Asquith Motors is an English

commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. Depending on laws and designations, a commercial vehicle can be any broad type of motor vehicle used commercially or for business purposes. Classi ...

manufacturer of hand built replicas since 1981 and originally based in

Braintree, Essex Braintree is a town in Essex, England, and is the principal settlement of Braintree District. It is located north-east of Chelmsford, west of Colchester and north-west of Southend-on-Sea. According to the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Cens ...

. The company was founded by Bruce West, who designed the logo, created the name and designed all the early vehicles. His concept was to create modern vehicles with the potential of mass advertising through the appeal of historic vehicles. In 1984, West sold the moulds to Hunnable Holdings of Yeldham,

Great Yeldham Great Yeldham is a village in north Essex, England, about from the Suffolk border. It is situated along the main A1017 road (formerly A604) between Braintree and Haverhill. History Great Yeldham contains the ''Great Oak'', an old preserve ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Mr West started building "

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

-style" delivery vans on the

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a panel van, cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford ...

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

in 1982. In 1991, the company announced production of a 1930s-style

taxi cab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

that would meet the London Public Carriage Office regulations on a purpose-built chassis. Originally based in Braintree in Essex, Asquith employed 30 full-time craftsmen who handmade over 1,000 vehicles, many exported to countries as far away as Paraguay, Japan and USA, though Germany has always been the biggest export market. In the late 1990s after the sale to Hunnables, the company experienced some challenges. The cost of manufacture had increased, research and development on new vehicles including the

London Taxi A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common sight on t ...

had spiralled and a large Japanese order was cancelled due to increases in the exchange rate. The company was forced into receivership. The company was purchased from the liquidators by Mike Edgar in 1997. He built a team of designers led by Paul Keegan and engineers led by Eddie Parsons. Further investment was required to move the company forward and Edgar soon found that UK manufacture was too expensive and sought partnerships in other countries. At the time, relationships were established with third-party companies in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(Spain) and

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

(Poland). In 2003, the molds and intellectual property rights were purchased by Simon Rhodes and Asquith Motors was established to develop new versions of the original vehicles. Due to various quality, language and distance issues with the overseas companies, it was decided to stop them manufacturing further vehicles. In 2005, Asquith Motors bought the assets of the 'Vintage Motor Company Ltd', based in

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. The main assets included The Royale Windsor (a 1940s-style limousine) and The Royale Sabre (a 1940s-style sports car). These are due to manufactured in the future. In 2009, Asquith Motors appointed John Barlow, a well known and respected car designer and engineer, to develop new moulds for the Shire and Mascot, to be based on the Iveco Daily chassis. Launch of these vehicles was due in early 2010 and enquiries had been received from companies all over the world, who appreciated the classic style to advertise their business. No such model was ever produced though. As of September 2020, the website claims to have three new products in development; The Mascot eight seater bus, the smaller Shetland electric van and numerous vintage style trailers. These will be based on Iveco Daily commercial vehicles. No official launch date is set, apart from a twitter post in June 2019 announcing that the "New Asquith Shire is coming soon...".

External links

Official website
{{Commons category, Asquith vehicles Car manufacturers of the United Kingdom Motor vehicle manufacturers of England Companies based in Essex Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1981 1981 establishments in England Vehicle manufacturers operating in Essex