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Berliet had been a French manufacturer associated with automobiles, buses, trucks and military cars among other vehicles located in 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' it was in private ownership until 1967 when after that it became part of Citroën, and subsequently acquired by simply Renault in 1974 and merged with Saviem in a new Renault Trucks corporation in 1978. The Berliet marque was eliminated by 1980.Marius Berliet started their experiments with automobiles with 1894. Some single-cylinder cars were being followed in 1900 by a twin-cylinder model. In 1902, Berliet took over the particular plant of Audibert & Lavirotte within Lyon. Berliet started to build four-cylinder automobiles featured with a 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 driver's licence for manufacturing his model towards American Locomotive Company.

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Ahead of World War I, Berliet offered a choice of models from 8 COMPREHENSIVE RESUME 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) was produced between 1910 and also 1912. From 1912, six-cylinder models were created upon individual orders merely.The First World War generated a massive increase in demand. Berliet, like Renault and Latil, produced trucks for the actual French army. The military orders placed major demands for the factory's capacity, necessitating major investment in production plant and manufacturing area space.In 1915 a four hundred hectare site was ordered between Vénissieux et Saint-Priest as a way to build a new primary factory.The Berliet CBA grew to become the iconic truck for 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 of which were leaving the plant daily. Under license from Renault, Berliet were also producing shells and battle tanks at this time. The number of individuals employed increased to 3, 150.By 1917 the importance of annual turnover received multiplied fourfold since the start of the war, and a new legitimate structure was deemed ideal. The company became the particular Société anonyme des Cars Marius Berliet.Following the war the manufacturer reoriented component of its production back in order to passenger cars, but Berliet nevertheless located themselves with excess ability, as the army was will no longer buying all the vehicles the factory could create, and overall output halved.Marius Berliet responded towards outbreak of peace by deciding to generate just a single form of truck and a single form of car, which represented a leaving from his pre-war current market strategy. The single truck where Berliet focused was this 5 ton CBA that had served the united states so well during the actual war.

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The passenger car to get produced, exhibited on the Berliet stand at the 15th Paris Motor Indicate in October 1919, was the 3296cc (15HP/CV) "Torpedo" bodied "Berliet Form VB" of modern appearance. Marius Berliet was not merely one to miss a tip: rather than devote time and engineering talent to creating a new car for the new decade, he obtained and cloned an American Dodge. The Dodge was famously robust, and the Berliet copy was well received inside March 1919 when it had its first public outing, locally, at the Lyon Deal Fair. The headlights were mounted unusually high plus the simple disc wheels had been large, giving the car an enjoyable "no nonsense" look. Particularly attractive was the price of just 11, 800 francs in Oct 1919. Unfortunately, however, the Berliet engineers failed to make sure that the steel used inside car's construction was in the same quality as the North american steel used for this Dodge, and this resulted in series problems for that early customers of this "Berliet Type VB" and serious reputational harm to the company.

Fondation Berliet, Lyon F

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The factory have been set up to create the "Berliet Type VB" at the rate of 100 cars daily which would have been recently an ambitious target beneath any circumstances. The rapid drop-off in demand for what at this stage was the manufacturer's just passenger car model that followed the standard issues plunged the organization into financial difficulties, with losses of fityfive million francs recorded a single year. Survival was in uncertainty, and Berliet was slipped into judicial administration in 1921. Marius Berliet himself had held 88% in the share capital, but was unable to settle all the company's creditors plus the firm therefore fell to the hands of the finance institutions. Berliet was nevertheless capable of retain operational control. During the ensuring ten years, supported by a sustained recovery successful that in turn reflected a good model strategy after 1922, Berliet was able to pay off his debtors and, in 1929, to regain financial control in the business from the finance institutions.

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