PSA Poissy Plant
Encyclopedia
The PSA Poissy plant is a French
car plant belonging to PSA Peugeot Citroën
located in Poissy
, Yvelines
. It is dedicated to the manufacturer’s Platform 1 cars, which are cars in the subcompact class, with an annual output of approximately 200,000 cars.
In 2010 the plant produced the Peugeot 207
, the Peugeot 207 SW and the Citroën DS3
. Together with the PSA Research Centres at Carrières-sous-Poissy and at Vélizy, it is one of three major establishments that PSA runs in the department
.
The Poissy plant was commissioned by Ford
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 naturally included in the deal, and 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 a controlling interest in Simca. Then in 1978 Peugeot
acquired Chrysler’s European business. Former Simca models were rebadged as Talbot
s 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 launch as the Peugeot 309
. That is the name under which it was sold, and since that time the plant has concentrated on the production of small Peugeots.
In October 2010 the plant had 6,535 registered employees.
, 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 Matford
s, in an extended Strasbourg plant. Ford brought cash to 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.
The principal product to be produced at Poissy was to be closely based on the Matford “Alsace” V8, itself a version of the existing US 3622cc 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 2158cc engine. It looked virtually identical to 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 way 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 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 the government mandated Poissy to produce the light trucks that it had been 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 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 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 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 2158cc 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 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 was limited by shortage of investment cash and the limited market for cars with engines above 2 litre 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 had become highly polarised and Henry Ford
will have been aware of the continuing popularity of the French Communist Party
, routinely winning 25% of the votes in national elections till the mid-1950s, buoyed both by the delicate state of the French economy the 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 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 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 a Ford during its first few years, but in retrospect it is remembered as the Simca Vedette
, and in France it came with a Simca badge 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, finally, more than half of the site had been built on.
During the early 1950s the economy finally started to grow again and 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 the 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 the V8 Simcas recovered a little by the end of the decade, but production volumes of 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 160,0000 sales. However, by now the large car market in France was increasingly dominated by the Citroen DS
which was in a lower car tax bracket than the V8 Simcas and had, after 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 the plant at Nanterre
which they had occupied 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 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 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 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
. 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
. 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 Peugeots 206
and 207
along with their Citroën bodied counterparts such as the Citroën C3
. The plant has also become 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.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
car plant belonging to PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
located in Poissy
Poissy
Poissy is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center.In 1561 it was the site of a fruitless Catholic-Huguenot conference, the Colloquy at Poissy...
, Yvelines
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
. It is dedicated to the manufacturer’s Platform 1 cars, which are cars in the subcompact class, with an annual output of approximately 200,000 cars.
In 2010 the plant produced the Peugeot 207
Peugeot 207
The Peugeot 207 is a small family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot and unveiled in January 2006.-Launch:The 207 was launched in France, Spain and Italy during April 2006 and later on in other European, Israeli and Arabic markets....
, the Peugeot 207 SW and the Citroën DS3
Citroën DS3
The Citroën DS3 is a supermini, produced by French manufacturer Citroën from 2009. This is the first car in the new DS range from Citroën. It was first hinted by the concept car Citroën DS Inside. This range of vehicle shares no common feature with, and is in no way the successor to, the Citroën DS...
. Together with the PSA Research Centres at Carrières-sous-Poissy and at Vélizy, it is one of three major establishments that PSA runs in the department
Yvelines
Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.-History:Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application from 26 February 1965.It gained the...
.
The Poissy plant was commissioned by Ford
Ford SAF
Ford SAF was the French subsidiary of the American automaker Ford Motor Company, which existed under various names between 1916 and 1954, when Ford sold the manufacturing business to Simca....
in 1937 and opened in 1940 a few weeks before the German invasion
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. When, in 1954, Ford sold their business to Simca
Simca
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...
, the Poissy plant was naturally included in the deal, and 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
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
who in that year acquired a controlling interest in Simca. Then in 1978 Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
acquired Chrysler’s European business. Former Simca models were rebadged as Talbot
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque that existed from 1903 to 1986, with a hiatus from 1960 to 1978, under a number of different owners, latterly under Peugeot...
s 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 launch as the Peugeot 309
Peugeot 309
The Peugeot 309 was a small family car manufactured between 1985 and 1993 in England and France.The 309 was originally intended to be badged as a Talbot and, as development progressed, to be called the Talbot Arizona...
. That is the name under which it was sold, and since that time the plant has concentrated on the production of small Peugeots.
In October 2010 the plant had 6,535 registered employees.
History
The construction of the Poissy plant was the project of Maurice DollfusMaurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus was appointed to head up Ford of France in 1930. Four years later he negotiated an agreement with Mathis which led to the creation of the Matford joint project in 1934 in order to enable Ford to grow its French business at a time of increased protectionism and at an acceptable cost...
, 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
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
based Mathis
Mathis
Mathis was a firm in Alsace that produced cars between 1910 and 1950, founded by Émile Mathis born Strasbourg , died Geneva.-Hermès-Simplex:...
company to produce Ford designed cars, which would be branded as Matford
Matford
Matford was a car and truck manufacturer in France from 1934 to 1940.In the 1930s, the Ford Motor Company was quickly expanding its European production. Before 1934,a front wheel drive version of Ford Model Y had been produced with an 8 hp engine under the marque Tracford...
s, in an extended Strasbourg plant. Ford brought cash to 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.
The principal product to be produced at Poissy was to be closely based on the Matford “Alsace” V8, itself a version of the existing US 3622cc Ford Model 48
Ford Model 48
The Model 48 was an update on Ford's V8-powered Model 40A, the company's main product. Introduced in 1935, the Model 48 was given a cosmetic refresh annually, begetting the 1937 Ford before being thoroughly redesigned for 1941...
but with a restyled rear. The overall silhouette of the car closely resembled that of the Ford Pilot
Ford Pilot
The Ford Pilot Model E71A was a large car from Ford introduced in August 1947. It was effectively replaced in 1951 with the launch of Ford UK's Zephyr Six and Consul models, though V8 Pilots were still offered for sale, being gradually withdrawn during that year...
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 2158cc engine. It looked virtually identical to the larger engined car, though was actually slightly shorter. These cars had started life in 1935 as products of the Matford
Matford
Matford was a car and truck manufacturer in France from 1934 to 1940.In the 1930s, the Ford Motor Company was quickly expanding its European production. Before 1934,a front wheel drive version of Ford Model Y had been produced with an 8 hp engine under the marque Tracford...
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 way occupied by the German army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
: 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
Ford SAF
Ford SAF was the French subsidiary of the American automaker Ford Motor Company, which existed under various names between 1916 and 1954, when Ford sold the manufacturing business to Simca....
newly completed Poissy
Poissy
Poissy is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center.In 1561 it was the site of a fruitless Catholic-Huguenot conference, the Colloquy at 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
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
minister called François Lehideux
François Lehideux
François Lehideux was a French industrialist and member of the Vichy government.-Car industry:...
. Seven years later, in 1950, Lehideux replaced Maurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus was appointed to head up Ford of France in 1930. Four years later he negotiated an agreement with Mathis which led to the creation of the Matford joint project in 1934 in order to enable Ford to grow its French business at a time of increased protectionism and at an acceptable cost...
at the top of Ford’s French operation
Ford SAF
Ford SAF was the French subsidiary of the American automaker Ford Motor Company, which existed under various names between 1916 and 1954, when Ford sold the manufacturing business to Simca....
.
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
Maurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus was appointed to head up Ford of France in 1930. Four years later he negotiated an agreement with Mathis which led to the creation of the Matford joint project in 1934 in order to enable Ford to grow its French business at a time of increased protectionism and at an acceptable cost...
was promptly arrested on suspicion of collaboration and transferred to Drancy
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
. However, his release came quite quickly and the plant switched to supporting the allied war effort. Initially the government mandated Poissy to produce the light trucks that it had been 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 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 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 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
Ford Vedette
The Ford Vedette is a large car manufactured by Ford France SA in their factory in Poissy from 1948-1954. Introduced at the 1948 Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris, it was designed entirely in Detroit , but featured the Poissy-made 2158 cc Aquillon sidevalve V8 engine of Ford's Flathead engine...
, still powered by the company’s familiar V8 2158cc 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 the aged Ford F-472A had. Nevertheless, François Lehideux
François Lehideux
François Lehideux was a French industrialist and member of the Vichy government.-Car industry:...
who took over from Maurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus
Maurice Dollfus was appointed to head up Ford of France in 1930. Four years later he negotiated an agreement with Mathis which led to the creation of the Matford joint project in 1934 in order to enable Ford to grow its French business at a time of increased protectionism and at an acceptable cost...
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 was limited by shortage of investment cash and the limited market for cars with engines above 2 litre 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 had become highly polarised and Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
will have been aware of the continuing popularity of the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, routinely winning 25% of the votes in national elections till the mid-1950s, buoyed both by the delicate state of the French economy the by the prominent role played by communists in the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
. The strikes that afflicted Ford’s Poissy plant, and the poor industrial relations tradition of Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
’s plant at nearby Billancourt
Billancourt
Billancourt is a commune in the Somme department in northern France....
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 the Poissy plant was the principal fixed asset. Henri Pigozzi
Henri Pigozzi
Henri Pigozzi , a car merchant and industrialist, was born as Enrico Teodoro Pigozzi in Turin, Italy....
, the Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
born boss of Simca
Simca
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...
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
Simca
Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat. It was directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by the Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi...
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 a Ford during its first few years, but in retrospect it is remembered as the Simca Vedette
Simca Vedette
The Simca Vedette is a large car, manufactured from 1954-1961 by the French automaker Simca, at their factory in Poissy, France. It was marketed with different model names according to trim and equipment levels...
, and in France it came with a Simca badge 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, finally, more than half of the site had been built on.
During the early 1950s the economy finally started to grow again and 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 the 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
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
struck at the end of 1956, and the resulting fuel shortages placed the emphasis back on very small cars. Sales of the V8 Simcas recovered a little by the end of the decade, but production volumes of never again approached those of 1956. Simca responded rapidly by adding to their range the Simca Ariane
Simca Ariane
The Simca Ariane was a large saloon car launched in April 1957 by the French automaker Simca. It was manufactured in company's factory at Poissy until 1963.-Origins:...
which was a big car with a small engine, also produced in Poissy, which during the ensuing six years clocked up over 160,0000 sales. However, by now the large car market in France was increasingly dominated by the Citroen DS
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative...
which was in a lower car tax bracket than the V8 Simcas and had, after 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
Simca 1000
The Simca 1000 was a small, rear-engined, four-door saloon manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1961 to 1978.-The launch:The car was inexpensive and, at the time of launch, quite modern, with a brand-new inline-4 watercooled engine of 944cc...
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 the plant at Nanterre
Nanterre
Nanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located west of the center of Paris.Nanterre is the capital of the Hauts-de-Seine department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre....
which they had occupied 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
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
in 1958. The Chrysler stake in Simca was increased and became a controlling one in 1963. Between 1963 and 1978 Poissy 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
Simca 1307
The Simca 1307 was the name under which Chrysler Europe launched its new large family car in July 1975.A modern, front-wheel drive hatchback, it was one of the first such cars in that class, along with the Volkswagen Passat, and became the 1976 European Car of the Year...
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 the parent company, and on 10 August 1978 the entire business was sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
. 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 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
Peugeot 309
The Peugeot 309 was a small family car manufactured between 1985 and 1993 in England and France.The 309 was originally intended to be badged as a Talbot and, as development progressed, to be called the Talbot Arizona...
. 1986 saw Poissy produce its last Talbot badged car, and the plant’s next significant new model was Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
’s mainstream small family car, the Peugeot 306
Peugeot 306
The Peugeot 306 is a small family car built by the French car manufacturer Peugeot from 1993 to 2002 replacing the 309. Peugeot gave the 306 many updates and aesthetic changes to keep up the competition but it was replaced by the 307 in 2001. Cabriolet and estate versions continued until 2002...
. 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 Peugeots 206
Peugeot 206
The Peugeot 206 is a supermini car, manufactured by the French automaker Peugeot from 1998 to 2010.Even though the 206 has finished production in most markets as of 2010, in Europe since 2009, it is available the 206+, with a back and especially a front design that resembles the Peugeot 207.-The...
and 207
Peugeot 207
The Peugeot 207 is a small family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot and unveiled in January 2006.-Launch:The 207 was launched in France, Spain and Italy during April 2006 and later on in other European, Israeli and Arabic markets....
along with their Citroën bodied counterparts such as the Citroën C3
Citroën C3
The Citroën C3 is a supermini car equipped with a range of inline-four engines that has been produced by the French automaker Citroën since 2002. It was designed by Donato Coco and Jean-Pierre Ploué, previously known for designing the first generation Renault Twingo; the former has been the head of...
. The plant has also become 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.
Sources and further reading
- Nicolas Hatzfeld, Poissy, une légende automobile, E.T.A.I., 2002, (ISBN 2-7268-8520-9), 222 p.