Ford had been importing American built cars from 1903, and opened their first British factory in 1911 at Trafford Park, Manchester to assemble the Ford Model T. From 1914 Trafford Park was producing Model T Fords instead of just assembling them. Ford gained a large share of the British market, sufficient to cause Ford to build a new plant at Dagenham which opened in 1931 produced Model A cars and trucks. Briggs Motor Bodies had grown alongside the Ford Motor Company, also starting from America, and they also opened a coachworks in Dagenham. However, the Depression hit car sales, and with the RAC Horsepower Tax favouring small bore engines, the Model A could not be shifted. Ford's answer was to design the Ford Model Y for European markets, and from then on American and European production went in different directions. In 1953 Ford bought out Briggs Motor Bodies and more modern cars began to be produced. From 1960 Ford Motor Company (England) became wholly owned by its American parent, and by the mid 1960s the European Ford plants were jointly developing vehicles such as the Ford Cortina, Escort, Capri and Transits.