Berliet was a French manufacturer of automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s, bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es, trucks and other utility vehicles, based in Vénissieux

Vénissieux

Vénissieux is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France. It is the second-largest suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to the southeast.-Transport:...

, outside of Lyon, France.

Early history

Marius Berliet started his experiments with automobiles in 1894. Some single-cylinder cars were followed in 1900 by a twin-cylinder model. In 1902, Berliet took over the plant of Audibert & Lavirotte

Audibert & Lavirotte

The Audibert & Lavirotte was a French automobile, manufactured in Lyon from 1894 to 1901.The company, the oldest maker of automobiles in the city, was set up by Maurice Audibert and Emile Lavirotte built cars that were generally similar to the Benz. These were up to 6 horsepower, and featured belt...

 in Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

. Berliet started to build four-cylinder automobiles featured by a honeycomb radiator and steel chassis frame was used instead of wood.
The next year, a model was launched that was similar to contemporary Mercedes

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

. In 1906, Berliet sold the licence for manufacturing his model to the American Locomotive Company

American Locomotive Company

The American Locomotive Company, often shortened to ALCO or Alco , was a builder of railroad locomotives in the United States.-Early history:...

.

Before World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Berliet offered a range of models from 8 CV to 60 CV. The main models had four-cylinder engines (2412 cc and 4398 cc, respectively), and there was a six-cylinder model of 9500 cc. A 1539 cc model (12 CV) was produced between 1910 and 1912. From 1912, six-cylinder models were made upon individual orders only.

In 1917, Berliet started to build trucks for the French Army. The company produced 40 trucks a day.

After the war, 12 CV (2613 cc), 15 CV (3308 cc) and 22 CV (4398 cc) were produced. A new 7 CV (1159 cc) appeared in 1924. New six-cylinder models followed in 1927. From 1933, only four-cylinder models (1600 cc and 2000 cc) were offered.

The last Berliet sedan from 1936 was Berliet Dauphine propelled by a 2-litre engine and using the body of a Peugeot 302B with a custom made hood and radiator grille. Regular passenger car production ceased in 1939 and after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the company produced trucks only. However, more than 20 brand-new sedans were in the factory when the Germans requisitioned it in June 1940, and these were immediately put into service. After the liberation, from late 1944 to early 1945, about 50 sedans were assembled from parts on hand, and in 1946, the last 15 sedans were completed by the Geneva agents.

Berliet manufactured the largest truck in 1957, the T100 with 600 hp. It was designed in 10 months at the factory in Courbevoie, outside of Paris. Berliet also designed and built the VXB-170

VXB

The Berliet VXB-170 is a four-wheel armoured vehicle produced by Berliet until Berliet was merged with Saviem to form Renault Trucks .-Versions:...

 wheeled armoured personnel carrier for the French Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

 and others.

WWII Aftermath

In his 1975 book, Vichy France: old guard and new order: 1940-1944, Robert Paxton

Robert Paxton

Robert O. Paxton is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism and Europe during the World War II era...

 contrasted the fate of the Berliet truck factory in Lyon, which remained in Marius Berliet's family possession, despite his having manufactured 2,330 trucks for the Germans. — and the fate of Louis Renault

Louis Renault (industrialist)

Louis Renault was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile industry....

's factories, which had also been seized — suggesting that the Renault factory might have been returned to Louis Renault and his family, had he lived longer. Marius Berliet, who died in 1949, had however "stubbornly refused to recognize legal actions against him after the war."

As it happened, Renault's were the only factories permanently seized by the French government.

Citroën, Renault and demise

In August 1967, it was reported that Berliet had been taken over by Citroën

Citroën

Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...

, Berliet share holders receiving Citroën shares in return for their Berliet stock. In 1966, Berliet's final year as an independent, they had produced approximately 17,000 units. Following the take-over the merged company stated that Citroën-Berliet would command 58% of France's market for commercial vehicles above 6 tons. Citroen itself had been owned by Michelin since 1934 following a cash crisis of its own.

By this time, Michelin

Michelin

Michelin is a tyre manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne région of France. It is one of the two largest tyre manufacturers in the world along with Bridgestone. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the BFGoodrich, Kleber, Riken, Kormoran and Uniroyal tyre brands...

 owned both Citroën and Berliet. However, after the 1973 oil crisis

1973 oil crisis

The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...

, Michelin decided to divest itself of these two companies in order to concentrate on its tire business. Thus, in 1974 Berliet was sold to Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

, while Citroën was sold to Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

. Renault then proceeded to merge Berliet with Saviem

Saviem

Saviem is a French manufacturer of trucks and buses and a part of the Renault group...

 to form RVI.

After the merger, the Berliet name was phased out and another French marque came to an end.

External links

• http://www.fondationberliet.org/ (in French and English for the most part)