Triumph Motor Company

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Triumph Motor Company

Founded	1885; 139 years ago (1885) (as S. Bettmann & Co. Import Export Agency)
Defunct	1984 (1984)
Fate	Acquired by Leyland Motors (1960) marque retired (1984) marque acquired by BMW (1994)
Headquarters	Coventry, England, UK
Key people	Siegfried Bettmann, Moritz Schulte (founders)
Parent	Standard Motors Ltd, Leyland Motors Ltd., British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd, BL plc

The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company in the 19th and 20th centuries. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg formed S. Bettmann & Co. and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them under his own trade name in London. The trade name became "Triumph" the following year, and in 1887 Bettmann was joined by a partner, Moritz Schulte, also from Germany. In 1889, the businessmen started producing their own bicycles in Coventry, England.

Triumph manufactured its first car in 1923.^[1] The company was acquired by Leyland Motors in 1960, ultimately becoming part of the giant conglomerate British Leyland (BL) in 1968, where the Triumph brand was absorbed into BL's Specialist Division alongside former Leyland stablemates Rover and Jaguar. Triumph-badged vehicles were produced by BL until 1984 when the Triumph marque was retired, where it remained dormant under the auspices of BL's successor company Rover Group. The rights to the Triumph marque are currently owned by BMW, who purchased the Rover Group in 1994.