Our forums ... car reviews ...

 
Rootes Group, Chrysler Europe, SIMCA, and Talbot cars

Rootes / Talbot (Hillman, Humber, Matra, SIMCA, and Sunbeam) Resource

Our development stories and galleries cover the cars of the companies that would come together as Talbot, Chrysler Europe, and Rootes Group, including Simca, Hillman, Humber, SIMCA, Chrysler itself, Sunbeam, Singer, and Matra.

car financing - financing people with bad credit is our specialty.

Most companies that became part of Rootes Group were known for their high performance or their high quality. Most were pioneers, the earliest makers of motor vehicles, who started building cars when a good year meant hundreds of vehicles produced, not hundreds of thousands.

After Rootes took them over, some companies because no more than nameplates, while others found larger markets. When Rootes failed, Chrysler came in, rationalized the product lines and provided access to their electronics; they dropped some of the names that had become hollow, then brought everything together under the Chrysler UK banner. When Chrysler itself failed, it sold Rootes Group and SIMCA to Peugeot, which continued some lines under the Talbot name.

The Horizon was to be the last “Chrysler Europe” car to be produced, surviving in the US into 1990, and in some versions - including the Dodge Omni GLHS - continued the performance heritage of some of the companies that became Rootes. (The last true Rootes car, arguably, was the Arrow/Hunter series). We can only wonder what would have become of Hillman, Humber, Singer, and Sunbeam if the Rootes brothers had not bought them. Perhaps they would have carried on and been swallowed, but remained alive, like Jaguar, Aston-Martin, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley; perhaps they would have lived on the edge of disaster before passing on, like Rover; or perhaps they would have been the center of a vibrant British car industry. There is no way to tell. The tale of Rootes Group is not one of inspired leadership, though there is a good amount of inspired engineering... an all too familiar tale for Chrysler as well.

Joining British car companies together

Companies joining Rootes usually had their existing lines phased out and were relegated to being one of many brands sharing the same vehicles - not unlike what would happen at GM and Ford with their acquisitions. See the menus at left for full histories of each marque.

Singer started out with bicycles, moving to cars in the late 1800s, and having its first successful car in 1912. William Rootes got his start in the auto trade by buying fifty Singer Tens at their launch, reselling them at a profit; Singer was known for being nimble and technologically advanced before World War II, and afterwards gained a reputation for being good, solid, reliable transportation. Ironically, in 1955, a financially unsound Singer was acquired by Rootes.

Sunbeam started out not as a cycle-maker but as the project of a tin-plate maker; the first cars were sold in 1901, but the first modern and popular ones began in 1906, based loosely on a Peugeot design. Sunbeam, like Singer, saw a number of racing successes. In 1920, it merged with a French company, Darracq, which had just bought Clement-Talbot. Racing success continued into the 1920s, with high performance production cars as well. Racing turned out to be expensive, though, and like other independents, the company remained unpaid for work done in World War I, and the company was purchased piecemeal by Rootes with predictable results. Rootes ended up eliminating Sunbeam's factory and cars, making it the luxury carmaker; then eliminated the Sunbeam brand entirely, but eventually brought it back as Sunbeam-Talbot and, later, just Talbot.

Hillman, Humber, and Rover all originated in Coventry, a center of the cycle trade. William Hillman, an engineer, started in the cycle business, which made him a millionaire; his first car started in 1907 with 24 horsepower. His company was successful, largely with a 9 horsepower model introduced in 1913 and sold after World War I. Unfortunately, a brand new luxury straight-eight (2.6 liters) was introduced just as the Depression began, leaving the company in need of cash, leading to a merger with Humber (which was already under Rootes control). After the merger, Humber was positioned as the more expensive range, above Hillman, though the cars were mechanically similar in many ways.

SIMCA, Matra, and Talbot

In 1934 Henri Pigozzi founded Simca (Societe Industrielle de Mecanique et Carrosserie Automobile - translated it means an industrial company that makes car mechanics and bodywork) at Nanterre, France. Initially the company built Fiat cars under license. The successful Aronde models of 1951-60 marked the end of Fiat control, although the Fiat engine design continued to be used. However, the Fiat influence carried through to the 1000 series of 1960-79, of which over 1.6 million were built.

In the 1950s Simca bought Unic, Talbot, and Ford of France; in the latter deal, 15% of SIMCA shares were optioned to Ford, but they were sold to Chrysler, which began making the Aronde in Australia under their own name. Chrysler became the majority holder in 1963 and in 1969, merged SIMCA with Matra’s automotive division. In 1970, Chrysler took over just about all outstanding stock, with a 99.3% share, and dropped the SIMCA name in favor of their own. The new model programme initiated by Chrysler produced the succesful (2 million made over 1967 to 1982) 1100 series, which formed the basis of the Chrysler Europe Alpine and Horizon (and Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon too), and was briefly fielded in the States in the early 70's as the Simca 1204, one of the Chrysler's trio of captive import subcompacts (along with the Plymouth Cricket from Hillman and Dodge Colt from Mitsubishi). In 1978, Chrysler sold SIMCA to Peugeot, along with Rootes, for an almost impossibly small figure, SIMCA’s success being balanced by Rootes’ tendency to lose cash. After the Peugeot takeover, Chrysler Europe was renamed Talbot Groupe, after Sunbeam-Talbot in the UK and the French concern Talbot owned by SIMCA. The Simca name survived until 1981; Talbot was used thereafter.

The story of Matra is also interesting - the company has been responsible for a small number of influential vehicles.

Rootes Group cars including Singer, Sunbeam, Hillman, Humber, SIMCA, Chrysler Europe, and more!