In 1885, two Englishmen developed Triumph Bicycles and achieved great consumer success. Several years later, these men, Siegfried Bettmann and Moritz Schulte, expanded their business into the automotive industry and started up the Triumph Motor Company. In the 1920s, Triumph began to acquire other car companies, including Dawson, and it put out a sporty vehicle called the Triumph Light Car.

Thanks to the Great Depression, however, production on new Triumph automobiles shut down almost completely. By the late 1930s, the company decided to sell off its motorcycles, bicycles, and other holdings to devote itself entirely to automobile manufacturing. During this turbulent period in the company's history, Donald Healey, the company's main designer, developed two very important models, the Triumph Dolomite and the Alfa Triumph.

After World War II, the Triumph Motor Company suffered from sluggish sales, and it was forced to merge with the Standard Motor Company. From that point on, all brand-name cars were sold as Standard Triumph models. In 1960, Triumph merged with an even bigger manufacturer, Leyland Motors Limited. This new 'master' helped the Triumph launch a line of sports cars and saloons, such as the Dolomite Sprint. Other models included the Triumph TR6, Triumph Spitfire, Triumph TR3, and Triumph GT6.

The Sprint featured a number of innovations, including the twin double overhead cam and the 16 cylinder engine. Unfortunately, the Sprint was waylaid by fuel injection trouble, and many reviewers and consumers began to associate the once prestigious Triumph name with service headaches. The Honda Co. briefly tried to 'reboot' the Triumph marquee in 1981, but the Honda Acclaim didn't sell well enough to justify promoting the brand further.