Entrepreneurship, a term coined today to replace ‘research’, is not new. It emerged years, decades ago, and in the case of the automotive industry, many of the most famous automobile brands made their way to world recognition in cork factories, looms, bicycles, even as manufacturers of agricultural machinery.
That is what the towering Porshe and Lamborghini, which originally made tractors, have in common. The two great wars of the 20th century and the economic crises pushed them to innovate. BMW and Bentley made airplane engines before starting their powerful and fast cars.
Others made grinders like the French Peugeot and the circumstances of the wars led others to produce weapons and military vehicles or combat planes. Citroën made industrial shells and gears.
For years those transitions closed them in something very different. Transitions that originated from an opportunity due to the vision of its founders or simply to fulfill a dream that led them to embark on a transformative adventure: engines, speed, power, luxury and design on four wheels.
peugeot It was founded by Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frederic Peugeot. Between the two locks, the old family mill is a steel foundry to manufacture coffee, pepper or salt mills, tools such as steel saws and precision tools. He also made velocipedes, the first bicycles and in 1889 Armand Peugeot made a three-wheeled steam car; and a year later he made his first gasoline-powered car, the four-wheeled T2 powered by a Daimler engine.
sling The Japanese brand of Sochihiro Honda, after the war, began with engines to adapt them to bicycles, because with the ruin in which the country was left, there was no money to buy other vehicles. In 1947 they built the first moped made by Honda, two years later the first motorcycle. The Type A, Honda’s first complete moped, was built in 1947, followed in 1949 by the D-Type Dream, the first motorcycle. The S-360 was Honda’s first four-wheeler in 1962, it was an open-top two-seater.
Hyundai. The beginnings of the Korean were in a sale of rice. After World War II, Hyundai Togun, the company that gave life to the Hyundai Group, dedicated itself to construction. In 1967, Hyundai Motors began activities in the construction of ships and shipyards, in the 70s it ventured into electronics and in the 80s in cars. The first vehicles were made on a low budget under license from Mitsubishi.
Lamborghini. At the end of World War II, Ferruccio Lamborghini saw Italy’s need for tractors. In 1948, Lamborghini Trattori was launched which had engines from Mercedes-Benz. In 1965 he opened a new factory and started selling them with his own engines. The profitability of the tractors gave Ferrucció the opportunity to fulfill his dreams, to make cars to compete with Enzo Ferrari.
In 1963 Lamborghini built its factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese, where the V-12 350 GT, a sports coupe, came from. And three years later, at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, he presented the radical Miura concept car, with which his reputation as a super sports car builder was born.
Jaguar cars. Motorcycle sidecars were the first products of William Lyons in 1922 with his Swallow Sidecar Company, in Blackpool, England. In 1927 SS (by Swallow Sidecar) made a two-seater body to mount on an Austin Seven chassis. In 1930 it started selling complete cars like the SS1 coupe. The name SS was not well regarded due to its connotations of war and its association with the fearsome German police, which is why it began to be called Jaguar. In 1948 the XK120 sports car was launched.
Mitsubishi. Its origins date back to 1873 as a shipping company, then expanded into coal mining which led to shipbuilding, and then railways, storage, finance and insurance. In 1917 he built the Model A, his first production passenger car. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries emerged in 1934 as a supplier of heavy machinery, aircraft, and industrial equipment. This is how they made the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane of World War II.
skoda. It was born as a bicycle shop of its founders, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement, in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic. Soon they had their own brand of bicycles, Slavia. Next, retrofit a gas engine. This is how the Slavia Motocyclette was born, and years later they entered the automotive industry with their first car, the Voiturette A.
Tata Group. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata set up a financial trading company in 1868, then moved into the textile industry (Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company) in 1874. Years later into hospitality by opening his Taj Mahal Palace hotel. The group also linked up with new companies in the energy business, the airline business and finally the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, the forerunner of Tata Motors. Thus we introduced in 1998 the Tata Indica, the first car made in India. Years later he introduced his Nano and became the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover.
Suzuki. Michio Suzuki created the Suzuki Loom Works in Hamamatsu in 1909, which was later renamed the Suzuki Look Manufacturing Company in 1920. After the ravages of war at its facilities, it consolidated its operations in Shizouka in 1945. Two years later it returned to Hamamatsu and launched into the construction of a two-stroke gasoline engine moped, the Power Free, in 1952. After the success in sales, it consolidated itself as a motorcycle manufacturer and in October 1955 it introduced the Suzulite, a 360 minicar. cm3.
Porsche. The manufacturer of powerful German super sports cars began its legend as a manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Although it was also a prestigious company as an engineering consultant and the development of electrification projects and production of war material for other companies.
Mazda. Toyo Cork Kogyo, which was the name of the firm in its beginnings, was dedicated to the manufacture and transformation of cork. A strong earthquake in the 1920s turned the company towards the automotive industry. In 1927 the natural phenomenon gave rise to Ahura Mazda, a company that in 1931 presented its first vehicle, the Mazda Da.
Toyota. Toyoda Automatic Loom started in the loom business and later expanded into the vehicle business by creating the Toyota Motor Corporation.
bmw. It was born on March 7, 1916 at the Otto-Werke plant, as a manufacturer of aircraft engines with which it achieved great success, interrupted by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) that prohibited the manufacture of aircraft engines. The alternative is the construction of motorcycles. Its first model the R32 with an 8.5 horsepower engine. Years later, in 1928, BMW buys the Eisenach factory and starts manufacturing automobiles. From there comes the Austin Seven under the name ‘Dixi 3/15 PS’, which after its development goes on sale under the name of BMW 3/15 PS DA 2.
