Econ Engineering Limited are a UK manufacturer of winter and road maintenance vehicle bodies originally founded as a supplier of agricultural equipment under the name of Agriquipment Ltd on December 9, 1959, by W. George Lupton in Otley, West Yorkshire. The first Econ prototype salt spreader was finished in 1970 and the machines were launched at the 1972 IWM exhibition in Torquay. The name Econ comes from a Bradford-based company who manufactured industrial heating units called “Econoheat” bought by WG Lupton to balance production whilst developing the salt spreaders.