Triumph · 1962–1980
Triumph Spitfire
The Triumph Spitfire is a British sports car manufactured over five production iterations between 1962 and 1980. Styled for Standard-Triumph in 1957 by Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti, the Spitfire was introduced at the London Motor Show in 1962. It was manufactured at the Standard-Triumph Canley works, with approximately 315,000 produced over 18 years. Developed on a shortened variant of the Triumph Herald saloon's chassis, the Spitfire shared the Herald's running gear and Standard SC engine. The design used body-on-frame construction, augmented by structural components within the bodywork and rear trailing arms attached to the body rather than the chassis. A manually deployable convertible top, substantially improved on later models, provided weather protection and a bespoke hard-top was available as a factory option. The model was named after the famed Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane of World War II.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Generations & variants
Photos
UK vehicles on the road
4,611 licensed and 4,131 SORN (8,742 total) at 2025 Q4.
| Year (latest quarter) | Vehicles |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 7,782 |
| 2015 | 7,979 |
| 2016 | 8,053 |
| 2017 | 8,308 |
| 2018 | 8,506 |
| 2019 | 8,574 |
| 2020 | 8,625 |
| 2021 | 8,739 |
| 2022 | 8,721 |
| 2023 | 8,588 |
| 2024 | 8,664 |
| 2025 | 8,742 |
DfT/DVLA VEH0120 vehicle licensing statistics, source ↗, Open Government Licence v3.0. Small counts are rounded or suppressed at source.
Sources
- Wikidata / Wikipedia profiles — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/cars/Q1342273CC0 / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_SpitfireCC BY-SA 4.0 · Intro text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1372663152 · retrieved 2026-10-03
- DfT/DVLA VEH0120 licensing statistics — https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vehicle-licensing-statistics-data-tablesOpen Government Licence v3.0
- Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.