In the 1890s John Marston's Sunbeam had become extremely successful by relying on high quality of production and finish.

Charles said that the Villiers Engineering Co. was "the ultimate fruit" of his trip to the US,[1] being impressed by the production system and the labour-saving devices.

[1] As a result of the tour, in 1898, John Marston bought a small Japanning works based in Villiers Street, Wolverhampton.

Firstly, John Marston sold the company to his son Charles for £6,000 on a loan against future profits.

The production of free wheels reached its peak just after the Second World War, as the company produced 80,000 per week or 4 million per year.

Apart from the production of freewheels outlined above, the company produced its first engine in early 1912, a 350 cc four-stroke complete with integral two-speed gearbox.

Later that year it developed a 269 cc two-stroke (70mm bore and stroke) and the simplicity of this engine and attractive price made it a rapid success.

During 1913 the Sun-Villers motorcycle was launched manufactured by the Sun Cycle & Fittings Co. By 1914 the Villiers 269 cc 2-stroke engine had been adopted by a large number of motorcycle manufacturers, such as the Allday (Alldays & Onions), The Royal Ruby, The New Ryder, the Bown-Villiers, the Coventry-Eagle, the Gerrard, Sparkbrook, the Invicta (A. Barnett & Co), the Ixion, the Juno, and the Roulette.

During World War One, in common with many firms not directly involved in making military transport, the Villiers factory changed to production of munitions, in particular fuses for 75mm shells.

(Elliston & Fell), the Sparkbrook, the Yvel, the P&S lightweight (Pearson and Sopwith), the Chater-Lea, the Campion, the Victoria (of Glasgow), the Hobart, the Olympic, the Ixion, the Bown-Villiers, the Wilkin, and the Saltley.

[7] In May 1920 a new British Excelsior lightweight model was announced, this being the first motorcycle to show the new Villiers engine using the flywheel-magneto instead of a separate magneto.

While the 147 cc relied on petrol-oil mixture for crankshaft lubrication, the two larger engines used a separate oil-feed system.

During the war part of Villiers production was again turned to fuses for shells, with over 10 million produced, although they continued to make engines and cycleparts.

In the early 1960s, the company was taken over by Manganese Bronze Holdings, and in 1966 together with AMC became Norton-Villiers, and in 1973 merged with the BSA group to become Norton Villiers Triumph, which eventually went into liquidation in 1976.

[11] A 10 ha (25 acres) site was selected in the Sant Andreu district of Barcelona and plans for a new factory drawn up.

Machinery was installed and training given by Villiers, the first engine, a 125 cc single coming off the production line in September.