The Rootes Group: From Growth to takeover

This article focuses on how a disparate group of firms was put together by the Rootes brothers in the late 1920s and early 1930s through a series of takeovers and mergers, catapulting the brothers from being simply car dealers to becoming major manufacturers in less than a decade. The article considers the wartime and post-war experiences of the firm, before proceeding to examine why, within a relatively short time, the firm, despite further merger activity, declined in terms of product development, investment and profitability, and was saved from extinction only by being taken over by the American firm, Chrysler.