23 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

Who owns the Triumph brand? There are bikes, cars and a brand of office cabinets using the same badge. Or is it just a licence to use on a given product like Wolseley, Roll Royce and Healey etc?

"When BMW bought the Rover Group from British Aerospace in 1994, it inherited a number of ‘heritage brands’, including Austin, Morris, Wolesley, Riley and Triumph. After BMW broke up and sold off Rover in 2000, it retained Mini, Riley and Triumph. The other defunct auto badges remained in the Rover portfolio."
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle.aspx?AR=261537

[Dan]

Triumph cars and Triumph bikes have been separate organisations for ages Oh and I believe there is also a Triumph who make bras and underwear that also use the same badge. Firms own trademarks specifically in relation to certain products in many cases, do you know why Daimler Chrysler have to call their cars Mercedes rather than Daimlers? It's pretty easy to tell what BMWs plans are from the marques and names they kept ownership of when they sold Rover off. All they ever wanted from Rover in the first place was Mini, Triumph and Hydra-gas suspension according to some sources.

[l_jonez]

When this was in the press last year apparently BMW are in some sort of legal battle with triumph bikes to the ownership of the logo/branding

[DeanP]

do you know why Daimler Chrysler have to call their cars Mercedes rather than Daimlers?

Because Jaguar owns the Daimler brand... lol.... seriously.

[DeanP]

When this was in the press last year apparently BMW are in some sort of legal battle with triumph bikes to the ownership of the logo/branding

This is why I get confused. Triumph cars was the "world" badge, the bikes was the word Triumph with the scoup underneath and Triumph Racing "TR" was the leaves. I guess like VW before them when they thought they bought Rolls Royce cars of Crewe, you don't always get what you think. It would be very funny, if Austin Rover in the 80's paid to use the name Triumph on it's Acclaim to the license holder who now runs the bike business. Remember in the seventies it was all government owned (including the bikes), so no real legal issues.

Edited by DeanP, 04 March 2012 - 08:24 PM.

[DeanP]

Taken from Wiki:

When Triumph Engineering went into receivership in 1983, John Bloor bought the name and manufacturing rights from the Official Receiver.^[2] The new company's manufacturing plant and its designs were not able to compete against the Japanese, so Bloor decided against relaunching Triumph immediately. Initially,

I guess it would be interesting to know, exactly what he bought..... hmmmmm To be honest, you'd buy the whole hog if Triumph Engineering owned it. Exactly how much did Rover know they could use as they hadn't used the name for nearly 20 years themselves, conveniently ending not long after Bloor bought it.... food for thought perhaps...

Edited by DeanP, 04 March 2012 - 08:39 PM.

[Dan]

The only Triumph actual model name I think BMW have is TR4 for some reason.

Because Jaguar owns the Daimler brand... lol.... seriously.

Seriously, I do know and it's not that simple. Yes Jaguar own it now, which I suppose means that Tata own it really. When Daimler and Benz invented (for the sake of argument) the car they sold licences to produce them under the Daimler name to seperate companies in just about every country you could imagine might be able to produce one. That resulted in a huge legal battle when the companies all got big enough to trade internationally, there were loads of different Daimlers from different companies all at once. Ultimately it all got sorted out and Daimler found himself in the position of not being able to use his own name because the winner so to speak was Swallow Side Cars. I know it's not all that stunning, it was just a demonstration of how ownership of trademarks can get out of hand.

[mab01uk]

Also from the Wiki:
In 1936, (Triumph's) two components became separate companies. Triumph always struggled to make a profit from cars, and after becoming bankrupt in 1939 was acquired by the Standard Motor Company. The motorcycle operations fared better, having been acquired in 1936 by Jack Sangster.........
http://en.wikipedia....mph_Engineering

The Standard Motor Company purchased the Triumph Motor Company in 1945 which had gone into receivership in 1939 for £75,000. Triumph was reformed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard named "Triumph Motor Company (1945) Limited". By the later 1950s the small Standards were losing out in the UK market to more modern competitor designs, and the Triumph name was believed to be more marketable; hence the 1959 replacement for the Eight, Ten and Pennant was badged as the Triumph Herald; with substantial mechanical components carried over from the small Standards.
The Standard-Triumph company was eventually bought in 1960 by Leyland Motors Ltd which paid £20 million and the last Standard, an Ensign Deluxe was produced in the UK in May 1963, when the final Vanguard models were replaced by the Triumph 2000 model. Triumphs continued when Leyland became British Leyland Motor Corporation (later BL) in 1968. The Standard brand was ended on August 17, 1970 when a sudden announcement said that henceforth the Company was to be known as the Triumph Motor Company. The Standard name has been unused in Europe since then and the Triumph or Rover Triumph BL subsidiary used the former Standard engineering and production facilities at Canley in Coventry until the plant was closed in 1980.
BMW acquired the Standard and Triumph brands following its purchase of BL's successor Rover Group in 1994. When most of Rover was sold in 2000, BMW kept the Standard brand along with Triumph, MINI and Riley. The management of British Motor Heritage Ltd, gained the rights to the Standard Brand upon their management purchase of this company from BMW in 2001.
There was talk of a possible revival of the Standard name by MG Rover for its importation of the TATA Indica. However, for reasons relating to the ownership of the brand by BMW, the car was finally launched as the CityRover.
http://en.wikipedia....h_Motor_Company

Edited by mab01uk, 04 March 2012 - 11:48 PM.

[minimarco]

there is also a Triumph who make bras and underwear that also use the same badge.

I told my mom I wanted to buy a Triumph (bike) and she thought i was talking about a bra (triumph is mostly known for brassiers in asia).