Do you know the Berliet Dauphine?
10/17/2023
East of the Rhine, it is largely forgotten today that the French truck manufacturer Berliet also produced passenger cars until 1939. The abandonment of one line of business in favor of another would be nothing special if it were not for the curious circumstance that body production ended just under a year before chassis production.
By the end of 1938, the company's own press shop was working to capacity with the production of truck bodies. However, the body of the Berliet 11CV mid-size sedan with its plywood frame was no longer up to date. So instead of developing their own all-steel body at the expense of truck production, they simply put the Peugeot 402's body shell on their own chassis, with a fashionable US-style front section.
Finally, in March 1939, the new Berliet Dauphine made its debut at the Lyon International Motor Show. However, the outbreak of the Second World War six months later sealed its fate. Of the almost 200 units produced, most went to the French army.
