Charron (automobile)
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| Ltd. | |
| Founded | 1906 |
| Defunct | 1930 |
| Headquarters | Puteaux, France |
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Key people
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Fernand Charron |
| Products | Automobiles |
Charron was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1906 and 1930.
Although the company Automobiles Charron Limited was established (with a large injection of British finance) only in 1906 (and registered in 1907), its origins date from a business founded in 1901 called Automobiles Charron, Girardot et Voigt (C.G.V.).
Fernand Charron was born in 1866. Before turning his attention to automobiles, through the 1890s, he was a leading racing cyclist. However, he then became a successful racing driver, with several wins, driving a Panhard, during 1898.
Charron was swept up by the automobile craze, and in 1901, in partnership with and Emile Voigt, he established a company called Automobiles Charron, Girardot et Voigt (CGV), at 7 rue Ampère in Puteaux, approximately 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi) from the central Paris. In 1905 the company had capital of 2 franc million.
Girardot resigned in 1906 and Charron left the company in the same year; but with the help of a major cash contribution from investors in England he was able to found Automobiles Charron Limited, the factory and administrative offices at the same location in Puteaux as before. The suffix at the end of the manufacturer's new name nevertheless reflected its legal status as a London-based company with a head office at 32 Old Jewry, in London.
Charron's commitment to the cars that bore his name was less than whole-hearted at this time. In 1908 Charron himself joined Clément-Bayard, where he both married and divorced the boss's youngest daughter, Jeanne Clément-Bayard, and worked as manager of the factory at Levallois-Perret. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he seriously contemplated selling the Puteaux factory, but instead he used it to build cars for Alda, another automobile company, which he had set up in 1912.
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