This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2021) |
Company type | Division |
---|---|
Industry | Automotive |
Predecessor | Bedford Vehicles |
Founded | 1987 |
Founder | David J.B. Brown |
Defunct | 1992 | (AWD Trucks)
Fate | Merged with Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group in 1992, the Multidrive Vehicles sub-brand is still active though. |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Military vehicles trucks |
Owner | Caterpillar (for Multidrive Vehicles) |
Parent | Caterpillar |
Website | https://multidrivevehicles.com/ (for Multidrive Vehicles) |
AWD Trucks (All Wheel Drive) was a British truck manufacturer that produced Bedford trucks from 1987 to 1992, until it was merged with Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group. The last truck of the company was discontinued in 1998, and so the Bedford name became entirely defunct at that time. There is another British based company called AWD Company Limited Of Camberley in Surrey England an entirely different original brandname who were specialized in developing and manufacturing all wheel driven lorries, earthmoving machinery and other 4WD 6WD roadvehicles founded in 1958 production ended in 1966.
In 1986, General Motors decided to sell their Bedford heavy-duty truck division to David J.B. Brown, who was the founder of Artix Limited, while they re-formed the Bedford light truck division into IBC Vehicles. Brown restarted production of the heavy-duty trucks (Bedford TJ, Bedford TK, Bedford MK, and Bedford TL) under the AWD Trucks name in 1987, since the Bedford name was owned by General Motors, but was only used in light vans such as the Bedford Midi and Bedford Rascal, both of which were designs of Suzuki and Isuzu. The now-called AWD Trucks were mostly made for the export market, on which they were very popular, but in Britain, they were only bought by the construction industry and the military. [1]
At that time Brown opened a new firm called Multidrive Vehicles that built 8x6 versions of the AWD TK and AWD TL, mostly for the military and special services. In 1992 the AWD brand was merged with Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group and the only truck that was kept in production was the very outdated Bedford TJ (which was now called AWD TJ), because it was a very good export seller, especially in Pakistan and India, but nevertheless, the production of the truck ended in 1998, and that was the end of the Bedford name. By that time the AWD company had achieved £3 billion of exports and gained 4 Queen's Awards to Industry, with an annual turnover of £400 million. [2]
In 1996 David J.B. Brown sold the Multidrive Vehicles company to Caterpillar. Brown then became a design consultant for the Cat 7 Series ADT. The Bedford trucks that were built by Multidrive Vehicles, were modernized, re-skinned, and were re-badged to Caterpillar vehicles. [2]
These Caterpillar trucks were exported to many countries and were also used in the Gulf War, in Bosnia, Kosovo, and in other countries. The company re-entered the British market in 2001, and also started exports to South Africa that same year. In 2003 the company started producing a whole new range of military vehicles, but the production of the older trucks did not stop. With the death of Brown in 2006, the company was bought by Dr Qu Li. [2]
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2022) |
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.
A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case providing an additional output drive shaft and, in many instances, additional gear ranges.
Pegaso was a Spanish manufacturer of trucks, buses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, to train apprentices, and have a good brand image, some sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in the old Hispano-Suiza factory, under the direction of the renowned automotive engineer Wifredo Ricart. In 1990, Iveco took over Enasa, and the Pegaso name became a secondary brand of Iveco.
Leyland Motors Limited was an English vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1967, respectively. It gave its name to the British Leyland Motor Corporation, formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, to become British Leyland after being nationalised. British Leyland later changed its name to simply BL, then in 1986 to Rover Group.
The Mitsubishi Magna is a mid-size car that was produced over three generations between 1985 and 2005 by Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL). Developed as a replacement for the Mitsubishi Sigma, each Magna generation derived from Japanese platforms re-engineered for the Australian market and conditions. Initially, Magna offered inline-four engines in a mid-size sedan package—a station wagon debuted in 1987. Over the years, each new series grew in size, and with the second generation of 1991, the range was bolstered by a luxury variant called Mitsubishi Verada and a V6 engine. The Magna/Verada became the first Australian-made vehicle to be exported worldwide in large numbers, predominantly as the Mitsubishi Diamante. The third and final iteration Magna/Verada launched in 1996, adding all-wheel-drive (AWD) from 2002, and receiving a substantial styling update in 2003. They were replaced by the Mitsubishi 380 in 2005.
Marshall Group, formerly Marshall of Cambridge, is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and design company located at Cambridge City Airport. Other subsidiaries are Marshall Land Systems, Marshall Slingsby Advanced Composites, Marshall Fleet Solutions, Marshall Futureworx, Marshall Skills Academy and Marshall Property. Marshall also owns and operates the airport itself.
Associated Equipment Company (AEC) was a British vehicle manufacturer that built buses, motorcoaches and trucks from 1912 until 1979. The name Associated Equipment Company was hardly ever used; instead, it traded under the AEC and ACLO brands. During World War One, AEC was the most prolific British lorry manufacturer, after building London's buses before the war.
Opel Blitz was the name given to various light and middleweight trucks built by the German Opel automobile manufacturer between 1930 and 1975. The original logo for this truck, two stripes arranged loosely like a lightning symbol in the form of a horizontally stretched letter "Z", still appears in the current Opel logo. The Blitz name was then applied to the British-made Bedford CF when it replaced the Blitz in certain markets.
Bedford Vehicles, usually shortened to just Bedford, was a brand of vehicle manufactured by Vauxhall Motors, then a subsidiary of multinational corporation General Motors. Established in April 1931, Bedford Vehicles was set up to build commercial vehicles. The company was a leading international lorry brand, with substantial export sales of light, medium, and heavy lorries throughout the world.
ERF was a British truck manufacturer established in 1933 by Edwin Richard Foden, from whose initials the company was named. Its factory in Middlewich closed in 2002, and it was discontinued as a marque by owner MAN in 2007.
The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s was a manufacturer of trucks and trolley buses. Marmon-Herrington had a partnership with Ford Motor Company, producing trucks and other commercial vehicles, such as buses. The company may be best known for its all-wheel-drive conversions to other truck maker's units, especially to Ford truck models. Founded in 1931, Marmon-Herrington was based in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a plant in Windsor, Ontario, and remained in Indianapolis until 1963. It is now based in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Bedford TJ is a truck that was produced by Bedford and its successors from 1958 to 1998, as a replacement for the earlier Bedford A series of medium-duty trucks that were built between 1953 and 1958. The TJ was the last bonneted truck produced by the company, and the last vehicle to be produced to have a relation with Bedford.
The Isuzu Fargo is a light commercial van manufactured between 1980 and 2001 by Japanese automaker Isuzu in Japan. The Fargo spanned two generations, the first of which was sold between 1980 and 1995 as both van and pickup body styles, with the second generation, introduced in 1995, confined to a single van body style. This second generation was a badge-engineered version of the Nissan Caravan (E24), as opposed to an Isuzu design.
The Bedford TM was a heavy goods vehicle manufactured by Bedford between 1974 and 1986. Up until the TM, Bedford had been building mostly low-specification short haul distribution trucks, such as the Bedford TK and KM. In view of the increasing popularity of high cabs in the maximum weight long distance category, such as the Leyland Marathon, Scania L110 and Volvo F88, Bedford designed the TM as a competitor.
The Bedford TK was a truck manufactured by Bedford. Launched in 1960 to replace the Bedford S type, the TK was scheduled to be replaced by the Bedford TL in 1981, but manufacturing of the TK continued as a cheaper alternative. A military 4x4 version, the Bedford MK, was also produced. After Bedford's Dunstable factory was sold in 1987 to AWD, the TK restarted production for military only use until 1992 when AWD was placed in receivership.
The Bedford Dunstable plant was a truck and bus vehicle assembly plant, located in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. Developed and opened by Vauxhall Motors in 1942 under instruction from the Ministry of Production as a shadow factory, it was transferred to the Bedford Vehicles unit in the 1950s. Closed after receivership in 1992, it was subsequently demolished and redeveloped as a retail park and associated industrial estate.
The Bedford TL was a truck manufactured by Bedford. Launched in June 1980, the TL was intended to complement the Bedford TK, on which it was heavily based. One of the main advantages of the TL over the TK was the incorporation of a tilt cab, improving maintenance. A tilt cab was a feature of the TK's main competitor, the Ford D series, and had long been seen as a major advantage.
An all-wheel drive vehicle is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand.
Roughly 720,000 cars per year are being sold in Nigeria every year. Only c. 140.000 of them have been built domestically.
The Bedford TA is a medium-duty truck produced by Bedford Vehicles from 1953 to 1958, as a replacement for the older Bedford K/M/O series. In total around 200,000 TA trucks were built, until it was eventually modernised as the newer TJ.