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Since the first cars arrived more than 130 years ago, thousands of companies have sprung up only to disappear without trace.
In some cases these marques have been revived, even though they should have been consigned to the history books forever. And soon the Hummer name will return, as a new sub-brand of GMC, on a new range of pickup EVs. Here we look at some of the motoring marques that have been brought back from the dead – sometimes more than once – and in many cases only to disappear once again:
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Abarth – then
Carlo Abarth built up a very successful business tuning Fiats and Simcas – so successful that Fiat bought his company in 1971 and turned it into nothing more than a badge to denote high-performance derivatives of its family cars such as the Strada and Stilo.
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Abarth – now
But in 2008 the brand was resurrected as a company in its own right, offering the 500 (pictured), Punto and now there's a 124 Spider too.
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Allard – then
Briton Sydney Allard set up his own company in 1945 and produced around 2000 luxury and sporting cars by the end of the following decade. Later, Allard would offer tuning kits for the Ford Anglia and Classic Capri, but by the late 1960s it was all over. Revisiting a model name used previously, a resurrected Allard showed its J2X Group C racer in 1992, just as the series was abandoned.
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Allard – later
In 1993, Allard returned with a reskinned Lexus LS400 called the P4. Despite a 70% premium over the standard car's price tag, three cars were made of which just one survives. This last car sold recently for just under £4000.
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Audi – then
August Horch set up a car company in 1899, then a decade later he fell out with his colleagues. Unable to use his own name again, he set up a rival business called Audi, which merged with DKW and Wanderer in 1932 to form Auto Union.
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Audi – now
With DKW proving the dominant partner, the Audi brand died in 1932 only to be resurrected in 1965 when the company was bought by Volkswagen. It’s one of the few brands featured here that’s done rather well for itself since being revived.
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Borgward – then
Here's one that nobody saw coming. In the late 1920s Carl Borgward added an ailing Hansa-Lloyd car-making business to his own, which was making three-wheelers for the commercial market. It all ticked over nicely until things went belly up in 1961, and we all thought that was the last we'd heard of Borgward. But then Borgward's grandson Christian set up a new venture backed by Chinese automotive group Beiqi Foton Motor.
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Borgward – now
We got our first glimpse of a new Borgward production car at the 2015 Geneva auto show and since then the company has put its BX5, BX6 and BX7 SUVs into production.
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Bugatti – then
Why settle for one comeback when you can have four? Ettore Bugatti created a company to build luxury and sporting cars between the wars. He died in 1947, by which point the marque was already dead, but in the mid-1950s Ettore’s son Roland tried to jump-start the company. He failed and so did former Chrysler design boss Virgil Exner who tried to relaunch Bugatti at the 1965 Turin auto show. Another revival in the 1990s led to the magnificent EB110 (pictured) – then failure once again.
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Bugatti – now
Next the Volkswagen Group bought Bugatti in 1998, relaunched with the Veyron hypercar (pictured) in 2005 and then its follow-up model the Chiron in 2016, which recently became the world's fastest production car, attaining 305mph. At last it looks like the brand is back for good. Hurrah!
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Connaught – then
The original Connaught built Grand Prix cars and a handful of sports cars, the latter based on various Lea Francis models. Few cars were made in all, the company having started in 1952 with production pretty much over by the start of the 1960s.
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Connaught – later
Perhaps one of the most fascinating what-might-have-beens, the Connaught D-Type that surfaced in 2005 was a GT that featured a front-mounted 300 HP V10, yet displaced just 2.0 litres. Priced at £70,000 at the time and capable of 171mph, the car sank without trace soon after.
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Datsun – then
It was 88 years ago, in 1931, that Datsun was born. Well, born for the first time. Back then the company built a handful of cars in its first year, ramping up production to three figures in 1932. By the mid-1960s Datsun had started to sell cars in Europe, having already set up shop in the US. With Nissan branding taking over from the early 1980s and the brand killed off altogether in 1986 it seemed that was that.
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Datsun – now
But in 2013 Nissan relaunched Datsun as a budget brand in India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa, with vehicles like this Go+ MPV. However, rumours now abound that the brand's future currently hangs in the balance.
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De Tomaso – then
Alejandro de Tomaso set up shop in 1959 to build sports and racing cars in the same vein as Ferrari and Maserati. However, he didn't produce his own engines (they generally came from Ford) and his cars were always overshadowed by more glamorous rivals. His biggest hit was the Pantera (pictured), produced in collaboration with Ford, which owned a controlling stake in the company for a while.
De Tomaso closed down in 2004, the man himself having died in 2003.
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De Tomaso – now
Seven years later a De Tomaso SUV concept was shown at the Geneva auto show. Borrowing a previous company name (Deauville), the plan was to build 3000 of them. Then it all went quiet...
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ERA – then
ERA (English Racing Automobiles) made a small number of racing cars in the 1930s, so it was an unlikely candiadate for resurrection.
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ERA – later
That didn’t stop a reborn ERA from arriving on the scene in 1989 with a turbocharged Mini. However, while it was a reborn ERA, this time the initials stood for Engineering Research & Application. The boosted Mini was very well received, with 436 built between 1989 and 1991.
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Frazer-Nash – then
If ever there was an unlikely revival it’s this one. Frazer-Nash built its first car in 1922 and focused on building sporting cars for the connoisseur for the next 35 years, with various changes of ownership along the way.
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Frazer-Nash – now
In the early 21st century Frazer-Nash sprang back to life as a consultancy to develop clean vehicles and transport networks. While much of what it does goes on in the background (it’s redeveloping Morgan’s EV3 for example), in 2009 we saw the first all-new Frazer-Nash in more than 50 years – a hybrid supercar concept called Namir, designed and built by Giugiaro (pictured).
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Hispano-Suiza – then
The first Hispano-Suizas were built in 1904. This Spanish company produced luxury cars like this H6C Targa model (1924) until 1938, when it shifted to aircraft and munitions before evolving into SIAT – which in turn would become SEAT, today part of Volkswagen. In theory Hispano-Suiza never went away as it's still part of the SAFRAN aerospace group.
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Hispano-Suiza – now
However, the Hispano-Suiza name was brought back from the dead in 2002 with the HS21 GTS supercar concept that broke cover at the Geneva auto show. That disappeared without trace, only for Hispano-Suiza to reappear once more at the 2010 Geneva show. This time it was with an Audi R8-based supercar (pictured), ambitiously priced at a cool €700k (around US$950,000 at the time).
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Invicta – then
Launched in 1925 to build cars in the same vein as contemporary Bentleys, the Invicta brand died in 1938 only to start up again in 1946 with the innovative but ill-fated Black Prince (pictured). Just 16 or so of these were made before the company was wound up in 1950.
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Invicta – later
The company reappeared in 2004, now owned by Michael Bristow. He unveiled the quad-cam Ford V8-powered S1 with up to 600 HP, but by 2012 it was all over once more.
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ISO – then
Few car brands are as obscure as Iso, yet the marque has just been revived for the second time. It was Iso that developed the Isetta which then sustained BMW throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. This Italian refrigerator manufacturer moved into microcars before trying its hand at GTs such as the Fidia, Lele, Rivolta and – most notably – the Grifo (pictured).
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ISO – later
By 1974 Iso had bitten the dust only to return in 1990 with a non-running prototype that would later be turned into a one-off fully driveable car. Now Iso is back once more with the Rivolta Vision, created for Sony’s Gran Turismo Sport with Zagato set to build up to five copies of the Corvette-based hypercar.
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Jensen – then
As well as building bodies for other brands (such as Austin and Volvo), Jensen built its own range of sporting and luxury cars from 1934. Best known for the Interceptor (pictured) and its four-wheel drive derivative the FF (the world's first car with anti-lock brakes), Jensen had gone out of business by 1976.
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Jensen – later
At the 1998 British auto show Jensen made a comeback but it would be another three years before its S-V8 would go into production (pictured). After just 20 cars were completed the company died again, although another dozen examples were completed in 2003 by yet another iteration of the company: Jensen International Automotive.
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Lagonda – then
Founded by Wilbur Gunn and named after his hometown in Ohio, Lagonda built sporting cars for the wealthy enthusiast, like this LG6 from 1938. Swallowed up by Aston Martin in 1947, the final model from the marque was the Rapide, production of which finished in 1965.
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Lagonda – later
Lagonda was used as a model name for the crazy Wiliam Towns-designed sedan that appeared in 1976, then it all went quiet until the 2009 Geneva auto show when a cosmetically challenged SUV concept was unveiled, based on a Mercedes GL-Class (pictured). It all went quiet again until the pricey Taraf sedan broke cover; just 150 or so were built.
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Lagonda – now
Now Lagonda is back once more, as an autonomous electric luxury sedan, launched in concept form by Aston Martin at the 2018 Geneva auto show - the latest relaunch of a marque that was first seen in 1906. The management team that dreamed it up have since left the company, so who knows if this will see the light of day or not.
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Lea Francis – then
A company that's had more than its fair share of rebirths, Lea Francis built its first car in 1903 and survived right the way through to 1962, turning turtle after unveiling the radical Lynx sports car. Three prototypes were made before the company closed.
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Lea Francis – later
It was then relaunched in 1980 with the hideous 3 Litre Sports, renamed the Ace of Spades in 1992 (pictured). The marque was revived once more in 1998 with the ungainly 38/250, which quickly disappeared into the ether.
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Lister – then
In the early days it was a race car builder, set up by Brian Lister who built 50 cars up to 1959. The brand was then largely mothballed but it was acquired in 1986 by Lawrence Pearce who tuned Jaguar XJSs before creating the formidable V12-powered Storm, which proved unassailable in GT racing. The company changed hands once again in 2013, to focus on continuation fifties-style racers and – once again – tuned Jaguars.
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Lister – now
In 2018 Lister unveiled its 675 HP Jaguar F-Type-based Thunder (pictured), 64 years after the marque made its debut.
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Marcos – then
It's extremely rare for an original brand custodian to revive their own company but that's what happened with Marcos. First set up by Jem MARsh and Frank COStin (hence the name) in 1959, the company thrived for a while but was closed down in 1972, after it had been sold on.
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Marcos – later
Marsh bought back the rights to the name in 1976 but it would be another five years before Marcos returned, only to go down again in 2000. In 2002 Tony Stelliga relaunched Marcos and introduced a series of new models, but by 2007 it was all over once more.
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Maybach – then
First set up by Wilhelm Maybach in 1909 to build engines for airships, the company also manufactured luxury cars from 1921 until 1940 like the magnificent Zeppelin (pictured). Maybach built tank engines throughout the war - including those for the infamous Tiger - then it all went quiet until Daimler-Benz bought the company in 1960.
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Maybach – later
But it would be another 37 years before the brand reappeared with a luxurious concept car unveiled at the 1997 Tokyo auto show. A production car followed in 2002 (pictured) but sales proved sluggish and in 2013 the brand was effectively mothballed.
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Maybach – now
It's since been revived again as a range-topper for the Mercedes S-Class (pictured) and other models as Mercedes seeks to guard the peaks of its model ranges against posher fare from the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley - both companies owned by its primary German rivals.
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Packard – then
Between 1899 and 1959 Packard built some of the most luxurious and advanced cars in the US, but when it bought the ailing Studebaker company in 1954 the writing was on the wall. Then, in 1993 entrepreneur Roy Gullickson decided to bring the Packard marque back from the dead.
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Packard – later
In 1998 the Packard Twelve was first shown. A 581bhp 8.6-litre V12 powered the four-door four-wheel drive sedan but it seems nobody wanted to buy one. The sole prototype built (pictured) was sold by RM Auctions in 2014, for $143,000. The company's website is still live, at packardmotorcar.com.
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Pegaso – then
Pegaso was a Spanish truck maker launched in 1946, but in the 1950s it dabbled in building outlandishly styled sports cars. The Z-102 (pictured) was its only mainstream production model with 100 or so built; just three examples of its successor, the Z-103, were constructed before the company realised it needed to focus on making trucks rather than cars.
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Pegaso – later
Pegaso survived until the 1980s but was then brought back from the dead in 1990 with a car heavily inspired by the original (pictured). Then a recession hit so it’s doubtful that any of these new cars were ever actually made, although two prototypes are rumored to have been built.
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Spyker – then
Originally a coachbuilder in the true sense (of carriages), Dutch company Spyker started trading in 1880. By 1903 it had built the world's first four-wheel drive car with brakes on all four wheels and a six-cylinder engine (pictured). After around 2000 cars had been made Spyker closed down in 1926.
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Spyker – later
In 1999 the name was adopted for a new company which produced the C8 supercar with an Audi 4.2-litre V8. Since then the company has built around 300 cars, but it's all gone a bit quiet lately...
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Trident – then
British firm Trident was always low-profile, with just 130 or so cars made between 1966 and 1978. Fitted with either six- or eight-cylinder engines, the Clipper, Venturer and Tycoon (pictured) were intriguing sports cars that are still largely unknown.
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Trident – later
So bringing the Trident marque back from the dead was an odd decision, but that's what happened when a new car appeared in 1998, only to disappear then reappear in 2000 as the Iceni (pictured). The company occasionally threatens to resurface, and its website is still live at tridentsportscars.com - but we're not holding our breath.
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TVR - then
This will be the next big revival, and one that we're hopeful about. TVR built its first car in 1949 and over the next 57 years it changed hands several times and created some incredible sports cars, like this Sagaris, but it couldn't last. The final cars were built in 2006 and it looked like that was it.
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TVR – now
But in 2013 the brand was sold to Les Edgar and John Chasey. The new Griffith was unveiled in 2017 but series production has been delayed.
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Veritas – then
Originally named BMW-Veritas as it focused on tuning BMW 328s, this maker of sports and racing cars was soon renamed Veritas after BMW kicked up a fuss about its name being used. Just a handful of cars such as this were made before the company shut up shop in 1952.
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Veritas – later
The marque was brought back from the dead in 2001 with a BMW V12-engined sports car concept, which was very enthusiastically received. As a result the RS III (pictured) went into production in 2009 – now with a BMW V10 – with production limited to 30 cars, priced at around US$350,000 a go.
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Hummer - then
Originally a name used only for US militray vehicles, GM bought the rights to use it for civilian use and launched a range of very large, very thirsty SUVs. These were briefly fashionable and popular in the early 2000s before high fuel prices and a recession arrived to snuff it out. The Hummer name got cancelled in the wake of GM's bankruptcy in 2009.
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Hummer - now
In January 2020 GM unveiled plans to revive the Hummer name on range of new GMC electric vehicle pickups. The Hummer EV will use GM’s new Ultium Drive electric powertrain tech and feature three motors built into two drive units. These will combine to produce a “GM-estimated” 986bhp and 11,500lb ft, although that torque figure is likely to be arrived at via the torque-multiplying effect of the vehicle's gear ratios, with the realistic comparative figure somewhere closer to 1000lb ft. Either way, the Hummer EV will have a 0-60mph time of around three seconds. Power will be sent to all four wheels using an e4WD system, with torque vectoring used to distribute it as needed.
The batteries will be arranged in a 24-module double-stacked layout, and although GM has yet to reveal their storage capacity, it claims the Hummer EV will be able to travel more than 350 miles on a full charge. The 800V system can be charged at speeds of up to 350kW on a DC fast charger. It'll go into production in late 2021, with first deliveries in 2022. We'll report back on how this revival goes.
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