Phillips Cycles Ltd. was a British bicycle manufacturer based in Smethwick near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Its history began early in the 20th century and ended in the 1980s by which time it had become part of Raleigh Industries, itself a part of the

Tube Investments TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as ''Tube Investments'' in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tu ...

group. For a number of years, the company was the second-largest bicycle producer in Britain, after Raleigh. The company motto, which was carried on all its badges, was "Renowned the World Over". The "Phillips" brand is still used around the world, especially in China and the Far East, having been licensed by Raleigh. In India it was produced from Madras presently called Chennai.

Products

The company produced millions of bicycles, many of which were exported, and also

manufactured Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

several

mopeds A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typi ...

. These mopeds included the '

Panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...

' and ' Gadabout' models. The earliest of these machines (circa 1958 to 1962) were all produced in the United Kingdom except for the German 'Rex'

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

s but later models (Panda Mk 3 and Gadabout) were licensed versions of the

Mobylette The Mobylette, sometimes shortened as Mob, is a model of moped by French manufacturer Motobécane during the second half of the 20th century. The Mobylette was launched in 1949 and was manufactured until 1997, with production numbers exceeding 14 ...

moped made by Motobécane of

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. Moped manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Smethwick {{cycle-manufacturer-stub