Fiat, Opel and Renault were founded, in one form or another, 117 years ago in 1899. Fiat controls Chrysler, Jeep and Ferrari, the international crown jewel of fast cars, and also holds the most number of European Car of the Year trophies. Opel has spent 87 years of its life as a General Motors subsidiary (and one of Opel’s cleverest cars in recent years is the Meriva). Renault, which merged with Nissan in 1999, has a rich history dotted with dynamic designs and has always been active in motorsports, with the French firm’s involvement filtering through to RenaultSport road cars.
Both Audi and Suzuki turned 100 years old in 2009, but are on opposite ends of the prestige scale. Bugatti, too, became a centenarian brand that year, and its corporate owner Volkswagen marked the milestone with yet another spectacular supercar costing over a million euros, the Veyron Bleu Centenaire Edition.
Andre Citroen’s eponymous French marque (whose greatest hits include the C4 Cactus) is just three years away from its 100th birthday in 2019. British luxury marque Bentley will also blow out 100 candles on its birthday cake in three years’ time.
Honda and Land Rover are patriotic postwar car companies that have achieved varying degrees of corporate/technological/sales success since their establishment in 1949.
