Motor Distributors
| Motor Distributors Limited | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Limited |
| founding | 1946 |
| Seat | Dublin , Ireland |
| Branch | Automobiles |
Motor Distributors Limited , or MDL for short , is a current Irish company. With an assembly plant for motor vehicles it was part of the automotive industry in Ireland .
Company history
Stephen O'Flaherty founded the company in Dublin in 1946 . The assembly of automobiles began. The parts came from different manufacturers. Imported vehicles from Alvis Cars , Aston Martin and Lagonda were also sold. Vehicle production ended in 1984. It is still active today as an import and sales company for Mercedes-Benz .
The company runs a small museum on site. The last Mercedes-Benz assembled by the company is on display there.
vehicles
From 1946 to 1950 the Nash Ambassador and Nash Statesman were assembled by Nash Motors .
At the same time, a number of Singer vehicles were made . Buckley Motors continued assembly.
The jeep was also assembled by Willys-Overland from 1946 to 1950 .
On September 14, 1948, four Panhard Dyna X were imported and assembled in parts. In the 1960s, John Caldwell Limited reassembled Panhard vehicles .
Volkswagen was the brand of which Motor Distributors manufactured the largest number. Assembly ran from 1950 to September 1977. In addition to the VW Beetle , the VW 411 , VW Passat and VW bus were also produced . The first Beetle produced with the Irish registration number ZL 2286 is owned by Volkswagen AG and has been exhibited in the past in both the Volkswagen Auto Museum and the Autostadt in Wolfsburg . Another source deviates from the fact that Motor Manufacturers assembled the vehicles under the direction of Dinny Connolly. This company existed and was part of the O'Flaherty group. The exact connection is unknown.
Mercedes-Benz vehicles were already assembled in small numbers from 1935 to 1939 by MacLysaght & Douglas and around 1950 by Grange Motors . Motor Distributors took over the distribution rights in November 1954. Assembly took place from 1955 to 1977. The Mercedes-Benz W 120 (180), Mercedes-Benz W 121 (190), Mercedes-Benz W 180 (220 S), Mercedes-Benz series 110 (190 and 200), Mercedes have been handed down -Benz series 111 (220, 230 S, 250 S and 280 S) and Mercedes-Benz / 8 (200, 220 and 230).
From 1957 to 1959 the Goggomobil of the German Hans Glas GmbH was assembled. The only model was the T 300 sedan with the 300 cc engine.
Mazda joined in 1973 . The Mazda 818 and Mazda 323 were assembled until 1984 . In this context, the O'Flaherty Group is also named as a manufacturer. This group is considered the parent company of Motor Distributors and had a relationship with Renault .
Production numbers
Below are the registration numbers in Ireland for selected brands from the years Motor Distributors assembled them.
| year | Willys | Nash | Singer | Panhard | VW | Mercedes Benz | Goggomobil | Mazda | total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | not known | not known | not known | not known | |||||
| 1947 | not known | not known | not known | not known | |||||
| 1948 | not known | not known | not known | 4th | 4th | ||||
| 1949 | not known | not known | not known | ||||||
| 1950 | not known | not known | 46 | 46 | |||||
| 1951 | not known | not known | |||||||
| 1952 | 2,155 | 2,155 | |||||||
| 1953 | not known | not known | |||||||
| 1954 | 2,155 | 2,155 | |||||||
| 1955 | 3,200 | 57 | 3,257 | ||||||
| 1956 | 1,896 | 90 | 1,986 | ||||||
| 1957 | 1,562 | 75 | 51 | 1,688 | |||||
| 1958 | 1,701 | 197 | 19th | 1.917 | |||||
| 1959 | 2,298 | 191 | 11 | 2,500 | |||||
| 1960 | 2,826 | 191 | 3,017 | ||||||
| 1961 | 3,463 | 219 | 3,682 | ||||||
| 1962 | 3,832 | 230 | 4,062 | ||||||
| 1963 | not known | 169 | 169 | ||||||
| 1964 | 4,300 | 202 | 4,502 | ||||||
| 1965 | 4,714 | 263 | 4,977 | ||||||
| 1966 | 4.063 | 286 | 4,349 | ||||||
| 1967 | 4,358 | 376 | 4,734 | ||||||
| 1968 | 5,248 | 379 | 5,627 | ||||||
| 1969 | 5,275 | 460 | 5,735 | ||||||
| 1970 | 4,892 | 547 | 5,439 | ||||||
| 1971 | 5,108 | 457 | 5,565 | ||||||
| 1972 | 6.005 | 462 | 6,467 | ||||||
| 1973 | 5,400 | 488 | 3 | 5,891 | |||||
| 1974 | 2,904 | 342 | 84 | 3,330 | |||||
| 1975 | 1,623 | 270 | 421 | 2,314 | |||||
| 1976 | 2,295 | 316 | 398 | 3,009 | |||||
| 1977 | 2,434 | 399 | 1,347 | 4,180 | |||||
| 1978 | 3,298 | 3,298 | |||||||
| 1979 | 4,268 | 4,268 | |||||||
| 1980 | 4,170 | 4,170 | |||||||
| 1981 | 3,526 | 3,526 | |||||||
| 1982 | 1,821 | 1,821 | |||||||
| 1983 | 1,672 | 1,672 | |||||||
| 1984 | 1,184 | 1,184 | |||||||
| total | not known | not known | not known | 4th | 83,753 | 6,666 | 81 | 22,192 | 112,696 |
For the VW Beetle, numbers have been handed down that are slightly below the numbers of all VWs. From 1950 to 1961, 21,920 vehicles were assembled. In 1962 it was 3773 and in the following years 4234, 3669, 4570, 3385, 3509, 4981, 4750, 4314 and 4383. In 1972 the maximum value of 5009 was reached. In the following years 4450, 2463, 1048, 1771 and 1151 were made. In total, that's 79,380 beetles. Another source confirms 79,380 beetles from Ireland.
literature
- Bob Montgomery: Motor Assembly in Ireland . Dreoilín Specialist Publications, Foxrock 2018, ISBN 978-1-902773-35-3 (English).
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Bob Montgomery: Motor Assembly in Ireland . Dreoilín Specialist Publications, Foxrock 2018, ISBN 978-1-902773-35-3 (English).
- ^ A b Hans-Rüdiger Etzold : The Beetle IV - A Documentation. Verlag Alfred Bucheli, Zug 1998, ISBN 3-7168-1890-9 , p. 152.
- ^ Nicolas Rosenow: Volkswagen Beetle 1938–2003. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-613-04078-6 , p. 136.