Scottish engineer Alexander Wilson founded the company in Dusian Road, Vauxhall, London in 1857. Originally named Alex Wilson and Company, then Vauxhall Iron Works from 1897, the company built pumps and marine engines. In 1903 the company built its first car, a five-horsepower single cylinder model steered using a tiller, with two forward gears and no reverse gear. Around 70 cars were made in the first year before in 1904 the car was improved with wheel steering and a reverse gear. In 1905 the company moved to a large factory in Luton. The Company continued to trade under the name of Vauxhall Iron Works when it changed its name to Vauxhall Motors. The company was then noted for its sports model, but this changed after World War two to a more austere design. Different types of car models were produced by the company until the war when the factory was used to produce Churchill tanks. Despite bombing raids Over 5,600 Churchill tanks were built. Luton also produced around 250,000 Lorries for the war effort, alongside the new Bedford Dunstable plant, with Bedford designs being common in British use. Passenger car production resumed after the end of the Second World War the models were more mass-market than pre-war products, helping to drive an expansion of the company. A manufacturing plant at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was opened in 1962, initially making components to supply to the production lines in Luton, before passenger car production began there in 1964. Vauxhall cars then began to have a reptation to become rusty very quickly. However, regardless sales continued to grow as they do today. In 1991 a new corporate headquarters building for Vauxhall in Luton, Griffin House, was completed.
