The Rootes Group was a British automobile manufacturer, which was based in the Midlands and south of England. Rootes was the parent company of many well-known British marques, including Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot, Commer and Karrier. At its height Rootes had plants in the Midlands at Coventry and Birmingham, in the south at Acton, Luton, Dunstable, Maidstone and Canterbury, and in the West of Scotland at Linwood. The company no longer exists, having been taken over in stages by Chrysler, and subsequently sold to Peugeot and, in part, Renault.

Originally founded in Hawkhurst, Kent in 1913 by William Rootes as a car sales company. The firm moved to Maidstone by the First World War, and during the war was involved in the repair of aero engines. By 1924 Rootes was the largest truck and car distributor in the United Kingdom. Rootes grew and took over other companies, and became one of the earliest advocates of the policy of "badge engineering". Among take-overs were Hillman, Humber and Commer in 1929; Clement, Talbot and Sunbeam in 1935,British Light Steel Pressings (1937) and Thrupp & Maberly (1926). Hillman was intended to be the basic brand, Singer slightly more upmarket, Sunbeam was the sports brand, while Humber made luxury models. Commer and Karrier were the commercial vehicle brands, with Commer manufacturing light vans with the Karrier badge appearing on heavy vans and light duty trucks (mainly for municipal use).

Raymond Loewy (November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was an industrial designer, and the first^{[citation needed]} to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States. Among his work were the Shell and former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 and S-1 locomotives, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. His career spanned seven decades.

Loewy was born in Paris in 1893, the son of Maximilian Loewy, a Viennese journalist, and his French wife, Marie Labalme. An early accomplishment was the design of a successful model aircraft, which then won the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1908. By the following year he was selling the plane, named the Ayrel. He served in the French army during World War I, attaining the rank of captain. Loewy was wounded in combat and received the Croix de guerre. He boarded a ship to America in 1919 with only his French officer's uniform and $50 in his pocket.^{[citation needed]}