Thomas Humber founded a bicycle company in 1868 with facilities in Nottinghamshire and Coventry, and made a three wheeler car in 1898 and a four wheel car in 1901. Beeston-Humbers were expensive cars and this plant folded in 1908 leaving the Coventry plant to produce anything from 600cc to 6-litres. With a sound base in the British market Humber purchased Commer in 1925 to manufacture commercial vehicles, and then added Hillman cars in 1928. The Rootes brothers bought a majority shareholding in 1931 and Humber became the upmarket brand of the Rootes Group with Sunbeam and Talbot providing sporting cars whilst Hillman provided the bread and butter cars. The Humber brand succumbed to the Chryslerfication of the Rootes Group in 1976, but that was shortlived when Peugeot took over the ailing Chrysler Europe operation.