. It also owns the engineering consultancy Lotus Engineering, which has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia and China.

Lotus is owned by Proton, which acquired it following the bankruptcy of former owner Romano Artioli in 1994.

The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineer Colin Chapman, a graduate of University College, London, in 1952. The first factory was in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey, North London. Team Lotus, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focused on road cars and customer competition car production, respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but the newly renamed entity ceased operation in the same year.

The company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham. This site is the former RAF Hethel base and the test track uses sections of the old runway.

By 1982 the company was experiencing severe financial difficulties and Chapman sought additional capital from outside sources. The crisis resulted principally from the fact that only a handful of Lotus cars were sold each year in the world's largest market, the US. These problems were solved by a young law professor and investment banking consultant, Joe Bianco, who was able to capitalize a new and separate United States sales company for Lotus. By creating an unprecedented tax-incentived mechanism (wherein each investor received a specially personalized Lotus Turbo Esprit) the new American company, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. (LPCI,) was able to provide fresh capital to the British manufacturer. Former Ferrari North America general manager John Spiech was brought in to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable Giugiaro-designed Turbo Esprit for the first time. US sales quickly jumped into triple digits annually. This transaction was generally regarded as having saved Lotus from bankruptcy. LPCI was subsequently sold along with Group Lotus PLC to General Motors.

Chapman died of a heart attack in 1982 at the age of 54, having begun life an innkeeper's son and ended a multi-millionaire industrialist in post-war Britain. The car maker built tens of thousands of successful racing and road cars and won the Formula One World Championship seven times. At the time of his death he was linked with the DeLorean scandal over the use of government subsidies for the production of the DeLorean DMC-12 for which Lotus had designed the chassis.

In 1986, the company was bought by General Motors. On 27 August 1993, GM sold the company, for £30 million, to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, a company controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli, who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996, a majority share in Lotus was sold to Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), a Malaysian car company listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

The company also acts as an engineering consultancy, providing engineering development—particularly of suspension—for other car manufacturers. The lesser known Powertrain department is responsible for the design and development of the 4-cylinder Ecotec engine found in many of GM's Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, Chevrolet and Saturn cars. Today, the current Lotus Elise and Exige models use the 1.8L VVTL-i I4 from Toyota's late Celica GT-S and the Matrix XRS.

The company is organised as Group Lotus plc, which is divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.

Michael Kimberley took over as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Company and its Group from May 2006. He currently chairs the Executive Committee of Lotus Group International Limited ("LGIL") established in February 2006, with Syed Zainal Abidin (Managing Director of Proton Holdings Berhad) and Badrul Feisal (non-executive director of Proton Holdings Berhad). LGIL is the holding company of Lotus Group Plc.

Kimberley retired as CEO on 17 July 2009 and was replaced as CEO by Dany T Bahar on 1 October 2009. Bahar was formerly Senior Vice President, Commercial & Brand for Ferrari SpA where he was responsible for worldwide road car sales and after sales business, overall road car and F1 marketing activities, licensing, and merchandising business.

The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman.

Lincoln Logo

Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.

The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac (originally the Henry Ford Company). During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors. He formed the Lincoln Motor Company, named after Abraham Lincoln, his longtime hero, to build Liberty aircraft engines with his son Wilfred using cylinders supplied by Ford Motor Company. After the war, the company's factories were retooled to manufacture luxury automobiles. The Lincoln Motor Company was active until April 30, 1940. The following day, it became the Lincoln Division of Ford Motor Company.

Purchase by Ford

The company encountered severe financial troubles during the transition, coupled with body styling that wasn't comparable to other luxury makers, and after having produced only 150 Lincoln L-series cars in 1922, was forced into bankruptcy and sold for US$8,000,000 to the Ford Motor Company on February 4, 1922, which went to pay off some of the creditors.

The purchase of Lincoln was a personal triumph for Henry Ford, who had been forced out of his second company (after Detroit Automobile Company) by a group of investors led by Leland. Ford's company, renamed Cadillac in 1902 and purchased by rival General Motors in 1909, was Lincoln's chief competitor. Henry had previously produced luxury vehicles under the Ford name, called the Ford Model B in 1904, the Ford Model F in 1905, and the Ford Model K in 1906 but they weren't accepted by the automotive buying market. When Henry acquired Lincoln, it quickly became one of America's top selling luxury brands alongside Cadillac, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon, Peerless, Duesenberg, and Packard. Ford made no immediate change, either in the chassis or the V8 L-head engine which was rated 36.4 SAE and produced 90 bhp (67 kW; 91 PS) at 2,800 rpm. An unusual feature of this power unit was the 60 degree separation of the cylinder blocks that helped to cut down on synchronous vibration found with similar engines with 90 degree separation produced at the time. After the Ford takeover, bodywork changes and reduced prices increased sales to 5,512 vehicles from March to December 1922.

At the direction of Henry's son Edsel, in 1923 several body styles were introduced, that included two- and three-window, four door sedans and a phaeton that accommodated four passengers. They also offered a two passenger roadster and a seven passenger touring sedan and limousine, which was sold for $5,200. A sedan, limo, cabriolet and town car were also offered by coachbuilders Fleetwood, Derham and Dietrich, and a second cabriolet was offered by coachbuilder Brunn. Lincoln contracted with dozens of coachbuilders during the 1920s and early 30s to create multiple custom built vehicles, to include American, Anderson, Babcock, Holbrook, Judkins, Lang, LeBaron, Locke, Murray, Towson, and Willoughby in the 1920s. Murphy, Rollston, and Waterhouse were added in the 1930s.

Prices for the vehicles built by these coachbuilders went for as much as $7,200, and despite the limited market appeal, Lincoln sales rose about 45 percent to produce 7,875 cars and the company was operating at a profit by the end of 1923.

In 1924 large touring sedans began to be used by police departments around the country. They were known as Police Flyers, which were equipped with four wheel brakes, two years before they were introduced on private sale vehicles. These specially equipped vehicles, with bulletproof windshields measuring 7/8 of an inch thick and spot lights mounted on the ends of the windshield, also came with an automatic windshield wiper for the driver and a hand operated wiper for the front passenger. Police whistles were coupled to the exhaust system and gun racks were also fitted to these vehicles.

Optional equipment was not necessarily an issue with Lincolns sold during the 1920s, however, customers who wanted special items were accommodated. A nickel plated radiator shell could be installed for $25, varnished natural wood wheels were $15, or Rudge-Whitworth center-lock wire wheels for another $100. Disteel steel disc wheels were also available for $60. Lincoln chose not to make yearly model changes, used as a marketing tool of the time, designed to lure new customers. Lincoln customers of the time were known to purchase more than one Lincoln with different bodywork, so changing the vehicle yearly was not done to accommodate their customer base. In 1927, Lincoln attached a greyhound as the hood ornament, then in the 1930s used a coat of arms with a red cross in the center and a knights helmet at the top as the official emblem. The introduction of a coat of arms for Lincoln coincided with the introduction of a Ford coat of arms starting in the mid-1950s. The coat of arms appeared on various Lincoln models until the mid 1950s where the coat of arms evolved into the framed four pointed star that is currently in use.

In 1932, Lincoln introduced the V12-powered KB platform along side the V8 powered KA platform with an all new streamlined appearance. In 1933, Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie, at the styling studio created by Edsel Ford, began designing the smaller Lincoln-Zephyr, which led to the first Continental, a bespoke one-off specially created for Edsel Ford, Henry's son.

Lexus Logo

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has ranked among the ten largest Japanese global brands in market value. Lexus is headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, with major operational centers in Brussels, Belgium, and Torrance, California, United States.

Lexus originated from a clandestine flagship sedan project, code-named F1, which began in 1983 and culminated in the launch of the original Lexus LS in 1989. Subsequently, the division added sedan, coupé, convertible, and SUV models. In 2005, a hybrid version of the RX crossover debuted, and additional hybrid models later joined the division's lineup. In 2007, Lexus launched its own F marque performance division with the debut of the IS F sport sedan, followed by the LFA supercar in 2009.

From the start of production, Lexus vehicles have been produced in Japan, with manufacturing centered in the Chūbu and Kyūshū regions, and in particular at Toyota's Tahara, Aichi, Chūbu and Miyata, Fukuoka, Kyūshū plants. Assembly of the first Lexus built outside the country, the Ontario, Canada-produced RX 330, began in 2003. Following a corporate reorganization from 2001 to 2005, Lexus also operates its own design, engineering, and manufacturing centers, solely responsible for the division's vehicles.

Since the 2000s, Lexus has increased sales outside its largest market in the United States through an ongoing global expansion. The division inaugurated dealerships in Japan's domestic market in 2005, becoming the first Japanese premium car marque to launch in its country of origin. Further debuts in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and other export regions have since followed. The division's lineup has also been expanded to reflect regional specifications in model and powertrain configurations.

Land Rover Logo

Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) group. It is the second oldest four-wheel-drive car brand in the world (after Jeep).

The Land Rover name was originally used by the Rover Company for one specific vehicle model, named simply the Land Rover, launched by Rover in 1948. Over the following years it developed into a marque encompassing a range of four-wheel-drive models, including the Defender, Discovery, Freelander, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover Evoque. Land Rovers are currently assembled in the company's Halewood and Solihull plants, with research and development taking place at JLR's Gaydon and Whitley engineering centres. Land Rover sold 194,000 vehicles worldwide in 2009.

Land Rover has had several owners during its history. In 1967 the Rover Company became part of Leyland Motor Corporation and in 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation itself merged with British Motor Holdings to form British Leyland. In the 1980s British Leyland was broken-up and in 1988 Rover Group, including Land Rover, was acquired by British Aerospace. In 1994 Rover Group was acquired by BMW. In 2000 Rover Group was broken-up by BMW and Land Rover was sold to Ford Motor Company, becoming part of its Premier Automotive Group. In June 2008 Ford sold both Land Rover and Jaguar Cars to Tata Motors.

The design for the original Land Rover vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, Anglesey. It is said that he was inspired by an American World War II Jeep that he used one summer at his holiday home in Wales. The first Land Rover prototype, later nicknamed 'Centre Steer', was built on a Jeep chassis.

The early choice of colour was dictated by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so early vehicles only came in various shades of light green; all models until recently feature sturdy box section ladder-frame chassis.

The early vehicles, such as the Series I, were field-tested at Long Bennington and designed to be field-serviced; advertisements for Rovers cite vehicles driven thousands of miles on banana oil. Now with more complex service requirements this is less of an option. The British Army maintains the use of the mechanically simple 2.5-litre four-cylinder 300TDi engined versions rather than the electronically controlled 2.5-litre five-cylinder TD5 to retain some servicing simplicity. This engine also continued in use in some export markets using units built at a Ford plant in Brazil, where Land Rovers were built under license and the engine was also used in Ford pick-up trucks built locally. Production of the TDi engine ended in the United Kingdom in 2006, meaning that Land Rover no longer offers it as an option. International Motors of Brazil offer an engine called the 2.8 TGV Power Torque, which is essentially a 2.8-litre version of the 300TDi, with a corresponding increase in power and torque. All power is combined with an All-Terrain Traction Control which gives active terrain response; Ferrari uses a similar system in race traction.

During its ownership by Ford, Land Rover was associated with Jaguar. In many countries they shared a common sales and distribution network (including shared dealerships), and some models shared components and production facilities.

Lancia Logo

Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat Group in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage. Some modern Lancias are seen as presenting a more luxurious alternative to the models in the Fiat range upon which they are based. One of the firm's trademarks is the use of letters of the Greek alphabet as the names of its models.

Lancia was founded on 29 November 1906 in Turin by Vincenzo Lancia and his friend Claudio Fogolin, both being Fiat racing drivers, as Lancia & C. The first Lancia automobile the "tipo 51" or 12 HP (later called Alfa) was made in 1907 and produced from 1908. This car had a small four cylinder engine with a power of 58 bhp. In 1937 Vincenzo died of a heart attack, and his wife Adele Miglietti Lancia and his son Gianni Lancia took over the firm. They persuaded Vittorio Jano to join Lancia as an engineer. Jano had already made a name for himself by constructing the Alfa Romeo 1750 Sport Alfa Romeo 6C, 2300, 2900, P2 Alfa Romeo P2 and P3 Alfa Romeo P3, some of the most successful racers of its time.

Lancia is famous for many automotive innovations. These include the 1913 Theta, which was the first production car in Europe to feature a complete electrical system as standard equipment. The first car with a monocoque-type body – the Lambda, produced from 1922 to 1931 also featured 'Sliding Pillar' independent front suspension that incorporated the spring and hydraulic damper into a single unit (and featured on most production Lancias until the Appia was replaced in 1963). 1948 saw the first 5 speed gearbox to be fitted to a production car (Series 3 Ardea). Lancia premiered the first full-production V6 engine, in the 1950 Aurelia, after earlier industry-leading experiments with V8 and V12 engine configurations. It was also the first company to produce a V4 engine. Also, Lancia pioneered the use of independent suspension in production cars, in an era where live axles were common practice for both the front and rear axles of a car. They also developed rear transaxles which were fitted to the Aurelia and Flaminia ranges. The innovativeness, constant quest for excellence, the fixation of quality, the complication of the construction processes and the antiqued machinery meant that all cars essentially had to be hand-made. With little commonality between the various models, the cost of production continued to increase extensively, while demand did not.

The original Lancia logo was designed by Count Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia. The logo shows a lance and shield with flag. The Turin automobile museum is named after him as Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile “Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia”. The logo was redesigned in 2007.

Lamborghini Logo

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini, is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like Ferrari.

The company's first models were released in the mid-1960s, and were noted for their refinement, power and comfort. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coupé, which established mid-engine design as the standard layout for high-performance cars of the era. After a decade of rapid growth, hard times befell the company in the mid-1970s, as sales plunged in the wake of the 1973 world financial downturn and oil crisis. After going through bankruptcy and three changes in ownership, Lamborghini came under the corporate umbrella of the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. The American company failed to return the automaker to profitability and sold it to Indonesian interests in 1994. Lamborghini's lack of success continued through the 1990s, until the company was sold in 1998 to Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group (a German automotive concern). Audi's ownership marked the beginning of a period of stability and increased productivity for Lamborghini, with sales increasing nearly tenfold over the course of the 2000s, peaking in record sales in 2007 and 2008. The world financial crisis in the late 2000s negatively affected luxury car makers worldwide, and saw Lamborghini's sales drop back to pre-2006 levels.

Assembly of Lamborghini cars continues to take place at the automaker's ancestral home in Sant'Agata Bolognese, where engine and automobile production lines run side-by-side at the company's single factory. Fewer than 3,000 cars roll off the production line each year. The flagship V12-powered Murciélago coupé and roadster were discontinued at the end of 2010. Its successor, the Lamborghini Aventador, was released on 28 February 2011.

KTM Logo

KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer. The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen. In 1954 KTM began producing motorcycles.

KTM is most commonly known for its off road motorcycles though in recent years it has expanded into street motorcycle production.

The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metalworking shop and was named Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen. It wasn't until 1953 that KTM began production of motorcycles. With just 20 employees, motorcycles were built at the rate of three per day. In 1955, a businessman Ernst Kronreif became shareholder of the company, on acquiring a sizable portion of the company. It was then renamed Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen. Hans Trunkenpolz died in 1962 of a heart attack with his son Erich taking his place in the company. During these early years of motorcycle production at KTM, almost all components for the motorcycles were built in-house by KTM.

Koenigsegg Logo

Koenigsegg Automotive AB is a Swedish manufacturer of high-performance sports cars based in Ängelholm.

The company was founded in 1994 in Sweden by Christian von Koenigsegg, with the intention of producing a world-class supercar. Many years of development and prototyping led to the company's first street-legal production car delivery in 2002.

Koenigsegg Automotive AB is a non-listed free traded Swedish Public Company. The Company has around 90 shareholders. As the company is free trading the amount of shareholders can vary. Christian von Koenigsegg is the CEO and a major shareholder.

In 2006, Koenigsegg began production of the CCX, which uses an engine created especially for that vehicle. The CCX is street-legal in most countries.

Apart from developing manufacturing and selling the Koenigsegg line of supercars, Koenigsegg is also involved in "green technology" development programs, including the CCXR ("Flower Power") flexfuel supercar. Koenigsegg is also active in development programs when it comes to plug-in electric cars' systems and next-generation combustion engine technologies.

In March 2009 the Koenigsegg CCXR was chosen by Forbes to be one of the ten most beautiful cars in history.

In December 2010 the Koenigsegg Agera won the prestigious BBC Top Gear Hypercar of the Year Award.

In September 2011 the Koenigsegg Agera R broke the Guinness World Record - 0-300-0 km/h with a time of just 21.19 seconds.

Kia Logo

Kia Motors, headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010. The company is partly owned by the Hyundai Motor Group and since August 2009 has been led by Hyoung-Keun (Hank) Lee.

The word Kia derives from Korean words meaning "to arise to the world from Asia".

According to Kia Motors, the name "Kia" derives from the Sino-Korean words ki ("to come out") and a (which stands for Asia), it is roughly translated as "arise or come up out of Asia" or "rising out of Asia".

More literally, Kia is a Persian name meaning king, protector, and defender, which may also to attribute homage to over 2500 year legacy of Persian monarchy and civilization at the cultural crossroads of the Silk Road that historically connected East and West. These attributes are reinforced by Kia's naming of some models, and its defense division.

South Korea's oldest car company, Kia was founded on June 9, 1944 as a manufacturer of steel tubing and bicycle parts by hand – and has operated as one of the country's Chaebols since. In 1951 Kia began building complete bicycles. In 1952, Kia changed its name from Kyungsung Precision Industry, and later built motorcycles (starting in 1957), trucks (1962) and cars (1974). The company opened its first integrated automotive assembly plant in 1973, the Sohari Plant. Starting in 1986, in partnership with Ford, Kia produced several Mazda derived vehicles for both domestic sales in South Korea into other countries. These models include the Pride (based on the Mazda 121) and Avella, which were sold in North America and Australasia as the Ford Festiva and Ford Aspire.

In 1992, Kia Motors America was incorporated in the United States. The first Kia-branded vehicles in the United States were sold from four dealerships in Portland, Oregon in February 1994. Since then, Kia expanded methodically one region at a time. Dealers in 1994 sold the Sephia, and a few years later the United States line expanded with the addition of the Sportage.

During the Asian financial crisis, Kia declared bankruptcy in 1997; in 1998 Hyundai Motor Company acquired 51% of the company outbidding Ford Motor Company which had owned an interest in Kia Motors since 1986. After subsequent divestments, Hyundai Motor Company owns less than 50% of the company.

Since 2005, Kia has focused on the European market and has identified design as its "core future growth engine"—leading to the hiring of Peter Schreyer in 2006 as Chief Design Officer and his subsequent creation of a new corporate grille known as the 'Tiger Nose'.

In October 2006, Kia Motors America broke ground for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in West Point, Georgia, representing a $1 billion USD investment for the company. Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia opened in February 2010, after Kia recorded its 15th consecutive year of increased U.S. market share.

Jeep Logo

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler (itself a subsidiary of Fiat). The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle (SUV) brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second oldest 4-wheel-drive brand. The original Jeep vehicle that first appeared as the prototype Bantam BRC became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the United States Army and Allies during World War II, as well as the postwar period. Many Jeep variants serving similar military and civilian roles have since been created in other nations.

There are many explanations of the origin of the word jeep, all of which have proven difficult to verify. The most widely held theory is that the military designation of GP begat the term Jeep and holds that the vehicle bore the designation GP (for Government Purposes or General Purpose), which was phonetically slurred into the word jeep. However, an alternate view launched by R. Lee Ermey, on his television series Mail Call, disputes this, saying that the vehicle was designed for specific duties, and was never referred to as "General Purpose" and it is highly unlikely that the average jeep-driving GI would have been familiar with this designation. The Ford GPW abbreviation actually meant (G for government use, P to designate its 80-inch (2,000 mm) wheelbase and W to indicate its Willys-Overland designed engine).

Many, including Ermey, suggest that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicles that they informally named it after Eugene the Jeep, a character in the Popeye cartoons created by E. C. Segar. Eugene the Jeep was Popeye's "jungle pet" and was "small, able to move between dimensions and could solve seemingly impossible problems."

Words of the Fighting Forces by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in the library at The Pentagon gives this definition:

Jeep: A four-wheel drive vehicle of one-half- to one-and-one-half-ton capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the ½-ton command vehicle. Also referred to as "any small plane, helicopter, or gadget."

This definition is supported by the use of the term "jeep carrier" to refer to the Navy's small escort carriers.

Early in 1941, Willys-Overland demonstrated the vehicle's off-road capability by having it drive up the steps of the United States Capitol, driven by Willys test driver Irving "Red" Haussman, who had recently heard soldiers at Fort Holabird calling it a "jeep." When asked by syndicated columnist Katherine Hillyer for the Washington Daily News (or by a bystander, according to another account) what it was called, Irving answered, "It's a jeep."

Katherine Hillyer's article was published nationally on February 20, 1941, and included a picture of the vehicle with the caption:

LAWMAKERS TAKE A RIDE- With Senator Meade, of New York, at the wheel, and Representative Thomas, of New Jersey, sitting beside him, one of the Army's new scout cars, known as "jeeps" or "quads", climbs up the Capitol steps in a demonstration yesterday. Soldiers in the rear seat for gunners were unperturbed.

Although the term was also military slang for vehicles that were untried or untested, this exposure caused all other jeep references to fade, leaving the 4x4 with the name.

Jaguar Logo

Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar, is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors.

Jaguar was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company by Sir William Lyons in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before evolving into passenger cars. The name was changed to Jaguar after WWII to avoid the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials. Following a merger with the British Motor Corporation in 1968, subsequently subsumed by Leyland, which itself was later nationalised as British Leyland, Jaguar was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Ford in 1989. Jaguar has, in recent years, manufactured cars for the Prime Minister, the most recent delivery being a XJ model on 11 May 2010. The company also holds royal warrants from HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Charles.

Jaguar cars today are designed in Jaguar Land Rover's engineering centres at the Whitley plant in Coventry and at their Gaydon site in Warwickshire, and are manufactured in Jaguar's Castle Bromwich assembly plant near Birmingham.

Infiniti Logo

Infiniti is the luxury division of automaker Nissan. Infiniti officially started selling vehicles on November 8, 1989 in North America. Marketing operations have since grown to include the Middle East, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, China, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Infiniti began sales in additional European markets in late 2008. The marketing network for Infiniti-branded vehicles now includes over 230 dealers in over 15 countries.

The marque is not used in Japan and the automaker markets most of equivalent Infiniti models domestically as Nissans: Infiniti G as the Nissan Skyline sedan and coupe, Infiniti M as the Nissan Fuga, Infiniti EX as the Nissan Skyline crossover, and Infiniti Q45 as the Nissan Cima. The Infiniti FX has no Nissan equivalent and is not sold in Japan. The first generation Infiniti Q45 was sold as the Nissan Infiniti Q45 in Japan.

Hyundai Logo

Hyundai is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung. The first Hyundai company was founded in 1947 as a construction company.

Hyundai Headquarters Building in Seoul

Two of the best-known Hyundai divisions are Hyundai Motor Company, the world's fourth largest automobile manufacturer by volume as of January 2011, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipbuilder. Other companies currently or formerly controlled by members of Chung's extended family may be loosely referred to as a part of the Hyundai chaebol.

In 1998 Hyundai bought Kia Motors, the oldest South Korean car company which had to file for bankruptcy due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Kia is (as of 2011) somewhat independent of Hyundai motors, as Hyundai no longer owns an outright majority of Kia shares.

Hyundai Group underwent a massive restructuring following the 1997 East Asian financial crisis and Chung Ju-yung's death in 2001. Chung was the CEO and directly in control of the company until the end of his life. Today many companies bearing the name Hyundai are not part of or legally connected to the Hyundai Group. These companies include Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, Hyundai Department Store Group, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, and Hyundai Development Group. However, all of the named companies are run by Chung's sons or their heirs.

Following the break-up, Hyundai Group's business was reduced to manufacturing of elevators, container shipping services, and tourism.

If Hyundai is considered as a family business, then it remains the single largest company in South Korea and appears to wield enormous economic and political power in the country. The current president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, was a former CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction.

Hummer Logo

Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors (GM) purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were based on smaller, civilian-market GM platforms.

By 2008, Hummer's viability in the economic downturn was being questioned, and it was placed under review by GM management. Rather than being transferred to Motors Liquidation Company as part of the GM bankruptcy in 2009, the brand was retained by GM, in order to investigate its sale.

In 2009, a Chinese manufacturer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, announced that it would acquire Hummer, pending government approvals, but later withdrew its bid. On February 24, 2010, Reuters reported that the Chinese ministry of commerce had prevented the deal, although a ministry spokesperson denied rejecting the application, which had been stalled for eight months. At the end of February, General Motors announced it would begin dismantling the Hummer brand.

Although the automaker announced two days later that it had been approached with new offers, by April 2010, any sale became unlikely, as inventory was depleted and Hummer dealerships began shutting down. After filling a rental-car fleet order, the last Hummer H3 rolled off the line at Shreveport on May 24, 2010.

Hulme Logo

The Hulme F1 is an expected sports car manufactured by New Zealand boutique company Hulme Supercars Ltd. Its name is taken after the 1967 Formula One World Champion, New Zealander Denny Hulme. It is powered by the 7.0 L LS7 V8 sourced from the Chevrolet Corvette C6 and produces 600 hp (450 kW) However, mated to a 2,182.7 lb (990.1 kg) weight gives it a power-to-weight ratio of 3.6 lb (1.6 kg) per hp.

Competitors include the Koenigsegg CCX, Saleen S7, Bugatti Veyron 16.4, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, McLaren F1, Lamborghini Murciélago, Pagani Zonda, Maserati MC12, Enzo Ferrari and Porsche Carrera GT.

Honda Logo

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.

Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda surpassed Nissan in 2001 to become the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer. As of August 2008, Honda surpassed Chrysler as the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, amongst others. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, scheduled to be released in 2011. Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into R&D.

From a young age, Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda (本田 宗一郎, Honda Sōichirō) (November 17, 1906 – August 5, 1991) had a great interest in automobiles. He worked as a mechanic at a Japanese tuning shop, Art Shokai, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. A self-taught engineer, he later worked on a piston design which he hoped to sell to Toyota. The first drafts of his design were rejected, and Soichiro worked painstakingly to perfect the design, even going back to school and pawning his wife's jewelry for collateral. Eventually, he won a contract with Toyota and built a factory to construct pistons for them, which was destroyed in an earthquake. Due to a gasoline shortage during World War II, Honda was unable to use his car, and his novel idea of attaching a small engine to his bicycle attracted much curiosity. He then established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Calling upon 18,000 bicycle shop owners across Japan to take part in revitalizing a nation torn apart by war, Soichiro received enough capital to engineer his first motorcycle, the Honda Cub. This marked the beginning of Honda Motor Company, which would grow a short time later to be the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964.

The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck, which went on sale in August 1963. Powered by a small 356 cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car, which followed the T360 into production in October 1963. Its chain driven rear wheels point to Honda's motorcycle origins.

Holden Logo

GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors (GM) in 1931. After the GM takeover, the company was named General Motors-Holden's Ltd, becoming Holden Ltd in 1998, with the current name adopted in 2005.

Holden has taken charge of GM's vehicle operations in Australasia, and on their behalf, held partial ownership of GM Daewoo in South Korea between 2002 and 2009. Holden has offered a broad range of locally produced vehicles, supplemented by imported GM models. Holden has offered badge engineered Chevrolet, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, and Vauxhall Motors models in sharing arrangements, with Daewoo, Opel and Isuzu-sourced models sold currently.

All Australian-built Holden vehicles are manufactured at Elizabeth in South Australia, and engines are produced at the Fishermans Bend plant in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia, with GM's New Zealand subsidiary Holden New Zealand operating a plant until 1990. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until 1996.

Although Holden's involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability.

Gumpert Logo

Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH is a German, Altenburg-based company manufacturing supercars. The first model produced was the Gumpert Apollo, followed by the Apollo Sport in 2007. Gumpert also offer the Apollo Race. The founder and owner of Gumpert is Roland Gumpert, former Director of Audi Sport. Under his management, Audi won a total of 25 World Rally Championship races and 4 World Rally Championship titles.

In 2001 Roland Gumpert proposed a new generation sports car. One of the first concerns of this car was that it be a street-legal car, ready for the race track. Gumpert returned to Germany at the end of 2001, after more than three years in China. There he was the head of sales and marketing, responsible for the development of the dealer network of the Audi-VW joint enterprise. Just after he returned to Germany, Roland Meyer asked him if he would assist him in building a prototype sports car. Audi approved Gumpert's involvement in this project, on the condition that, if they did eventually develop a new sports car, it would not be a prototype, but a series product.

Gumpert Tornante

The company was founded in 2004 under the name GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH. The technical guidelines were defined and the first designs of the car were drawn by Marco Vanetta. Upon Vanetta's completion of this process, the first 1:4 scale model of Gumpert's car was produced in 2002.

Gumpert continued with the development of the Apollo, along with the Technical University of Munich and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences. They have assisted with the construction work, computer simulations, and wind tunnel tests. This research and development helped forming the blueprint for the first 1:1 scale model. Finally two prototype apollos were constructed. The production of the apollo started in October 2005.

On July 27, 2008 an Apollo Sport was featured on the UK show Top Gear. Richard Hammond and The Stig drove the Apollo Sport. With a lap time of 1.17.1, the Apollo Sport became the new leader on the Power Lap Board, 0.2 seconds faster than the former lap leader, the Ascari A10. The Apollo was faster than Bugatti Veyron and Pagani Zonda around the Top Gear track. The Ferrari FXX, later broke Apollo's record with a lap time of 1.10.1. However, the time was not kept due to the FXX's slick tires, which are not allowed under Top Gear rules (as all cars on the board must be legal for street use)

GMC Logo

GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and SUVs marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors Company. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac.

On December 22, 1901, Max Grabowsky established a company called the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines. In 1909, the company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for the General Motors Truck Company, from which "GMC Truck" brand name was derived.

Another independent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid and Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York International Auto Show. Some 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though GMC's contribution to that total was a mere 372 units. In GM's early decades, the initialism "GMC" was simply an abbreviation of "General Motors Corporation", and had some currency within GM referring to the corporate parent in general. Later "GMC" would become distinct as a division brand within the corporation, branding trucks and coaches; in contrast, the abbreviation for the overall corporation eventually ended up as "GM".

In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the U.S. military.

In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz. After purchasing the remaining portion in 1943, GM renamed it GM Truck and Coach Division. The Division manufactured interurban coaches until 1980. Transit bus production ended in May 1987. The Canadian plant (in London, Ontario) produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design.

In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years, a complete history of the company.

GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, light-duty trucks, and medium duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, and transit buses.

GM Logo

General Motors Company (NYSE: GM, TSX: GMM.U), commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated (until 2009) as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010. For the first half of 2011, GM was the world's largest automaker.

GM employs 209,000 people and does business in some 157 countries. General Motors produces cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sells and services these vehicles through the following divisions/brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden, as well as two joint ventures in China. GM's OnStar subsidiary provides vehicle safety, security and information services.

On June 8, 2009, General Motors filed for reorganization under the provisions of Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code. On July 10, 2009, with financing partially provided by the US Government, General Motors emerged from reorganization. GM was re-listed on the NYSE on November 18, 2010, setting the record for the largest IPO in US history with a value of $20.1 billion. Before the IPO, the U.S. government owned a 27% stake in GM, and the Canadian government still owns a 12% stake in the company. The Ontario government has owned a 3.8% stake in the company since 2009.

Ford Logo

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata Motors of India in March 2008. In 2010 Ford sold Volvo to Geely Automobile. Ford discontinued the Mercury brand after the 2011 model year.

Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914.

Ford is the second largest automaker in the U.S. and the fifth-largest in the world based on annual vehicle sales in 2010. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe. Ford is the eighth-ranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2009 of $118.3 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. During the automotive crisis, Ford's worldwide unit volume dropped to 4.817 million in 2009. In 2010, Ford earned a net profit of $6.6 billion and reduced its debt from $33.6 billion to $14.5 billion lowering interest payments by $1 billion following its 2009 net profit of $2.7 billion. Starting in 2007, Ford received more initial quality survey awards from J. D. Power and Associates than any other automaker. Five of Ford's vehicles ranked at the top of their categories and fourteen vehicles ranked in the top three.

Foose Logo

Foose began working on automobiles at age seven for his father's company, Project Design, in Santa Barbara, California. Encouraged by Ford and Preston Tucker designer Alex Tremulis, Foose started to attend the Art Center College of Design in 1982, however dropped out after two years due to financial difficulties. After working for four years at ASHA Corp., Foose returned to the Art Center to complete his education. After graduating in 1990, Foose worked full-time for Sterenberger Design and part-time for Boyd Coddington. In 1993, Foose resigned from Sterenberger to work for J Mays at Ford, however Coddington was able to convince Foose to work for him instead. Working for Coddington full-time, Foose eventually became the president of Coddington's company Hot Rods by Boyd. While working for Coddington, Foose designed many of Coddington's well known creations such as the Boydster I and II.

In 1998, with Hot Rods by Boyd facing bankruptcy, Foose left his position and with his wife Lynne started his own automotive and product design company called Foose Design in Huntington Beach, California. Foose's departure from Boyd's was not an amicable one as in a 2006 interview, Foose stated: "Boyd has chosen to not have any relations with me, since I stopped working at his shop." One of the main reasons for the bitter relationship between Boyd and Chip is claimed to be that Chip retained many of the talented builders from Boyd Coddington, where the departure of Mike and Charley was aired on "American Hot Rod".

Foose gained more exposure in 2003 as a result of a TLC documentary on his design and creation of a modified 2002 Ford Thunderbird called the Speedbird. In 2004, the TLC program Overhaulin' began to air with Foose as the star of show. At the 2005 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show, a unique 1969 Foose Designed Camaro Convertible was displayed, to be produced in a 500 car run by Unique Performance of Dallas Texas. Press releases following this period announced UP would also be handling the marketing of Foose's other custom car lines, including Hemisfear, along with the Foose 2006 Mustang Stallion. Foose also designed a paint scheme for 4 time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jeff Gordon to promote Dupont's Hot Hues paint line. In November 2007, Foose officially severed ties to Unique Performance following police action against UP for alleged illegal activities. In 2006, Foose launched a line of die cast replicas of many of his famous designs partnering with the makers of Johnny Lightning in the creation of JL Full Throttle. JL Full Throttle produced many of Foose's famous, award winning designs like Grand Master and Impression. The Impression subsequently won the prestigious Ridler prize. Also replicated were a number of cars from Overhaulin'. Announced at the(SEMA) show in 2006 was a pact between Foose and Ford to produce Foose designed Ford vehicles, the first of which was shown at the 2007 New York Auto Show.

Foose was retained as design consultant to provide architects with unique styling elements for the exterior and interior of the $275 million expansion of Detroit's MotorCity Casino, anticipated to be complete by the end of 2007.

As of 2010, Foose continues to operate Foose Design and provide design consultations to the Big Three automakers. Overhaulin' was canceled at the end of 2009.

Foose also finds time to serve as the Vice Chairman of the Progeria Research Foundation, California Chapter. (Foose's youngest sister died of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome.) Foose has also taken place in numerous children's charities such as Childhelp and Victory Junction Gang Camp. He was also named Grand Marshal of SEMA Show N' Shine public car show for children's charities. Foose also helped start the Ridemakerz customizable toy cars business in 2007.

Foose and his wife live in Southern California with their two children Brock and Katie.

Ferrari Logo

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has had great success.

Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari (literally "Ferrari Stable", and usually used to mean "Team Ferrari", it is correctly pronounced [skudeˈriːa]) in 1928 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared, and successfully raced, various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when he was hired by Alfa Romeo to head their motor racing department.

In 1941, Alfa Romeo was confiscated by the fascist government of Benito Mussolini as part of the Axis Powers' war effort. Enzo Ferrari's division was small enough to be unaffected by this. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for four years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse), Ferrari did in fact produce one race car, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period. It was the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed by the Allies in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946, after the war ended, and included a works for road car production. Until Il Commendatore's death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his racing operations.

The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 S, powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine; Enzo Ferrari reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund Scuderia Ferrari.

In 1988, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death later that year, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made. From 2002 to 2004, Ferrari introduced the Enzo, its fastest model at the time, in honor of the company's founder: Enzo Ferrari. It was restricted to only the most wealthy automobile enthusiasts, however, as each one cost $1.8 million apiece.

On 17 May 2009 in Maranello, Italy, a 1957 250 Testa Rossa (TR) was auctioned, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's, for $12.1 million — a world record at that time for the most expensive car ever sold at an auction. That record is now held by a Bugatti Atlantic which sold for over $28 million.

Fisker Logo

Fisker Automotive is an American automaker based in Anaheim, California. The company's first product, the Fisker Karma is among the world's few plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It debuted at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, creating the premium green car segment in which most major manufacturers have since announced they would compete.

An estimated 15,000 cars per year will be assembled by Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki, Finland. Valmet currently builds the Porsche Cayman and Boxster sports cars for Porsche AG.

Fisker originally intended to sell the Karma in late 2009 but, due to funding delays, is now aiming to deliver early customer orders sometime in late 2011. Fisker has announced that the Karma S hardtop convertible concept unveiled at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit will be available in 2012, at an unknown price. Fisker has said that it plans to have nearly 200 dealerships in Europe and North America by the end of 2011.

Henrik Fisker co-founded the company in 2007 with business partner Bernhard Koehler (Fisker Coachbuild) and Quantum Technologies after securing a relatively small investment from Gianfranco Pizzuto, an Italian businessman, and Palo Alto Investors. Henrik Fisker is responsible for designing some of the world's most iconic cars such as the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, Artega GT and BMW Z8. He also served as design director and sat on the board at Aston Martin. Prior to Fisker Automotive, Henrik Fisker and Koehler left Aston Martin in 2005 to establish Fisker Coachbuild, in an attempt to revive the art of coachbuilding automobiles to customer specifications. The Fisker Tramanto and Latigo utilized chassis and powertrains from Mercedes-Benz SL and BMW 6-Series automobiles. Several were purchased but the business soon gave way to Fisker Automotive, a true automobile manufacturer.

Fiat Logo

Fiat S.p.A., (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) (English: Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli. During its more than century long history, Fiat has also manufactured railway engines and carriages, military vehicles, and aircraft. As of 2009, Fiat group (not including Chrysler) was the world's ninth largest carmaker and the largest in Italy.

Fiat-based cars are built around the world. Outside Italy, the largest country of production is Brazil, where the Fiat brand is the market leader. The group also has factories in Argentina and Poland and a long history of licensing production of its products in other countries. It also has numerous alliances and joint ventures around the world, the principal ones being located in Italy, France, Turkey, Serbia, India and China.

Agnelli's grandson Gianni Agnelli was Fiat's chairman from 1966 until 1996; he then served as honorary chairman from 1996 until his death on 24 January 2003, during which time Cesare Romiti served as chairman. After their removal, Paolo Fresco served as chairman and Paolo Cantarella as CEO. Umberto Agnelli then took over as chairman from 2002 to 2004. After Umberto Agnelli's death on 28 May 2004, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was named chairman, with Agnelli heir John Elkann becoming vice chairman (at the age of 28), and other family members also serving on the board. At this point, CEO Giuseppe Morchio resigned, and Sergio Marchionne was named to replace him on 1 June 2004.

In September 2010, shareholders approved a plan to split Fiat's capital goods businesses from the group. Agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer CNH Global NV, truck maker Iveco, and the industrial and marine division of Fiat Powertrain Technologies were spun off into a new group on 1 January 2011. The parent company, Fiat Industrial S.p.A., was listed on the Milan stock exchange on 3 January 2011.

Ferrari Logo

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has had great success.

Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari (literally "Ferrari Stable", and usually used to mean "Team Ferrari", it is correctly pronounced [skudeˈriːa]) in 1928 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared, and successfully raced, various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when he was hired by Alfa Romeo to head their motor racing department.

In 1941, Alfa Romeo was confiscated by the fascist government of Benito Mussolini as part of the Axis Powers' war effort. Enzo Ferrari's division was small enough to be unaffected by this. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for four years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC (Scuderia Enzo Ferrari Auto Corse), Ferrari did in fact produce one race car, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period. It was the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed by the Allies in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946, after the war ended, and included a works for road car production. Until Il Commendatore's death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his racing operations.

The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 S, powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine; Enzo Ferrari reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund Scuderia Ferrari.

In 1988, Enzo Ferrari oversaw the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death later that year, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made. From 2002 to 2004, Ferrari introduced the Enzo, its fastest model at the time, in honor of the company's founder: Enzo Ferrari. It was restricted to only the most wealthy automobile enthusiasts, however, as each one cost $1.8 million apiece.

On 17 May 2009 in Maranello, Italy, a 1957 250 Testa Rossa (TR) was auctioned, by RM Auctions and Sotheby's, for $12.1 million — a world record at that time for the most expensive car ever sold at an auction. That record is now held by a Bugatti Atlantic which sold for over $28 million.

Factory Five Logo

Factory Five Racing, Inc. (FFR) is an American automobile company that designs and manufactures assembly kits for replicars and sports cars.

Elfin Logo

Elfin Sports Cars Pty Ltd is the current name of the car company which was founded by Garrie Cooper. It has been an Australian manufacturer of sports cars and motor racing cars since 1957.

Elfin Sports Cars is owned by the estate of former British racing driver Tom Walkinshaw, through his company Walkinshaw Performance which also owns Holden Special Vehicles. It was previously owned by businessmen and historic racing enthusiasts Bill Hemming and Nick Kovatch (who remains as technical director) who purchased it in 1998.

The current manufacturer location is at Braeside, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Elfin is the oldest continuous sports car maker in Australia and one of the most successful with 29 championships and major Grand Prix titles. The previous factory was located at Conmurra Avenue, Edwardstown in suburban Adelaide, South Australia.

The company was founded by Garrie Cooper, a successful championship driver and designer and builder of racing and sports/racing cars as Elfin Sports Car Company. In 1983, following the death of its founder, the firm was bought by Tasmanian Don Elliott, racing driver Tony Edmondson and mechanic John Porter who re-established the provision of parts and service to existing owners

Garrie Cooper died in 1982, at the age of 46. Cliff Cooper, Garrie's father, completed outstanding orders, including six new generation Formula Vees, before offering the business for sale as well as designing a new Formula Vee, the Crusader, and a Formula Brabham car.

In 1993, Victorian Murray Richards acquired Elfin and set out to build new generation Elfin Clubman called the Type 3. In failing health, he sold Elfin to Bill Hemming and Nick Kovatch in 1998.

Currently, Elfin is owned by the estate of British racing driver Tom Walkinshaw.

There is a heritage centre dedicated to Elfin Sports Cars in Melbourne, Australia. The centre features around 12 current and historic vehicles on display.

EDAG Logo

EDAG Engineering + Design AG is a German firm founded 1969 in Groß-Zimmern by Horst Eckard as eckard design. The headquarters are located in Fulda, Germany. The company has more than 4000 employees in 32 offices all over the world. It serves for new product development, production facility development, production system, aviation and spaceflight, tool development and subconstruction for automotive industry.

EDAG is noted for its concept cars such as EDAG Biwak estate concept on the Beetle, the EDAG Pontiac Solstice Hardtop and the EDAG Show Car No. 8 based on smart mechanicals.

Dodge Logo

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide.

Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900 to supply parts and assemblies for Detroit's growing auto industry, Dodge began making its own complete vehicles in 1915. The brand was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1928, passed through the short-lived DaimlerChrysler merger of 1998–2007 as part of the Chrysler Group, was a part of Chrysler LLC owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity investment firm, and is now a part of the Chrysler Group LLC which has an alliance with Fiat. Fiat has plans to evolve many Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep existing platforms and products into Fiat-Chrysler co-developed vehicles.

After the founding of the Dodge Brothers Company by Horace and John Dodge in 1900, the Detroit-based company quickly found work producing precision engine and chassis components for the city’s burgeoning number of automobile firms. Chief among these customers were the established Olds Motor Vehicle Company and the then-new Ford Motor Company. Dodge Brothers enjoyed much success in this field, but the brothers' growing wish to build complete vehicles was exemplified by John Dodge's 1913 exclamation that he was "tired of being carried around in Henry Ford's vest pocket."

By 1914, Horace had found a solution by creating the new four-cylinder Dodge Model 30. Marketed as a slightly more upscale competitor to the ubiquitous Ford Model T, it pioneered or made standard many features later taken for granted: all-steel body construction (the vast majority of cars worldwide still used wood-framing under steel panels, though Stoneleigh and BSA used steel bodies as early as 1911); 12-volt electrical system (6-volt systems would remain the norm until the 1950s); 35 horsepower (verses the Model T's 20), and sliding-gear transmission (the best-selling Model T would retain an antiquated planetary design until its demise in 1927). As a result of this, and the brothers' well-earned reputation for quality through the parts they made for other successful vehicles, Dodge Brothers cars were ranked at second place for U.S. sales as early as 1916. That same year, Henry Ford decided to stop paying stock dividends to finance the construction of his new River Rouge complex. This led the Dodges to file suit to protect their annual stock earnings of approximately one million dollars; this led Ford to buy out his shareholders, and the Dodges were paid some US$25 million.

Also in 1916, Dodge Brothers vehicles won acclaim for durability while in service with the U.S. Army's Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico. One notable instance was in May when the 6th Infantry received a reported sighting of Julio Cardenas, one of Villa's most trusted subordinates. Lt. George S. Patton led ten soldiers and two civilian guides in three Dodge Model 30 touring cars to conduct a raid at a ranch house in San Miguelito, Sonora. During the ensuing firefight the party killed three men, of whom one was identified as Cardenas. Patton's men tied the bodies to the hoods of the Dodges, returning to headquarters in Dublán and an excited reception from US newspapermen.