Corgi - A Short History |
Corgi - A Short History
Corgi Toys were the creation of the Mettoy Company Ltd founded in Northampton by Phillip Ullman and Arthur Katz in 1934. The company name was simply derived from the first three letters of “metal” plus toy. Mettoy’s first stamped metal models were manufactured outside the business but using its own designs and tools.
In 1938 Manufacture of toys was moved to Mettoy’s own factory in Northampton
but very soon after, with the onset of war, defence contracts started to take
priority; such that by 1941 all toy model production had to cease. During
the war years, with the defence contracts requiring greater output, manufacturing
was expanded to a newly built factory in Swansea. In 1945, with the end of
the war and the defence contracts, the production of metal and plastic toys
models was resumed.
In 1948 Mettoy produced their first cast metal toys and called them 'castoys'.
These first toys contained a clockwork motor which was also to be available
in the first Corgi Toys. The manufacture of pressure die-cast toys in 1956
led to the creation of Corgi Toys. Corgi was named after the Welsh breed of
dog and chosen to celebrate its Welsh manufacturing base. It was also a short,
easily remembered and recognisable brand name, something which was now required
to compete with its rival Dinky. Corgi had a number of competitive advantages
over Dinky, the main being that it was the first to use window glazing. The
collecting heritage that Corgi is so famous for today was established in December
1956, with the launch, by Bill Baxter, of the original Corgi Collector Club.
The 1960s saw a period of great innovation in die-cast modelling, Corgi blazing
the trail with hinged bonnets on the Aston Martin DB4 and suspension first
seen on the mulliner-bodied Bentley Continental.
During the early 1970s fortunes changed for Mettoy. Philip Ullman died in
1971 and in the same year 900 redundancies were made at the Northampton factory.
This was a period of cost cutting and the impact was visible in some of its
models which under went retooling, an example being the successful James Bond
Aston Martin DB5
In October 1983 Mettoy Company Limited called in the receivers. In March 1984
a management buy-out , led by Mike Rosser with financial support from Electra
Investment Trust, the Welsh Office, Investors in Industry plc and Lloyds Bank,
secured the future of this world famous brand.
Corgi Toys Limited was formed on 29th March 1984 from the assets of the former
Mettoy Company. The new company decided to concentrate its efforts on producing
and selling high quality die-cast models. At the time of purchase, Corgi was
rated number two in the UK die-cast market. In the first year, Corgi set about
winning back the confidence of the toy trade. The company appointed consultants
to create a new corporate image with new packaging, a new logo and a revamped
image.
In December 1989, the management consortium sold Corgi Toys Limited to the US based toy company Mattel. Mike Rosser, Chief Executive for Corgi Toys Limited said that its Board had recommended the Mattel offer to Corgi shareholders as providing the best future for Corgi.
In 1990 production of Corgi Toys moved to China and the first Corgi model
to be made in China was the MGA in British racing green.
In January, 1991 the Swansea factory and offices were closed and Corgi moved to Mattel's UK headquarters in Leicester. When Corgi became part of Mattel there was a lot of concern from individual collectors and trade alike that this would mean the end of the great Corgi tradition of faithful die-cast modelling. There were even fears that the Corgi name would be dropped from the collector range and it would henceforth be branded Hot Wheels. Peter Eichorn (Executive Vice-President) attended the very first Biggest Little Motor Show, held at Telford in 1992. During his after-dinner speech at Telford, Peter immediately laid everybody's fears to rest by committing Mattel to the further development of Corgi. Mattel were true to their word and the die-cast operation was allowed to continue as an independent unit under the banner of Corgi Sales Ltd.
On 1st May 2008 Hornby Plc, the international models and collectibles group,
acquired Corgi Classics, agreeing to buy the brand, tooling, and intellectual
property rights from Corgi International Limited, for £7.5 million.
Hornby plan is to build on Corgi's core market of adult male collectors in
Britain and attract younger and more international customers. By June 2008,
Hornby had completed the acquisition of Corgi, and deliveries of a new set
of models recommenced in July and proposes to announce a new 2009 programme
around September/October.
![]() |