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49-541: The Poissy plant was commissioned by Ford France in 1937 and opened in 1940 a few weeks before the German invasion . When, in 1954, Ford sold their business to Simca , the Poissy plant was included in the deal. Less than ten years later Simca closed their existing plant at Nanterre, leaving Poissy as their only significant auto-production facility. Ownership passed again in 1963, this time to Chrysler who in that year acquired

98-493: A Ford during its first few years, but in retrospect it is remembered as the Simca Vedette . In France it was sold with Simca badging right from the start. The Simca acquisition triggered a major expansion at the Poissy site. During 1955, new factory buildings were constructed so that by the end of the year, more than half of the site had been built on. During the early 1950s, the economy finally started to grow again, and

147-722: A contest held to design a Ford that would be at once smaller than the Mercury, but larger than the Light Ford. To recoup the cost of Light Ford, that car was transferred to Ford France. Introduced at the 1948 Salon de l'automobile in Paris, it was designed entirely in Detroit (resembling contemporary Mercury models) and featured the Poissy-made 2158 cc Aquillon sidevalve V8 engine of Ford's Flathead engine family,

196-577: A controlling interest in Simca. In 1978, Peugeot acquired Chrysler's European business. Former Simca models were rebadged as Talbots and continued to be produced at the Poissy plant during the early 1980s. However, the mid-range hatchback that had been designed to sustain the Talbot brand was rebadged ahead of its 1985 launch as the Peugeot 309 . That is the name under which it was sold, and since that time

245-632: A major supplier of parts and sub-assemblies to other PSA group plants, and has grown to a point where it has an annual production capacity of 400,000 cars. The 206 was also produced at Ryton until Peugeot closed the plant down in December 2006, switching production to Slovakia before it was finally discontinued in 2010. DS 3 (2018-present) Opel Mokka (2020-present) 48°56′33″N 2°03′00″E  /  48.9425°N 2.0500°E  / 48.9425; 2.0500 Ford SAF Ford France (formerly, Ford SAF , Ford Société Anonyme Française)

294-562: A new plant of its own at Poissy in 1937, with the stated intention of pulling out of the Strasbourg based Matford project. By the time the Poissy plant came on line in 1940, France had been invaded. Poissy itself was occupied by German troops on 14 June 1940. Ford's new plant there would spend its first years controlled by German automakers operating from Ford’s Cologne plant. Production was dedicated primarily to trucks and military vehicles, initially using existing French designs. After 1943

343-418: A number of coupé, cabriolet and station wagon adaptations. The 13CV was valued by customers for its interior space, comfort, style and performance. However the car’s fuel consumption also put it at a competitive disadvantage against the market leading Citroën 11CV . That coupled with a post-war France tax policy intended to heavily discourage cars with engine sizes above 2-litres put a damper on sales. In 1947

392-690: A prototype developed in Dearborn in 1941. This model, launched in October at the 1948 Paris Motor Show as the Ford 12CV Vedette now replaced the F-472A. The Vedette was joined in 1952 by its upmarket counterparts, the Vendôme , and Comète sports coupé, cars that were not shared with any other Ford subsidiary. In November 1954 Ford merged the entire French operation to Simca at first keeping 15.2 per cent of

441-581: Is also called more formally the Ford F-472 and, after the first 300 had been produced, the Ford F-472A. The 4,270 cars produced in 1947 were well short of Ford's ambitions for the new plant ten years earlier, but with basic materials in short supply and customers short of money, in the late 1940s none of the French auto-makers experienced a rapid return to pre-war volumes. In much of industry, including

490-763: Is the French subsidiary of the American automaker Ford Motor Company , which existed as a manufacturer under various names between 1916 and 1954, when Ford sold the manufacturing business to Simca . After 1954 the residuum was renamed "Ford France" and became an importer of models such as the British -built Ford Anglia and the West German -built Ford Taunus . The company was formed in Bordeaux as Société Française des Automobiles Ford in 1916 by Percival Perry ,

539-444: The 1942 Ford . However, Edsel Ford died in 1943, and following the war Ford corporate felt the light car project would pull sales from the full size Ford. Additionally, Henry Ford II felt that Gregorie’s planned 1949 Ford , which shared the same character lines as the Light Ford, was too large for its market, as was Gregorie’s proposed 1949 Mercury . To that end, the planned Ford and Mercury lines were pushed to Mercury and Lincoln, and

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588-406: The 1980s, the Talbot brand was axed and Poissy became one of the most important production sites for the Peugeot brand and continues to be today. Ford Vedette The Ford Vedette is a large car formerly manufactured by Ford SAF in their Poissy plant from 1948 to 1954. Originally conceived by Edsel Ford and Ford designer Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie as a “light” Ford model, smaller than

637-433: The Ford F-472 and, after the first 300 had been produced, the Ford F-472A. The car’s handling had been criticised in the 1930s, and vehicles produced from 1946 benefitted from anti-roll bars at both ends as well as hydraulic brakes, which combined to make it easier to control through corners. In addition to the familiar four-door sedan/saloon, chassis with front half bodies were also made available to coachbuilders, who built

686-473: The Poissy plant was the principal fixed asset. Henri Pigozzi , the Turin born boss of Simca must have taken a more positive view of the outlook for the French auto-industry, and in 1954 Ford sold their French manufacturing business to Simca along with rights to the new model that it was about to launch. Poissy's new model would be sold with a wide range of names, and in many export markets it would be badged as

735-525: The Simca Vedette made a strong start, with 42,439 produced in 1955 and 44,836 in 1956. These figures probably fell well short of expectations when the site was acquired in 1937, but it was still a fourteenfold increase over the 3,023 cars produced in 1947. Unfortunately the Suez Crisis struck at the end of 1956, and the resulting fuel shortages placed the emphasis back on very small cars. Sales of

784-648: The V8 Simcas recovered a little by the end of the decade, but production volumes never again approached those of 1956. Simca responded rapidly by adding to their range the Simca Ariane which was a big car with a small engine, also produced in Poissy, which during the ensuing six years clocked up over 160,000 sales. However, by now, the large car market in France was increasingly dominated by the Citroën DS which

833-535: The Vedette with which it shared its wheel base and engine, but the rear overhang and therefore the overall length were shorter by 220 mm (8.7 in) The interior surfaces of the Abeille were almost without exception of painted metal, and the front bench seat of the Vedette was replaced with two "rustic" seats apparently taken from a commercial van, but behind them the rear bench was easy to remove, allowing for

882-500: The aged Ford F-472A had. Nevertheless, François Lehideux who took over from Maurice Dollfus in January 1950 was known to be dissatisfied with aspects of the new car. Sales volumes were disappointing, and although the engine was produced in-house and final assembly took place at the Poissy plant, other components and sub-assemblies were bought in which was believed to make production vulnerable to supplier problems. Scope for improvement

931-487: The auto-industry, the immediate post-war years were characterised by industrial unrest, and Ford's Poissy plant was badly affected. Nevertheless, in October 1948 the North American designed Ford Vedette , still powered by the company's familiar V8 2158 cc engine, made its first appearance at a Paris Motor Show : this quickly became Poissy's principal model and during the early 1950s it certainly sold better than

980-408: The company but selling this share as well in 1958. Apart from the plant, Simca also acquired plans for a new Vedette, with the 2351 cc V8, which was made until 1961 (with a substantial modernisation for 1958) as Simca Vedette (although still marketed in some markets as Ford for some time). The Poissy factory has an interesting later history - after the incorporation of Ford SAF into Simca, it

1029-436: The company produced 3,023 of its 13CVs, which in 1948 increased to 4,270 units. The Citroën was far more plentiful, as it was being produced at more than three times the 1948 production rate of the 13CV. These production volumes were far below those envisaged when the Poissy plant was planned, and ever since the end of the war Ford’s French boss, Maurice Dollfus had been negotiating with US Management to be permitted to adapt

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1078-515: The components that few customers studied while maximising the differences in terms of body design and interior fittings. However, the reintroduced Talbot brand had not, in its 1980s incarnation, had time to generate huge amounts of brand loyalty, and the next new model from Poissy, scheduled to replace the Talbot Horizon , was first postponed and then turned up in 1985 badged as the Peugeot 309 - with Poissy producing left-hand drive models and

1127-490: The deal, and a fractious partnership ensued, Mathis having found themselves obliged to abandon production of their own cars in October 1934. For Dollfus the Poissy plant, commissioned in 1938, would provide a route away from the by now bitterly litigious Matford relationship. Construction began on a large 240,000 m2 site bordering the River Seine in Poissy at the start of November 1938 and progressed remarkably rapidly, with

1176-605: The end of 1992 in left-hand drive form, with Ryton once again producing the right-hand drive versions. Between 1992 and 2002, the Peugeot 306 was Poissy’s top product, and the plant manufactured 1,685,470 of them. From 2002, the emphasis switched to the company’s " Platform 1 " small cars, the Peugeot 206 and 207 along with their Citroën counterparts such as the Citroën C3 and the Citroën DS3 . The plant has also become

1225-440: The former Rootes Group factory at Ryton near Coventry producing the right-hand drive versions. This followed Peugeot's decision to discontinue the Talbot brand on passenger cars, although it survived until 1994 on commercial vehicles. 1986 saw Poissy produce its last Talbot-badged car, and the plant's next significant new model was Peugeot ’s mainstream small family car , the Peugeot 306 , which went into production there at

1274-511: The government mandated Poissy to produce the light trucks that it had produced before the war, and in 1946 production commenced of the Ford F698W 5 ton truck known as the “Poissy”. Also in 1946, Poissy reverted to producing the smaller engined 2,225 cc V-8 engined Matford based model, albeit with improved suspension and brakes. The car was known in France as the Ford 13CV, although subsequently it

1323-719: The head of Ford of Britain . Like other European Ford subsidiaries, Automobiles Ford initially assembled the Ford Model T and this continued at Bordeaux until 1925 and then at a workshop in the quai Aulagnier in Asnières-sur-Seine near Paris until 1927. Model As were made from 1927 to 1931 and Model Ys from 1932 to 1934. The company also imported the US-built V8-powered Ford Model B , but import taxes made them very expensive and so not very popular in France. In 1934 Maurice Dollfus ,

1372-454: The head of Ford Société Anonyme Française (SAF), was looking for a larger manufacturing plant and reached an agreement with Emile Mathis to enter into a joint venture with the Mathis company forming Matford in Strasbourg and Asnières. The new company name was Matford SA. Ownership was split 60%/40% with Ford having the larger share. The new company was controlled directly by Dearborn which

1421-402: The installation of a flat "false-floor" of timber planks, and facilitating the use of the car as a load carrier for farmers and small-scale traders. At the October 1953 Motor Show the standard Abeille was listed at 845,000 francs as against 935,000 francs for the least expensive version of the Vedette. Facing unsatisfactory sales results, as well as disruptive strikes at the Poissy plant at

1470-473: The larger engined car, though was actually slightly shorter. These cars had started life in 1935 as products of the Matford joint venture, but the cars produced at Ford's new Poissy plant would presumably have been badged as Fords. The plant became operational in the late Spring of 1940, and there was therefore very little time in which to produce anything before the débacle of May 1940. On 14 June 1940, Poissy

1519-602: The new company president, François Lehideux, Ford France refreshed the car for 1950, and again in 1952, when it finally received a one-piece windscreen, new interior and bumpers, better brakes, lengthened rear overhang and trunk, and a cigarette lighter. The 1953 October Mondial de l’Automobile also saw a luxury version of the Vedette, the Ford Vendôme , fitted with the bigger 3923 cc Mistral V8 engine, previously used in Ford France trucks. Also updated in 1953

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1568-433: The parent company, and on 10 August 1978 the entire business was sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën . Poissy continued for the time being to produce the cars designed as Simcas, but these were now rebadged as Talbots. The Simca brand disappeared in 1980, although Peugeot continues to own the name. It appeared at the time that Peugeot intended to produce three ranges, Peugeot, Citroën and Talbot, in parallel, maximising commonality for

1617-423: The plant at Nanterre which they had used since 1934. After this, Poissy was Simca's only large scale production facility in France. As part of the deal by which the Ford business had been sold to Simca in 1954, Ford had acquired a 15% stake in Simca. However, the Ford shares were sold to Chrysler in 1958. The Chrysler stake in Simca was increased and became a controlling one in 1963. Between 1963 and 1978, Poissy

1666-474: The plant began assembling "German" Fords for Cologne. Meanwhile, a small number of 13CV Matford V8 passenger cars, now branded as Fords, continued to be produced, at least until 1942. After the war the company re-introduced the smaller 2,225 cc V8-engined Matford model, but it no longer carried the Matford name. The car was known in France as the Ford 13CV, although subsequently it is also called more formally

1715-406: The plant formally completed on 1 May 1940. Located a short distance downstream from Paris along the (here fully navigable) River Seine, Poissy was near to Asnières , which was home to Chausson , at that time a car body producer and principal supplier to Ford France . The site was also adjacent to the main railway line connecting Paris with Le Havre . The principal product to be produced at Poissy

1764-553: The plant has concentrated on the production of small Citroën and Peugeot badged models. The construction of the Poissy plant was the project of Maurice Dollfus , Ford's dynamic boss in France. In 1932, governments had responded to economic contraction by raising tariff barriers, and Ford had responded to the need to source vehicles locally by entering into an agreement, in 1934, with the Strasbourg -based Mathis company to produce Ford-designed cars, which would be branded as Matfords , in an extended Strasbourg plant. Ford brought cash to

1813-425: The same as in pre-war Matford cars. It was the only French car of its time with a V8 engine. Because the Poissy factory could not resume complete automobile production immediately after World War II and had no stamping equipment , many vital components had still to be made by various subcontractors, which reportedly had an adverse effect on the quality of the car and contributed to its limited popularity. Over

1862-486: The six years in production, the Vedette was available in several body styles, ranging from the original four-door fastback (with rear suicide doors ) through the later four-door saloon , a Sunliner two-door landaulet based on the saloon (with a roll-down roof over the entire cabin), a two-door Coupé and, based on it, the Cabriolet Décapotable (a two-door convertible ). Under the direction of

1911-456: The top of Ford's French operation . Poissy was liberated by the Americans on 26 August 1944 after several days of bombardment and civilian casualties, notably on 18 August. Ford's boss, Maurice Dollfus was promptly arrested on suspicion of collaboration and transferred to Drancy . However, his release came quite quickly and the plant switched to supporting the allied war effort. Initially,

1960-413: The turn of the decade, Ford had been trying to dispose of the factory since shortly after the end of the war. An opportunity arose in 1954, when Henri-Theodore Pigozzi, the founder of the increasingly successful French automaker Simca , was looking for a new plant to expand its operations. Ford France was merged into Simca with both the Poissy plant and the rights to all models manufactured there — including

2009-582: The votes in national elections till the mid-1950s, buoyed both by the delicate state of the French economy and by the prominent role played by communists in the French Resistance . The strikes that afflicted Ford's Poissy plant, and the poor industrial relations tradition of Renault ’s plant at nearby Boulogne-Billancourt will have done nothing to reassure Ford about the future direction of the French economy, and it became known that Ford were looking to sell their French manufacturing business, of which

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2058-516: Was also a subject of Simca's takeover by Chrysler in the 1960, and during the 1970s it manufactured the first (and, as it later turned out, only) French-made car to bear the Chrysler brand, the Chrysler 180 . At the end of the decade, Chrysler in turn divested its European operations (including Poissy) to PSA , which first rebranded the Poissy production to Talbot . Finally, in the second half of

2107-512: Was important to Maurice Dollfus , the president of Ford France, who was keen to avoid finding himself reporting to Percival Perry , President of Ford of Britain in Dagenham, England. Relations between Mathis and Ford became difficult during the later 1930s with Ford, as the majority investor in the Matford partnership, insisting that development and production of the by now aging Mathis model range be discontinued. Ford had commissioned

2156-689: Was in a lower car tax bracket than the V8 Simcas and had, after a slow start, caught the spirit of the new age. By 1961, it was not lack of customer demand that was squeezing Vedette production, but Simca's own preparations for a return to small car production. Poissy's large site had always been underutilised, and the Simca 1000 was intended to make far better use of Poissy's potential capacity than either Ford or Simca had hitherto achieved. With more than 100,000 Simca 1000s produced every year from 1962 to 1973, Simca succeeded in this. Nevertheless, there would still be capacity to spare at Poissy, and in 1961 Simca sold

2205-572: Was limited by shortage of investment cash and the limited market for cars with engines above 2 litres in size in a country where the tax regime heavily penalised larger engines. Nevertheless, a new V8 model for Ford of France was pencilled in for 1954. In the late 1940s, politics in Europe remained highly polarised and Henry Ford would have been aware of the continuing popularity of the French Communist Party , routinely winning 25% of

2254-549: Was occupied by the German Army ; under conditions of occupation, the plant concentrated on light trucks. As the war dragged on, there was a move, in 1943, to crate up Ford's newly completed Poissy plant for shipment to the company's Cologne location, but this was blocked, apparently due to the intervention of a recently resigned but still influential former Vichy government minister called François Lehideux . Seven years later, in 1950, Lehideux replaced Maurice Dollfus at

2303-409: Was owned by Chrysler, and Chrysler's Pentastar emblem started to appear on the cars produced there, replacing Simca's "dove" emblem. The Simca name would nonetheless remain on French market cars, such as the Simca 1307 launched in 1975, for several more years, even after exported cars came only with Chrysler badges. Late in the 1970s, Chrysler withdrew from Europe in response to financial pressures on

2352-473: Was the five-door, five-seat Abeille (French for " bee ") estate with a two-piece tailgate , advertised as both practical (with a payload of 500 kg (1,100 lb)) and comfortable. The Abeille, originally exhibited with little fanfare at the October 1951 Motor Show as a "farmer's car" (voiture agricole) and launched more formally as the "Ford Abeille" in June 1952, was a "no frills" development of

2401-542: Was to be closely based on the Matford “Alsace” V8, itself a version of the existing US 3622 cc Ford Model 48 but with a restyled rear. The overall silhouette of the car closely resembled that of the Ford Pilot which was produced for a few years by Ford of Britain from 1947. The other car to be built at Poissy was the Matford Alsace V8 13CV, which had a smaller 2158 cc engine. It looked virtually identical to

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