J. Rothschild & Fils

J. Rothschild & Fils ; J. Rothschild et Fils, Rheims & Auscher Successeurs
legal form
founding	1840
resolution	1930
Seat	Levallois-Perret , France
Number of employees	500 (1910)
Branch	Body shop

J. Rothschild & Fils (later also: Rheims & Auscher ) was a French bodywork manufacturer that manufactured bodies for carriages and automobiles under different company names from 1840 to 1930.

Company history

The company goes back to the native Austrian Joseph Rothschild, who founded a company to manufacture carriages in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret in 1840 . Rothschild became one of the preferred carriage suppliers of the Parisian aristocracy in the second half of the 19th century.

In 1890 Rothschild made his two sons co-owners. A little later he hired the engineers M. Rheims and Léon Auscher, two graduates of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures , who had a major influence on the technical and stylistic development of the products. Rheims and Auscher bought the company around the turn of the century. It then traded as J. Rothschild et Fils, Rheims & Auscher Successeurs; sometimes the short version Rheims & Auscher was also used.

In 1894 Rothschild designed the first structure for an automobile. In the following years the company completely shifted its field of activity to the automotive sector. The participation in the record vehicle La Jamais Contente from 1899, for which Léon Auscher designed the body made by Rothschild, was highly publicized. Rothschild is considered to be one of the first car body manufacturers to produce superstructures from aluminum alloys.

The company expanded rapidly in the first decade of the 20th century. Until 1908, Rothschild manufactured most of the superstructures for Panhard & Levassor , later customers included the local manufacturer Clément-Bayard as well as Delaunay-Belleville and Mors . In 1910, Rothschild had between 500 and 600 employees, and the plant extended over two hectares.

After the end of the First World War , Rothschild could not build on the successes of the pre-war years. A gradual decline set in, which ended in the bankruptcy and liquidation of the company in 1930.