Berliet Badge + History
AUTOMOTIVE BADGES SET
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BERLIET SET
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Marius Berliet began experimenting with automobiles around 1894, by 1900 he was building single cylinder cars folled in 1902 by a twins. Berliet took over the former Audibert + Lavirotte plant in Lyon and by 1906 was building a 4 cylinder model simular to the contemporary Mercedes, selling the licence to built the car to the American Locomotive Company. Before World War I, 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.
The first World War led to rapid expansion and saw the company (like Renault) building trucks for the military. in 1915 the company relocated to Vénissieux et Saint-Priest in order to build a new principal factory.An order to build 25000 trucks under licence to Renault was made by the French Army while the company was also manufacturing Shells and Battle Tanks, by 1917 the workforce numbered 3150 employees.
Post first world war, part of Berliets output moved back to passenger car production, but persisted in manufacturing a single model car and a single model truck.
Sharp fall in demand and problems with the new VB passenger model resulted in a 55 million franc loss in 1920 and in 1921 the company was placed into administration. A period of austerity followed but by 1929 Berliet was able to pay of its creditors and regain financial control of his company.
New six cylinder models arrived in 1927 and things were looking optimistic, but this was only just aheadof The Wall Street Crash. From 1933 only four cylinder models were offered. For 1939 Berliet stopped producing car bodies and the last few hundred Berliet Dauphines, produced in the first half of 1939, used the body of a Peugeot 402 with a custom made Berliet hood/bonnet and radiator grille.
Regular passenger car production ceased in 1939 and after World War II, the company produced trucks only, with buses added to the range later. 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. The company was given back to the family in 1949,but Marius Berliet had died in 1948 and his son Paul assumed control.
The Lyon factory had assembled trucks for the German military during the hostilities and that factory had remained in family possesion
In 1957 Berliet manufactured the largest truck in the world the T100 with a 600hp Cummins V12 engine It was designed in 10 months at the factory in Courbevoie, outside of Paris, with a second built in 1958 and two further T100s built in 1959.
Berliet was taken over by Citroen who had in turn been owned by Michelin since 1934. Following the 1973 oil crisis Michelin decided to dispose of its vehicle manufacturing and concentrate on tyre production, selling Berliet to Renault and Citroen to Peugeot in 1974. Renault then proceeded to merge Berliet with Saviem to form Renault Véhicules Industriels in 1978 and the Berliet name was consigned to history,
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Shot at The Silverstone Classic 28th July 2013 Ref 95-147
