Visite de la Fondation BERLIET Page 1

Berliet had been a French manufacturer connected 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 a five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it was put into 'administration sequestre' ıt had been in private ownership until 1967 when it then became part of Citroën, and subsequently acquired by simply Renault in 1974 in addition to merged with Saviem in a new Renault Trucks firm in 1978. The Berliet marque was phased out by 1980.Marius Berliet started his experiments with automobiles in 1894. Some single-cylinder cars were followed in 1900 with a twin-cylinder model. In 1902, Berliet took over the plant of Audibert & Lavirotte within Lyon. Berliet started to assemble four-cylinder automobiles featured by the honeycomb radiator and aluminum chassis frame was used as an alternative to wood. The next year, a model was launched that was similar to contemporary Mercedes. In 1906, Berliet sold the license for manufacturing his model for the American Locomotive Company.

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET

Previous to World War I, Berliet offered a choice of models from 8 CURRICULUM VITAE to 60 CV. The main models received four-cylinder engines (2412 cc and 4398 cc, respectively), and there was a six-cylinder style of 9500 cc. A 1539 cc model (12 CV) has been produced between 1910 in addition to 1912. From 1912, six-cylinder models were made upon individual orders solely.The First World War triggered a massive increase sought after. Berliet, like Renault and Latil, produced trucks for the actual French army. The military orders placed major demands around the factory's capacity, necessitating major investment within production plant and manufacturer space.In 1915 a 500 hectare site was acquired between Vénissieux et Saint-Priest to be able to build a new major factory.The Berliet CBA evolved into the iconic truck within the Voie Sacrée, supplying the battle entry at Verdun during 1916. 25, 000 of these 4/5 ton Berliet trucks, originally launched in 1914, were ordered by the particular French army. During 1916 40 of these were leaving the plant everyday. Under license from Renault, Berliet were also providing shells and battle tanks right now. The number of staff employed increased to 3, 150.By 1917 the benefit of annual turnover got multiplied fourfold since the start of the war, and a new legal structure was deemed proper. The company became the actual Société anonyme des Cars Marius Berliet.Following the war the manufacturer reoriented part of its production back to help passenger cars, but Berliet nevertheless identified themselves with excess volume, as the army was not buying all the vans the factory could generate, and overall output halved.Marius Berliet responded towards outbreak of peace by deciding to create just a single style of truck and a single kind of car, which represented a leaving from his pre-war marketplace strategy. The single truck on what Berliet focused was the 5 ton CBA that had served the united states so well during this war.

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET Page 3

The passenger car for being produced, exhibited on the Berliet stand at the 15th Paris Motor Present in October 1919, was the 3296cc (15HP/CV) "Torpedo" bodied "Berliet Sort VB" of modern overall look. Marius Berliet was probably none to miss a trick: rather than devote period 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 copy was well received in March 1919 when this had its first open outing, locally, at the Lyon Deal Fair. The headlights were mounted unusually high as well as the simple disc wheels have been large, giving the car a nice "no nonsense" look. Particularly attractive was the buying price of just 11, 800 francs in March 1919. Unfortunately, however, the Berliet engineers failed in order that the steel used inside the car's construction was in the same quality as the Us steel used for this Dodge, and this resulted in series problems to the early customers of the actual "Berliet Type VB" and serious reputational injury to the company.

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET

01 Le MONTELIER MUSEE de la Fondation BERLIET Page 2

The factory was set up to create the "Berliet Type VB" for the rate of 100 cars every day which would have recently been an ambitious target below any circumstances. The rapid drop-off sought after for what at this stage was the manufacturer's just passenger car model that followed the standard issues plunged the small business into financial difficulties, with losses of fifty five million francs recorded in a year. Survival was in question, and Berliet was placed in judicial administration in 1921. Marius Berliet himself had held 88% of the share capital, but was unable to pay off all the company's creditors along with the firm therefore fell to the hands of the banking companies. Berliet was nevertheless able to retain operational control. During the ensuring decade, supported by a sustained recovery widely used that in turn reflected a simple yet effective model strategy after 1922, Berliet was able to repay his debtors and, in 1929, to regain financial control on the business from the banking companies.

may be governed by copyright. – Send suggestions We Comply All TakeDown by Request.

thanks for coming