Editing Kew (section)

===Chrysler and Dodge===

Kew Retail Park stands on the site of a former aircraft factory established in 1918 by Harry Whitworth, who owned Glendower Aircraft Ltd. The factory built [[Airco DH.4]]s and [[Sopwith Salamander]]s for the British government in the [[First World War]].<ref name="Stilwell"/>

In 1923, the now-redundant aircraft factory was sold and it became a factory for road vehicles.<ref name="Stilwell"/> From the 1920s until 1967, [[Dodge]] made [[Truck|lorries]] at this factory, with the [[Dodge 100 "Kew"|model name Kew]]. Cars were also manufactured there.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amies, Mark |date=17 November 2015 |title=London's Lost Manufacturing&nbsp;– We Were Once The British Detroit |url=https://londonist.com/2015/11/london-made-motors |access-date=4 February 2016 |publisher=[[Gothamist|Londonist]]}}</ref> Dodge Brothers became a [[Chrysler]] subsidiary in 1928 and lorry production moved to Chrysler's car plant at Kew. In 1933 it began to manufacture a British [[chassis]], at its works in Kew, using American engines and gearboxes.<ref name="Stevens-Stratten">{{Cite book |last=Stevens-Stratten, S W |title=British Lorries 1945–1983 |publisher=Littlehampton Book Services Ltd |year=1983 |isbn=978-0711013001 |edition=2nd, revised}}</ref> After [[Chrysler]] bought [[Maxwell automobile|the Maxwell Motor Company]] and their Kew works, the cars of the lighter Chrysler range&nbsp;– [[Chrysler Airflow|Chrysler]]s, [[De Soto (automobile)|De Soto]]s and [[Plymouth (automobile)|Plymouth]]s – were assembled at this Kew site until the [[Second World War]]. The various models of De Sotos were named ''Richmond, Mortlake'' and ''Croydon''; Plymouths were ''Kew Six'' and ''Wimbledon''.<ref name="Kimes">{{Cite book |last=Kimes |first=Beverly |author-link = Beverly Rae Kimes|title=Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942 |publisher=Krause Publications |year=1996 |isbn=0-87341-478-0 |pages=306–334}}</ref>

During the Second World War this Chrysler factory was part of the [[British shadow factories#London Aircraft Production Group|London Aircraft Production Group]] and built [[Handley Page Halifax]] aircraft assemblies. When wartime aircraft production ceased, the plant did not resume assembly of North American cars.