Dennis: История английского производителя транспортных средств

Manufacturer

Dennis Specialist Vehicles was an English manufacturer of commercial vehicles based in Guildford, building buses, fire engines, lorries (trucks) and municipal vehicles such as dustcarts. All vehicles were made to order to the customer's requirements and more strongly built than mass production equivalents. For most of the 20th century the Dennis company was Guildford's main employer. Following a decade of financial difficulties original shareholders sold out in 1972 and Dennis's ownership has since passed through quite a number of hands. The Woodbridge site was sold and a new small factory built in Slyfield remains in use by lineal business descendant, bus maker Alexander Dennis. No Dennis haulage trucks have been built since 1985. The last Dennis fire engine left the Guildford factory in 2007. The Dennis brand is still used on Alexander Dennis buses, Dennis Eagle dustcarts and Dennis mowers.

Dennis Brothers was founded in 1895 by brothers John Cawsey Dennis (1871–1939) and (Herbert) Raymond Dennis (1878–1939) who made Speed King bicycles. They built the bicycles, initially from bought in parts, and sold them from their shop, The Universal Athletic Stores, in High Street, Guildford. They made their first motor vehicle in 1898, and in 1899, their first car, The Dennis Light Doctor's Car. Though shown at the National Cycle Show this car was never put into production. Their range of cars was quickly extended to 12 hp, 14 hp, 16 and 20 hp chassis fitted with tourer, town car and limousine bodies. From the Dennis Brothers stand at the 1903 Crystal Palace Motor Show the brothers sold almost £30,000 worth of cars and took many more orders. Larger models followed their first light cars. A 35 hp model in 1906 was powered by a White and Poppe engine. This power unit was soon fitted to all their vehicles.

Until well into the early years of the twentieth century the back wheels of most vehicles were driven by a chain from each side of a differential fixed to the chassis frame. Dennis Brothers developed and patented a reliable worm drive into a differential mounted on the back axle. Another feature of that period was spring drive, a torsional shock absorber mounted at the input end of the drive line. The last car was made in 1913 after the Dennis brothers saw there was less competition in the commercial vehicle market. The rate of growth of the business may be gauged from the regular expansions on their new site at Woodbridge Hill on the outskirts of Guildford — in 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1913. In 1913 Dennis Brothers moved their main operations to a new much larger building of almost four acres on the twelve acre site at Woodbridge leaving their purpose built Onslow Street premises solely for repairs. In March 1913 the investing public learnt that Dennis Brothers was a manufacturer of motor vans, motor lorries, motor fire engines, motor cars etc. The brothers' offer of shares to the public was substantially over subscribed and Dennis Brothers Limited became a publicly listed company. Rising international tensions precipitated a major contract for supply of 1,000 3 ton "subsidy" lorries to private buyers on terms set by the War Office. Taking the subsidy obliged the buyer to release the vehicle to the War Office in time of war. Materials had been ordered but no subvention lorries completed when the situation changed.

After August 1914's outbreak of hostilities production was reduced to the subvention type 3 ton military lorries, now supplied directly to the War Office, and the Dennis turbine fire engine. The Ministry of Munitions took complete control of the whole business in 1915. New buildings were added to contain the manufacture of munitions.

Following 1918's armistice there was a glut of war surplus vehicles and a consequent collapse in demand for new trucks. The swap gave Dennis Brothers the controlling interest in White and Poppe. Alfred White and Peter Poppe joined the Dennis Brothers board but it was not until March 1933 in the midst of the 1930s depression that engine production was transferred from Coventry to Guildford. One chassis was used for both lorries and buses. In the 1920s Dennis began to design and build separate chassis for their public service vehicles (buses) with a lower ride height. Pneumatic tyres were introduced. Forward control buses were added to their catalogue in the same decade. Both brothers died in 1939 and they are commemorated in the names of Dennisville's St John's Road and Raymond Crescent.

During the Second World War the Ministry of Supply restricted Dennis to lorries and allocated bus production to Daimler and Guy. Rolls Royce diesel engines replaced Dennis petrol engines in the fire engines during 1951. New show vehicles in 1952 included a 5½ litre Centaur chassis with platform body, a Pax chassis with tipping gear and a lightweight body and the Stork chassis. The AV1, a new diesel ambulance chassis, returned ambulances to the Dennis product line up during 1954. The next year an updated heavy fire engine chassis received Rolls Royce fully automatic gearboxes. They were not yet in production but Dennis revealed their plans for new Loline model doubledeck buses at the end of 1956. Built with Dennis components they used a patented Bristol Lodekka chassis. The Dennis version was for the independent section of the market Bristol was unable to supply. During 1957 sales in both home and export markets fell. Demand for commercial vehicles did not recover after the Suez Crisis. The new Loline buses were in service and a variant new chassis was now available with front entry providing driver control of the door.

In the 1960s engines moved to the back of the buses. In April 1964 Dennis purchased the industrial tractor manufacturer Mercury Truck & Tractor Company, also Mercury Airfield Equipment that manufactured airport tugs and later baggage trailers and ground units, and Mercury Snow Control. Potential passenger customers preferred their new vehicles front entrance and rear engined and Dennis had no bus in production to meet those requirements. Dennis chose to end bus manufacture in 1965 and concentrate on lorries which also faced declining demand. The disputes ended when the rebels were unable to find a buyer for the Dennis business at an acceptable price. Major changes were made to management and to the directorate. The following year turnover grew again and profits seemed to have made improvement. New capital was found for an expansion and modernisation programme and twelve months later the new chairman reported activities had been split into six clear cut divisions and claimed they were "poised for recovery". The shareholders were faced with continuing losses. Responding to their invitation John King of Pollard Ball took up the challenge and accepted the position of chairman of the board. Julian Amery, a former Minister of Aviation, joined the board as did a new CEO and a new finance director. The workforce of 1,300 was cut by 150, mostly white collar workers. A banker was added to the directorate. At King's suggestion Dennis Motor Holdings, was formed on 15 January 1970 as a holding company with all part time directors. In June the chairman announced much greater losses in the subsequent half year but he remained optimistic. They listed their products as: commercial vehicles, fire engines, refuse collection vehicles and aircraft tractors. In 1971/72, Dennis sold 101 houses in Slyfield's Woking Road and in Midleton Road, Dennisville.

Trinity Holdings, the management of the Vehicle Division of Hestair Engineering with the backing of banking institutions, bought Dennis from Hestair. Geoff Hollyhead, former head of the Vehicle Division, led the management buyout and was appointed chairman and CEO. The stated intention was to relist the Dennis group back on the London Stock Exchange. Hestair Specialist Vehicles Limited was renamed Specialist Vehicles Limited on 7 March 1989. Dennis and Duple had developed the Dart, a midibus bought by London Transport as a one man operated bus to replace their AEC Routemasters. At the end of 1989 Dart bodywork production moved from the closed Duple to Carlyle Works in Birmingham. The Dart was followed by the Lance which used independent front suspension to allow a low floor halfway down the vehicle. The next year Guildford factory moved to Slyfield Industrial Estate and into new premises allowing room to increase production. Carmichael Fire, a rival manufacturer of a range extending from Land Rover based fire tenders up to 8 x 8 airfield crash tenders, was rescued from its parent's receiver in 1992. As intended Trinity Holdings was successfully floated in 1992. At that time it was described as a group of famous motor engineering names including Dennis fire engines, buses and dustcarts, Duple bus kits and Reliance Mercury airport tenders. Trinity claimed it was Europe's largest specialist vehicle producer making specialised products for niche markets. Dennis held 40 per cent of the British fire engine market, the Dart mid sized bus was Britain's biggest seller. In 1993, Trinity entered a joint venture with UMW in Malaysia to build buses in Malaysia from Guildford built chassis kits and Duple Metsec body kits. Trinity withdrew from the venture in 1998. In December 1995, Trinity purchased the aircraft and cargo handling division of ML Holdings: Douglas Equipment and Schopf. In October 1997 Trinity rebranded itself as the Dennis Group. It also revealed an order from Stagecoach Group for 100 Dennis Dart double decker buses. In the first half of 1997, it produced made more than 1,000 buses and fire engines, restructured the assembly plant at Warwick and expanded its Guildford plant increasing capacity 25 per cent.

Henlys Group, the new name for Plaxton, made buses which it often mounted on Dennis chassis. For some years they had together made double deckers for Hong Kong and British Columbia and mini buses for English customers. The Dennis and Henlys combined production held 40 per cent of the British market. Combined along with third partner Volvo they held the biggest share of the US market. It seemed logical to put the Henlys and Dennis businesses together and Henlys made an offer to Dennis Group shareholders. Mayflower, an engineering group that owned bus bodybuilder Walter Alexander, felt threatened by the almost completed Henlys Dennis tie up and launched a bid for Dennis. Volvo responded by announcing its backing for the Henlys Dennis merger. Mayflower revealed a proposed alliance with Daimler Benz including collaboration on development of chassis, technical support, power unit supply and worldwide distribution. Mayflower was angling for the Dennis Henlys (and Volvo) strong position in the US bus market. It was believed Dennis's low floor bus chassis design would fit the expected US demand for wheelchair friendly buses and less polluting bus engines. That market was estimated to be around 15,000 vehicles each year. Mayflower's other core division, Mayflower Vehicle Systems, supplied panels to European and US manufacturers. Mayflower won the contested takeover bid for Dennis Group and within a few months disposed of two Dennis subsidiaries it did not want. Subsequent events showed Mayflower paid too much for Dennis.

Carmichael International, Worcester manufacturer of appliances from Land Rover based vehicles to all wheel drive Cobra 2 airfield crash tenders, was sold in February 1999. Dennis Eagle, Douglas Equipment and Schopf were sold in July 1999 to NatWest Equity Partners.

Over 7,000 Dennis 3 Ton lorries were built for the War Department during World War I. These 3 Ton lorries could reach 55 miles per hour and climb gradients as steep as 1 in 6.

Dennis were noted as specialist makers of refuse collection trucks, with compactors, bin lifters, tipper body emptying and other specialised features for this market. The same market is now served by Dennis Eagle.