Manganese Bronze Holdings

The firm's sole business in its final years as a company was London black taxicab manufacturing through the LTI subsidiary.

The Manganese Bronze and Brass Co was founded in 1881, incorporated in 1882 and originally made ship propellers, operating from factories in London.

[3][4] It expanded into alloy products, and in World War I was contracted by the Ministry of Munitions to produce shell cases.

This company subsequently bought Associated Motor Cycles Ltd, owners of the Norton, AJS and Matchless motorcycle brands in 1964.

In October 2006 Manganese and the Chinese automaker Geely announced the creation of a China-based taxicab manufacturing joint venture.

[8] An extraordinary general meeting held in January 2007 of Manganese's shareholders approved the formation of the joint venture.

In March 2010 it was announced that Manganese would move the production of all taxicab bodies and chassis to Shanghai, but TX4 cabs for the UK market would continue to be assembled in Coventry.

[14][15] On 31 October PwC announced that 156 Manganese staff in the UK were to be made redundant with immediate effect, out of the company's then total of 274 employees in the country, with the losses spread across its manufacturing facility, head office and dealerships.

A press statement in February 2013 announced that an agreement had been reached for Geely to purchase the remainder of the London Taxi Company's assets, manufacturing rights, unsold stock and dealerships.