01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET Page 2

Berliet seemed to be a French manufacturer associated with automobiles, buses, trucks and military motor vehicles among other vehicles operating out of Vénissieux, outside of Lyon, France. Founded in 1899, and apart from the five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it had been put into 'administration sequestre' ıt had been in private ownership until 1967 when after that it became part of Citroën, and subsequently acquired by means of Renault in 1974 and merged with Saviem into a new Renault Trucks corporation in 1978. The Berliet marque was phased out by 1980.Marius Berliet started his / her experiments with automobiles with 1894. Some single-cylinder cars were followed in 1900 by way of twin-cylinder model. In 1902, Berliet took over the plant of Audibert & Lavirotte with Lyon. Berliet started to create four-cylinder automobiles featured by way of honeycomb radiator and metal chassis frame was used rather then wood. The next year, a model was launched that's similar to contemporary Mercedes. In 1906, Berliet sold the driving licence for manufacturing his model to the American Locomotive Company.

Fondation Berliet, Lyon F

Previous to World War I, Berliet offered a choice of models from 8 RESUME to 60 CV. The main models got four-cylinder engines (2412 cc and 4398 cc, respectively), and there was a six-cylinder style of 9500 cc. A 1539 cc design (12 CV) has been produced between 1910 and also 1912. From 1912, six-cylinder models were created upon individual orders merely.The First World War concluded in a massive increase successful. Berliet, like Renault and Latil, produced trucks for the French army. The military orders placed major demands for the factory's capacity, necessitating major investment with production plant and manufacturing plant space.In 1915 a 500 hectare site was ordered between Vénissieux et Saint-Priest so that you can build a new main factory.The Berliet CBA evolved into the iconic truck on the Voie Sacrée, supplying the battle front at Verdun during 1916. 25, 000 of these 4/5 ton Berliet trucks, originally launched in 1914, were ordered by your French army. During 1916 40 ones were leaving the plant everyday. Under license from Renault, Berliet were also creating shells and battle tanks right now. The number of individuals employed increased to 3, 150.By 1917 the importance of annual turnover got multiplied fourfold since the beginning of the war, and a new legal structure was deemed suitable. The company became this Société anonyme des Motor vehicles Marius Berliet.After the war the manufacturer reoriented part of its production back for you to passenger cars, but Berliet nevertheless located themselves with excess volume, as the army was will no longer buying all the pickups the factory could generate, and overall output halved.Marius Berliet responded towards the outbreak of peace by deciding to make just a single style of truck and a single type of car, which represented a leaving from his pre-war market strategy. The single truck on which Berliet focused was the 5 ton CBA that had served the united states so well during the particular war.

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET Page 2

The passenger car to be produced, exhibited on the Berliet stand for the 15th Paris Motor Demonstrate in October 1919, was the 3296cc (15HP/CV) "Torpedo" bodied "Berliet Type VB" of modern visual appeal. Marius Berliet was not merely one to miss a tip: rather than devote time and engineering talent to making a new car for the brand new decade, he obtained and copied an American Dodge. The Dodge was once robust, and the Berliet backup was well received within March 1919 when that had its first community outing, locally, at the Lyon Trade Fair. The headlights were mounted unusually high and the simple disc wheels had been large, giving the car an enjoyable "no nonsense" look. Particularly attractive was the cost of just 11, 800 francs in March 1919. Unfortunately, however, the Berliet engineers failed to make certain the steel used from the car's construction was with the same quality as the North american steel used for the actual Dodge, and this resulted in series problems for that early customers of the "Berliet Type VB" and serious reputational harm to the company.

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET

The factory have been set up to make the "Berliet Type VB" on the rate of 100 cars daily which would have also been an ambitious target beneath any circumstances. The rapid drop-off successful for what at this time was the manufacturer's solely passenger car model that followed the product quality issues plunged the small business into financial difficulties, with losses of second there’s 55 million francs recorded in one year. Survival was in hesitation, and Berliet was used in judicial administration in 1921. Marius Berliet himself had held 88% of the share capital, but was unable to settle all the company's creditors and the firm therefore fell in the hands of the banking companies. Berliet was nevertheless in a position to retain operational control. During the ensuring several years, supported by a sustained recovery popular that in turn reflected a powerful model strategy after 1922, Berliet was able to his debtors and, in 1929, to regain financial control on the business from the finance institutions.

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