Until 1925, General Motors ('GM') assembled trucks in Brazil from parts manufactured at their Canadian works. This enabled them to import vehicles into Britain under Imperial Preference, which favoured products from the British Empire as far as import duties were concerned. Such trucks were marketed as "British Chevrolet".
In 1925, GM took ownership of Vauxhall Motors, production was transferred from Hendon to Luton, Vauxhall's headquarters, production commencing there in 1929.
The AC and LQ models were produced at Luton from 1929 to 1931, and styled as the "Chevrolet Bedford", taking the name from the county town of Bedfordshire, in which Luton is located. The AC was bodied as a light van (12 cwt), and the LQ in a wide variety of roles, including a lorry, ambulance, van and bus versions. The name "Chevrolet" was dropped, and the first "Bedford" was produced in April 1931. This vehicle, a 2 ton lorry, was virtually indistinguishable from its LQ Chevrolet predecessor, apart from detail styling of the radiator, and was available as the WHG with a 10 feet 11 inches (3,330 mm) wheelbase, or as the WLG with a longer wheelbase of 13 feet 1 inch (3,990 mm). However, the Chevrolet LQ and AC continued in production alongside the new product for a further year. In August 1931, a bus chassis was added to the range, and was designated WHB and WLB.
A large part of Bedford's original success in breaking into the UK and British Empire markets lay in the overhead valve (OHV) six cylinder Chevrolet engine, now known as Chevrolet Stove Bolt 6 – well ahead of its time, this smooth running inline six cylinder engine was to form the basis of Bedford and Vauxhall petrol engines almost until the marque ceased building trucks and buses.