PEUGEOT’S Ryton plant has produced some of the most famous names in British motoring — the Hillman Hunter, Hillman Avenger and the Talbot series of cars.

The factory near Coventry began in 1939 as an aircraft engine factory which had been begun by the Air Ministry and was quickly taken over by the Rootes group. Its production capabilities were expanded after the war and Rootes began making cars in 1946 with the Humber range and the Sunbeam Talbots.

The success of the cars encouraged Rootes to go public in 1950 when it offered 1.25 million shares at £1 and one shilling each. Five years later it took over its engineering rival Singer but then the company began to hit trouble.

Chrysler, the US company, injected new life into the business and effectively established its European operation when it bought Rootes in 1964. With Chrysler’s purchase came the heyday of carmaking at Ryton with the manufacture of the Avenger and the Hunter.

Chrysler developed a new body shop and new paintshop at Ryton, boosting its production capabilities.

However, in 1977 Avenger production was moved to Scotland and the Hillman name was killed off completely.

Peugeot bought the company in 1978 and changed its name to Talbot Motor Company. It sold the Hunter tooling to Iran where the car was renamed the Pekan.

In 1980 the first Talbot Horizons were produced with three different models being produced on the track and Peugeot began to produce its own branded cars there.

In 1993 the first robots were introduced to the Ryton plant and, four years later, a new facility was built for production of the new 206, Peugeot’s most popular car.

In 1999, production of the 306 ended, leaving Ryton with only the 206.

Popularity of the 206 forced the company to increase workload at the plant to four shifts a day, seven days a week in 2002 — an unusual move for a car manufacturer. However, since then, production and staff numbers have been cut and, last year, the shifts dropped down to just two a day on four days a week.

The winding-down of the plant will begin in July this year when it starts to operate only one shift before closing next year.