In 2004, the board of the parent group Alvis approved a £309m takeover bid by the American defence company General Dynamics.

Within three months BAE Systems, which already held a 29% stake, bid £355m for the company; this was seen as a defence of the home market from a foreign rival.

Vickers divested its automotive interests in 1998, selling Cosworth and Rolls-Royce Motors to Volkswagen Group.

These interests were primarily centred on land warfare products and brought the Challenger 1 tank into Vickers' portfolio.

Since 1970, Vickers had been the parent of the Scottish Brown Brothers group, which produced marine steering gear and stabilisers.

[7] In 1986, it purchased Kamewa, a Swedish manufacturer of waterjets, followed in 1998 by Ulstein (Norway), a major marine propulsion and engineering company.