Historically Coventry was the most important seat of ribbon-making in the UK.
In this industry it competed locally with Norwich and Leicester and internationally with St Etienne in France.

Coventry has been a centre of motor and cycle manufacturing from 1896.
Starting with Coventry Motette, The Great Horseless Carriage Company, Swift Motor Company, Humber, Hillman, Riley, Francis-Barnett and Daimler and the Triumph motorcycle having its origins in 1902 in a Coventry factory.
The Massey-Ferguson tractor factory was situated on Banner Lane, Tile Hill, until it closed in the late 1990s.

Although the motor industry has declined almost to the point of extinction, the Jaguar
company has retained its corporate headquarters in the city (at Whitley) and an Advanced R&D team at the University of Warwick, while Peugeot still have a large parts centre in Humber Road despite the closure of its Ryton factory (formerly owned by the Rootes Group) just outside the city in December 2006 with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs - denting the economy of Coventry shortly before the onset of a recession which sparked further economic decline and high unemployment.

The Standard Motor Company opened a car factory at Canley in the south of the city in 1918, occupying a former munitions factory.
This site was later expanded and produced Triumph cars after the Standard brand was phased out by BMC during the 1960s.
In August 1980, however, it was closed down as part of British Leyland's rationalisation process, although the Triumph brand survived for another four years on cars produced at other British Leyland factories.
The closure of the Triumph car factory was perhaps the largest blow to Coventry's economy during the early 1980s economic decline.

The famous London black cab taxis are produced in Coventry by LTI and these are now the only vehicles still wholly built in Coventry.

The manufacture of machine tools was once a major industry in Coventry.
Alfred Herbert Ltd became one of the largest machine tool companies in the world.
In later years the company faced competition from foreign machine tool builders and ceased trading in 1983.
Other Coventry machine tool manufacturers included A.C. Wickman, and Webster & Bennett.
The last Coventry machine tool manufacturer was Matrix Churchill which was forced to close in the wake of the Iraqi Supergun (Project Babylon) scandal.

Coventry's main industries include: cars, electronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural machinery, man-made fibres, aerospace components and telecommunications equipment.
In recent years, the city has moved away from manufacturing industries towards business services, finance, research, design and development, creative industries as well as logistics and leisure.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Coventry at current basic prices by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling:
Notes:
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Includes hunting and forestry
Includes energy and construction
Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Historically Coventry was the most important seat of ribbon-making in the UK. In this industry it competed locally with Norwich and Leicester and internationally with St Etienne in France.
Coventry has been a centre of motor and cycle manufacturing from 1896. Starting with Coventry Motette, The Great Horseless Carriage Company, Swift Motor Company, Humber, Hillman, Riley, Francis-Barnett and Daimler and the Triumph motorcycle having its origins in 1902 in a Coventry factory. The Massey-Ferguson tractor factory was situated on Banner Lane, Tile Hill, until it closed in the late 1990s.
Although the motor industry has declined almost to the point of extinction, the Jaguar
company has retained its corporate headquarters in the city (at Whitley) and an Advanced R&D team at the University of Warwick, while Peugeot still have a large parts centre in Humber Road despite the closure of its Ryton factory (formerly owned by the Rootes Group) just outside the city in December 2006 with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs - denting the economy of Coventry shortly before the onset of a recession which sparked further economic decline and high unemployment.
The Standard Motor Company opened a car factory at Canley in the south of the city in 1918, occupying a former munitions factory. This site was later expanded and produced Triumph cars after the Standard brand was phased out by BMC during the 1960s. In August 1980, however, it was closed down as part of British Leyland's rationalisation process, although the Triumph brand survived for another four years on cars produced at other British Leyland factories. The closure of the Triumph car factory was perhaps the largest blow to Coventry's economy during the early 1980s economic decline.
The famous London black cab taxis are produced in Coventry by LTI and these are now the only vehicles still wholly built in Coventry.
The manufacture of machine tools was once a major industry in Coventry. Alfred Herbert Ltd became one of the largest machine tool companies in the world. In later years the company faced competition from foreign machine tool builders and ceased trading in 1983. Other Coventry machine tool manufacturers included A.C. Wickman, and Webster & Bennett. The last Coventry machine tool manufacturer was Matrix Churchill which was forced to close in the wake of the Iraqi Supergun (Project Babylon) scandal.
Coventry's main industries include: cars, electronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural machinery, man-made fibres, aerospace components and telecommunications equipment. In recent years, the city has moved away from manufacturing industries towards business services, finance, research, design and development, creative industries as well as logistics and leisure.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Coventry at current basic prices by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling:
Notes:
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Includes hunting and forestry
Includes energy and construction
Includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Coventry