The Simca 1000 was a small, rear-engined, four-door saloon manufactured by the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 automaker

Automaker

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

 Simca

Simca

Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...

 from 1961 to 1978.
The car was inexpensive and, at the time of launch, quite modern, with a brand-new inline-4 watercooled engine of (at this stage) 944cc. Production began on 27 July 1961, with the official launch taking place at the Paris Motor Show on 10 October 1961.

At the time of the launch, cars could be ordered in one of three colours (red/rouge tison, egg-shell blue/bleu pervenche or off-white/gris-princesse).