Société des Usines Chausson

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The Société des Usines Chausson was a formerly important French manufacturer of car bodies and buses with the brand name Chausson .

history

Prototype of the Chausson CHS from 1947, exhibited at the Rétromobile trade fair in Paris in 2017

The company was founded in 1907 in Asnières-sur-Seine with the company Ateliers Chausson Frères by the three brothers Jules, Gaston and Paul Chausson. It initially dealt with the manufacture of heat exchangers. It later also manufactured vehicle bodies. Chausson supplied almost all French automobile manufacturers (except Renault) with radiators .

Body shop and takeover of an automobile manufacturer

The bodies for the Ford car models produced in France were created, so that Chausson acquired machines from Budd in 1934 in order to be able to manufacture steel bodies from deep-drawn , electrically spot-welded sheet metal. These machines were installed in the factory in the Paris suburb of Meudon .

In 1936 the financially troubled automobile manufacturer Chenard & Walcker in Gennevilliers was taken over. In 1942 the development of a small car began , which was presented in October 1946 at the Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris . For driving a provided a water-cooled single cylinder - two-stroke engine of 350 cc displacement and 10  hp (7.4 kW) power, a three-speed transmission driving the front wheels. The open body offered space for two people. There was no series production. L. T. Delanay and Sons, Ltd. from Cricklewood tried a license production , which however also failed. The project was discontinued in 1948. One vehicle still exists. It is dated 1947 and sold for £ 11,200 in 2012 .

In 1959, the smaller automobile division in Creil was taken over from the former locomotive manufacturer Brissonneau et Lotz . Car bodies were produced here, for example for the Renault Caravelle (also called Floride), the Opel GT and the Citroën SM .

Bus construction

Chausson APH2-50 with the "pig nose"
Chausson city bus with the wide grille

In 1942, during the Second World War , Chausson built his first bus, which was equipped with an Imbert wood gasifier . After the war, vehicle construction in France was regulated by the state. According to the so-called Pons Plan, Chausson took on the role of Omnibus Pruducent. The 2,000th bus was completed on May 26, 1948. The buses were also exported, so Poland received at least 600 vehicles by 1950. In the 1950s, the Chausson buses and coaches with their characteristic front with the radiator in front were ubiquitous on the French roads. The vernacular gave the vehicles the nickname "nez de cochon" (German: pig nose). In 1952 the new model AP 52 was presented, which was further developed (ASH 521 and 522). Due to the modular structure, various configurations were possible. The vehicle could be delivered as a city bus , intercity bus and touring bus; customers could choose the number and arrangement of the doors, the seating and additional roof edge glazing. The later models received a wide grille. The gasoline engines came from Panhard or Hotchkiss , the diesel engines from Panhard, Hispano or Somua .

The letters in the type designations of the buses meant:
1. A for Autobus
2. for the engine supplier: H for Hotchkiss, P for Panhard, S for Somua
3. for the fuel type: E for essence (petrol = petrol engine), H for huile lourde (Diesel)

Takeover by Renault

Due to the success, the company expanded strongly. There were works in Asnières-sur-Seine, Gennevilliers, Meudon, Reims , Creil, Maubeuge and Laval . In the best years around 13,000 people were employed.

1959/1960 the company was completely taken over by Renault . Under the brand name "Saviem-Chausson", the existing bus models were continued for some time until the brand name for the French buses was changed to Saviem .

Chausson motorhome

Motorhome bodies

Since 1980 mobile homes have been manufactured under the brand name “Chausson” at the Tournon sur Rhône plant. Since 1994, the plant has been 100% owned by the French Trigano Group , one of the largest European producers of mobile homes and camping items.

literature

  • Walter Drawer: Small Cars International . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01959-0

Web links

Commons : Société des usines Chausson  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Auction 2012 (accessed December 16, 2017)
  2. ^ Hans-Christian Herrmann: Chausson and the Saar . In: Yearbook Omnibusse 2017 , Verlag Podszun-Motorbücher, Brilon 2016, pp. 133–139, here pp. 136–138
  3. ^ Chausson (homepage). Retrieved January 6, 2017 .