Britax
Britax (London) Ltd., a supplier of accessories for motorcycles and cars, of Maida Vale, London NW6
See also -
1949-56 Maker of motorcycles
1956 Britax returned to the accessory business but took over the Cyclemaster line for a while.
By 1960 the company's address was Byfleet - presumably part of Proctor Industries by this time
1961 Mr O. A. Proctor acquired Excelsior Motor Co and presumably transferred Proctor Industries, including Britax, into it.
1963 As part of a reorganisation the Britax safety belt business was injected into the Excelsior Motor Co; this led to a substantial turn-around in its commercial fortunes; the company's mechanism for safety belts had been accepted in Germany and Sweden[1]
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Seat belts
c.1968 Name of Excelsior Motor Co was changed to Britax Excelsior Ltd[2]
1969 Introduced Anco wiper blades Anco?
1971 The Proctor family sold its Britax-Excelsior safety equipment firm to Griffiths Bentley[3]
1973 Bristol Street Group acquired Griffiths Bentley, including Britax[4]
1979-1985 The Britax name made a come-back on an Italian 50cc fold-up moped known as the Kari-Bike.
1980 Exhibitors at the 1980 Motor Show included:
- Britax
- Britax (Dynasafe)
- Britax Excelsior
- Britax (GECO)
- Britax (Lenmark)
- Britax (PMG)
- Britax (Vega)
- Britax (Weathershields)
- Britax (Wingard)
1988 The Britax car seat belt business was sold to Electrolux, prompted by technical problems and the need for large investment facing the industry; would continue to make child safety seats[5]
1997 Owners, BSG International, changed its name to Britax International after disposing of its Bristol Street car dealerships in a management buyout[6] Britax acquired the Buderus Sell Group of Germanys, maker of aircraft interiors[7]
1998 Acquired Public Safety Equipment of USA, maker of sirens, "lightbars" and beacons for emergency vehicles, a field in which Britax already was a market leader in the UK, as well as in0car surveillance systems for police cars[8]
1999 Britax had 4 core divisions:[9]
- Aircraft interiors
- Rear vision mirros
- Automatic video surveillance and sirens
- Child safety seats
2000 Sold RVS, maker of wing mirrors, to Reitter and Shefenacker of Germany; the company would focus on aircraft interiors and child safety seats[10]
c.2000 Accounting problems at the Britax Rumbold subsidiary, maker of aircraft components.
2001 Management buy-out to take the firm private[11]. The business was acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland
2005 Sold the Teutonia push chair businesss and put the other parts of the childcare unit (which made a number of the pushchairs as well as child safety seats) up for sale[12]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times Jan. 24, 1964
- ↑ The Times Jan. 8, 1969
- ↑ The Times Oct. 16, 1971
- ↑ The Times, Oct. 20, 1973
- ↑ The Times Mar. 30, 1988
- ↑ The Times, Mar. 19, 1997
- ↑ The Times Mar. 18, 1998
- ↑ The Times June 16, 1998
- ↑ The Times Sept. 22, 1999
- ↑ The Times June 27, 2000
- ↑ The Times y, July 5, 2001
- ↑ The Times May 14, 2005
- The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X
- 1963 Motor Show
- The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle by Peter Henshaw. Published 2007. ISBN 978 1 8401 3967 9