Alvis plc

The strategic aim of Alvis is to achieve above average returns to shareholders through profitable growth in the market for military vehicles and related products. In turn, this requires that we satisfy the aspirations of our customers and employees in a high degree. In pursuit of this aim Alvis employs a business formula which combines: high quality applications engineering and project management; concentration on "high-end" product niches; intense efforts to understand our customer needs and match our product offerings to them; global marketing reach; and a management style which mixes delegation and encouragement of entrepreneurship with simple but effective controls. The company changes its name to the Alvis Car & Engineering Co. Ltd. The company shortens its name to Alvis Ltd. as it diversifies and begins designing and manufacturing aircraft engines and armored vehicles. Alvis enters the light armored vehicle field with the launch of its Saladin and Saracen high-mobility vehicles. United Scientific Holdings undergoes restructuring, focusing on armored vehicles and changing its name to Alvis Holdings Plc. Alvis reaches an agreement to acquire Hägglunds Vehicle AB, the largest light-armored vehicle maker in Scandinavia. Alvis merges with GKN's light-armored vehicle division, creating the United Kingdom's largest armored vehicle manufacturer and one of the largest in Europe. Alvis sells off its remaining noncore holdings to become a "pure-play" armored vehicle manufacturer. Alvis indicates its interest in acquiring the heavy armored-vehicle division from Vickers. Alvis Plc has weathered the odds to become a candidate for the position as the United Kingdom's sole surviving armored vehicle supplier. After absorbing former rival GKN's armored vehicle division in 1998, Alvis has made public its intention to acquire Vickers Defence Systems, the heavy-armored vehicle component of Rolls-Royce, in 2002. The acquisition would not only place Alvis as the United Kingdom's top armored vehicle maker but also give it a leading place on the European market. Alvis concentrates on designing and manufacturing light armored vehicles, such as the wheeled armored vehicle Scarab, the Supacat all-terrain vehicle, the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle, the Piranha armored vehicle, and the Stormer armored vehicle. Alvis is also a partner in the MRAV (multi-role armored vehicle) being developed by the Artec consortium. The company, headquartered in London, has manufacturing facilities both in the United Kingdom and, through its tracked armored vehicle subsidiary Hägglunds, in Sweden and elsewhere in Scandinavia. Led by CEO and Chairman Nicholas Prest, Alvis has undergone a thorough streamlining since the end of the 1990s, cutting out most of its noncore operations, such as its stake in Singapore's Avimo optical glasses operation, a remote controlled bomb disposal robotics unit, and its Barracuda Technologies camouflage equipment subsidiary. Alvis began operations when T.G. John, an engineer who had designed battleships for Vickers during World War I, founded a business to design and manufacture motor cars. The company, TG John Ltd., was based in Coventry, which had by then become a major British automotive manufacturing center. John's earliest production, however, focused on manufacturing stationary and scooter engines while the company developed its own automotive design. By 1920, John had found its first automobile, based on designs by French engineer Geoffrey de Freville, who had set up a company producing aluminum pistons in 1914. De Freyville chose the name "Alvis" for his automobile design, in part because it sounded good in a variety of languages. The first Alvis car, called the 10/30, was launched in 1920, and by the following year, the company had changed its name to The Alvis Car & Engineering Co. Ltd. The launch of the 10/30 was not enough to guarantee the company's survival, and the company began to waver toward bankruptcy. In