Latest Information on Triumph

The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company with origins that trace back to 1885. It began when when Siegfried Bettmann formed S. Bettmann & Co in Nuremberg. He imported bicycles from Europe and sold them in London under his own trade name. In 1887 Bettmann went into a partnership with another German, Moritz Schulte and the trade name was changed to Triumph. By 1889, the two businessmen began their own bicycle production in Coventry, England. Some years later, approximately 1897, the company was renamed to the Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd.five years later to 1902, they began building Triumph motorcycles. Initially, they purchased and made use of another company’s engines. Once finances picked up they began producing their own engines. During the time when World War I erupted, the British Army had placed a massive order for the 550 cc Model H. Triumph had worked its way up to become Britain's largest manufacturer of motorcycles in 1918. A general manager who had joined the company in 1919, Claude Holbrook, persuaded Bettmann to acquire the assets of Clay Lane premises of the Dawson Car Company. This venture lead them to the automobile sector. Lea-Francis designed a 1.4-litre engine type named the Triumph 10/20 and collected a royalty from the company on every car sold. Production and sales proceeded at a moderate pace. The Triumph Super 7 was introduced in 1927 and sold really well until 1934. In 1930 the name was again changed to Triumph Motor Company. It became evident that they couldn’t compete with the larger car companies for the mass market. They, then, redirected toward the luxury car market to produce expensive cars. The Southern Cross and Gloria were then introduced in the line-up. Demise of Triumph The last vehicle to come from Triumph was a rebadged Honda Ballade labelled as the Acclaim. It was introduced in 1981 and was built under a licence from the Japanese. When the Acclaim was replaced by the the Rover 200, the Triumph name began fading and disappeared by 1984. BMW acquired Triumph upon purchase of the Rover Group in 1994. It then sold Rover to the Phoenix Consortium and refused to sell the Triumph division threatening to cancel the entire deal. The Triumph brand was then transferred to the British Motor Heritage Limited who have a licence for the sale of spares and service for existing Triumph cars.