The company traces its roots to "Taylor, Gue Co Ltd," founded in 1896 by John Goodman (born Johannes Gütgemann) and William Gue, initially producing bicycle frames. By 1905, the firm had built its first motorcycle under the name Veloce. John Taylor established Veloce Limited shortly afterward to produce cycles and related products, and with his sons Percy and Eugene he explored motorcycle manufacture, producing the VMC motorcycle in 1910 with a 500 cc side-valve engine.
The company's two-stroke lightweight motorcycles, produced from 1913 onward under the Velocette name, earned an excellent reputation for advanced features including a throttle-controlled oil pump. When in 1925 an overhead camshaft 350 cc model was launched under the original Veloce name, dealers objected — customers associated quality with the Velocette brand — and from that point the Velocette name was applied to all subsequent models.
Velocette's overhead camshaft K series, introduced in 1925, gave the company a long string of racing successes. A production racing variant, the KTT (built from 1928 to 1949), became a respected competition machine. The 1929 KTT was the first production motorcycle to feature a positive-stop, foot-actuated gear change, a system now universal across motorcycles.
The company contested the Isle of Man TT with notable success. At the 1947 Junior TT the factory took the first four places. In 1949, Velocette became the first FIM 350 cc World Champions under the newly established Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship, a title they defended in 1950. These two consecutive championships represent the pinnacle of the firm's competition history.
In 1967, Neil Kelly won the inaugural Isle of Man Production TT in the 500 cc class on a Velocette Thruxton, with a second Thruxton finishing behind him.
Veloce Ltd contributed several significant engineering advances to the motorcycle industry. The positive-stop foot-actuated gear change introduced on the 1929 KTT became a universal standard. The company also developed swinging-arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers, another technology that spread throughout the industry. The first motorcycle with an asymmetric low-beam headlight pattern, the MZ ES 125/150, is not a Velocette product, but within their own lineup Veloce pursued quality construction and careful engineering throughout.
The M series, launched in 1933 with the 250 cc MOV, offered a more affordable overhead-valve alternative to the K series and proved a strong commercial success. The 350 cc MAC and the 500 cc MSS followed. A 350 cc variant of the MOV formed the basis for the company's World War II military motorcycles.
In 1961, a Velocette Venom became the first motorcycle to cover more than 2,400 miles in a 24-hour period, at the banked oval Montlhery circuit in France, averaging 100.05 mph with a team of eight riders including Veloce director Bertie Goodman. This record for single-cylinder machines up to 500 cc capacity remains unbroken.
The 1954 Velocette MSS 499 cc proved a successful export to the American desert racing scene, leading to scrambler and enduro variants. The 349 cc Viper and 499 cc Venom were introduced in 1956. The Thruxton, a high-performance version of the Venom, became the most celebrated road Velocette of the late era.
In 1960, Velocette introduced the Viceroy, a 250 cc opposed-twin two-stroke scooter with front-mounted engine and electric start, intended to capture a new commuter market. The machine arrived as rider preferences were shifting away from scooters and was not a commercial success. Losses on the Viceroy's development compounded financial difficulties that had troubled the company since 1956, when government changes to hire-purchase legislation and fuel rationing during the Suez Crisis had already squeezed margins.
A subsequent model, the Velocette Vogue — an updated LE commuter with a fibreglass touring body — fared no better, with sales described as "a few hundred over five years." Development costs for these failed projects were never recovered. The business effectively failed commercially in the late 1960s, with spare-parts revenue from the acquired Royal Enfield spares operation delaying the end by a few years. The workforce was dismissed in February 1971 and the Hall Green factory was later demolished.