Coventry-based firm founded by Reginald Walter Maudslay in 1903. The word Standard may have come from Maudslay saying he wanted to maintain the best possible standard for his vehicles. During World War I, Standard went into aeroplane manufacture (as it did in World War II). By the mid-1920s, Standard was very successful, with a market share comparable to Austin, but profits fell in the late 1920s. Standard then supplied chassis to coachbuilders, including the Swallow Sidecar Co. (SS), which later became Jaguar. Production moved to Canley in 1935 after Maudslay’s passing, with new models becoming more successful again. Postwar, Standard absorbed Triumph, which had gone into receivership in 1939, and the company introduced the Standard Vanguard alongside a new range of Triumphs. By the late 1950s, the Standard name was seen to be less marketable than Triumph, and in 1960, Leyland acquired the firm. The last car leaving Canley bearing the Standard marque was built in 1963.

However, Standard had established itself in Madras in 1949, initially building some of the postwar base models, before manufacture of the Triumph Herald under the Standard brand in the 1960s through to 1971. An evolution of this, the Standard Gazel, lasted in to 1978, while the Rover SD1 found its way to India as the Standard 2000. Unsuccessful, the venture failed and Standard ended manufacture in 1988.