Colt Car Company

The Colt Car Company Limited is a privately owned business established in 1974 as part of Mitsubishi Motors' global expansion programme for the purpose of importing and distributing cars and light commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom. For the first decade of its existence, British market Mitsubishis were sold under the "Colt" marque until the rebranding to Mitsubishi, which then brought the marque in line with the rest of the world.

It was a 51/49 joint venture between Colt Automotive Ltd and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Two subsidiary companies exist: Spitalgate Dealer Services, which specialises in dealer wholesale stocking, Shogun Finance, the retail finance company.

For the first twenty years of its existence, business was restricted by voluntary import quotas, which limited the company to around 10,000 sales per year. The relaxation of these quotas in 1996, together with the introduction of European-built models at the NedCar facility in Born which were unaffected by the quota, allowed for a rapid expansion in the late 1990s.

In 2008, David Blackburn retired his shareholding of the company and his stake was sold to the Mitsubishi Corporation, specifically to its subsidiary MC Automobile (Europe) NV (MCAE). As result, Colt Car Company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of MCAE.

(Sources: Facts & Figures 2000, Facts & Figures 2005, Facts & Figures 2008, Mitsubishi Motors website)