Bristol Cars is a manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars, based at Filton, near Bristol, England. Bristol Cars has no distributors nor dealers and deals directly with customers; they have a showroom in Kensington in London. They claim to be the last wholly British-owned luxury car builder. The cars have only ever been made in very small numbers; about 150 per year, although the company have long refused to disclose production numbers and the current production (in 2004) is probably much less than this figure.

Bristol is an oddity because it builds expensive but, in the company's words, "nicely understated" cars. The Bristol values are those of tradition, understated quality, and practicality, rather than ostentation or excitement. Bristols built today are the same in major details as any from the past 30 years or more. Some would call this antiquated, but Bristol believes that no big changes are necessary. The cars are still totally handmade, taking four times the man-hours to complete than other luxury cars.

Bristols do not look expensive to the casual eye. The styling is bland; owners would call it an acquired taste, while some call it ugly. It is more an engineer's creation than a stylist's: effective packaging for the contents and good aerodynamic qualities. The cars are also surprisingly small. The cars are designed to be effective daily transportation rather than occasional indulgences. Comfort, driveability and ease of maintenance are paramount. With regular maintenance, the company expects a Bristol to outlast its owner, and Bristol Cars will maintain any car they ever built. The vast majority of parts are in stock, and they will remanufacture or hand-make any other required parts.

With their small production numbers, lack of glamour and no advertising, most even in the UK would not recognise a Bristol. This exclusive obscurity is very appealing to a certain class of buyer. This obscurity actually makes second-hand and classic Bristols remarkably cheap considering their quality, rarity and cost when new. Only some of the very early models are worth any great sum of money.