Rootes Group: the family firm behind Hillman, Sunbeam and Humber The Rootes Group was the family-run combine that built Hillman, Sunbeam, Humber, Singer and Commer vehicles from the late 1920s until Chrysler swallowed it in the 1960s. A guide to how two brothers from Kent assembled Britain's great badge-engineering empire, the pecking order of its marques, the classic Rootes cars worth knowing, and what each is like to own.