The Independent Automaker is almost history, except for a very few cottage industry brands that seem to barely hold on year after year. Read more after the jump!


Within the US, we have General Motors, Ford and the much smaller Chrysler, each having multiple brands, though not as many as years past. Within Japan, the myriad of brands (From Toyota to Suzuki) tend to be either overly large corporations, or are controlled by overly large corporations or partnerships, so you can’t classify any of them as “Independent”. The British Car industry went from a lot of Independent companies down to “British Leyland” which imploded into having no car industry left in Britain. The rest of the European Car Making Empire also has little or no independents left.

Yes, there are start-up that gain notoriety from time to time, including such darlings of the industry as Tesla, and Fisker. There are others that are white hot for one minute, only to colapse the next like TVR. Then there are the multitude of independents within China, that will eventually be distilled down to only a handful, but I digress. Let’s discuss some of the innovative independents like Studebaker, Hudson, Bristol, and Prince. Or lets mourn the loss of the Independents like Duesenberg, Franklin, Packard, or Rover. In honor of this Independence Day, which Independent Automaker do you wish survived?