Founded in 1935 by T L Williams
to take over making the Raleigh 3 wheeler delivery
van, a vehicle that Williams himself had designed
in 1933, and one that Raleigh no longer wished
to make. Powered by a 750 cc V-twin engine driving
the rear wheels through a 3 speed gearbox and
shaft drive, in 1939 the engine was replaced
by Reliant's version of the straight four cylinder
747cc Austin 7 side-valve engine. In 1952 a four
seater was launched and, in 1956, the bodywork
was changed to fibre-glass.
The company then
went on to make other composite-bodied specialist
vehicles, such as the Scimitar, Saber Six and
Reliant SS1 sports cars, along with the three
wheeled varieties such as the Reliant Robin,
Regan and Rialto. The Sabre Six was powered by
a Ford six cylinder engine, and when it was replaced
by the Scimitar coupe in 1966 the new Ford V6
was used, and arguably best of all was the 1968
hatchback/estate GTE which could reach 193 km/h,
seat four adults and presented some very useable
cargo space, qualities very rare in a sports
car. It quickly garnered a stellar reputation,
even Princess Anne became a customer.
As for
the three-wheelers, the Regal was replaced by
the more up-to-date Robin in 1973, then a four
wheeled version named the Kitten was launched,
this even being made under license in India as
the Dolphin. Reliant was also responsible for
the production of the 1970’s fun car, the
Bond Bug, a sporty three wheeler designed
by the Ogle designer Tom Karen.
In 1982 the Robin
was replaced by the Rialto, then in 1985 the
Reliant SS1 made a fresh assault on the budget
sports car market. Reliant's expertise in the
area of composite car body production also saw
the company produce lightweight body shells for
Ford RS200 Rally cars and new fibreglass bodied
London taxis, the "MetroCab" - the first to have
full wheelchair provision, manufactured by a
division of Kamkorp.
Reliant has provided designs
to several other manufacturers, including Autocars in
Israel and
Otosan in
Turkey in
the 1960s,
MEBEA in
Greece and
Sipani in
India in
the 1970s.
In 2001, production rights for the Reliant Robin
were sold to B&N
Plastics, but production ceased in 2002. Reliant
has since concentrated on importing "speciality" vehicles
from European manufacturers, including Piaggio,
Bultaco and Ligier.
