The City of Puteaux had more than twenty automobile manufacturing companies and numerous accessory factories linked to this industry (Dumoulin and its Tic-Tac cyclecar, Louis Krieger and his electric cars, and Charles Mochet's pedal cars). But the best-known brands remain De Dion Bouton, UNIC and Vinot Deguingand (a company located at 29 Quai National from 1898 to 1926, when the premises were taken over by De Dion Bouton). Of these companies, the first left behind not only a strong industrial legacy, but also its name on the quay of the Seine where the factory was located.
In 1882, the meeting and subsequent partnership between a young aristocrat, the Marquis Albert De Dion, a financier with a passion for steam engines, and two engineers, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux (who left the company in 1893), gave rise to France's first automobile manufacturer.
Established around 1883 in Puteaux, the brand's factory covered nearly 50,000 square metres at the end of the 19th century and was located in a rectangle formed at the time by Rue Ernest (now Square Léon Blum), Rue Godefroy, Quai National (now De Dion-Bouton) and Rue des Pavillons. The construction in 1899 of the de Dion factory at 34 Quai National, which included a research laboratory, provided work for 950 workers and enabled the production of around 5,000 tricycles and as many engines. Although the first vehicles produced in 1883 were tricycles and then steam-powered quadricycles, in 1895 the company turned its attention to petrol engines with the creation of a high-speed single-cylinder engine equipped with one of the first electric ignition systems. At the end of 1899, the ‘vis-à-vis’ was launched and became the first mass-produced car model, with nearly 3,000 units produced by 1902. The De Dion-Bouton company thus played a pioneering role in the history of the automobile, notably by making the transition from handcrafted prototypes to industrial production at the dawn of the 20th century.
Then, another model nicknamed the ‘populaire’ took over, with a visual appearance closer to our current cars: the steering wheel was moved from the centre of the platform to the front, and the engine was installed at the front. The modern automobile was born.
As for the single-cylinder petrol engine, it brought the company fame for more than 15 years and was sold to nearly 200 other brands, both French (Delage, Latil, Peugeot and Renault) and foreign (Humber, Adler, Pierce-Arrow, etc.). This single-cylinder engine was abandoned around 1912 and replaced by the famous V8 engine.
Until the First World War, the company had a rich catalogue of products in addition to automobiles: lorries, buses, cleaning machines, industrial engines, generators, motor pumps, bicycles, etc. During the Great War, the company produced shells, vehicles and even aircraft engines for the French army. In addition, its engines were sold to around 130 brands and more than 400 patents were filed, including the famous V.8 engine.
Once peace returned, De Dion-Bouton shifted its production towards more luxurious cars and passenger vehicles. However, after participating in the war effort, the company was unable to expand its customer base and suffered the consequences of the economic slowdown, seeing its financial situation deteriorate. The company went into liquidation in 1927, resulting in the appointment of a new board of directors and the gradual cessation of passenger car production in favour of the more profitable manufacture of commercial vehicles. However, the company's situation continued to deteriorate and part of the factory was temporarily closed in 1931.
The empire was dismantled for the first time upon the death of Marquis De Dion in 1947 with the sale of the Ernest Street property complex to Hutchinson. As for the De Dion-Bouton company, although it continued to operate until the end of the 1950s, it was then forced to cease production and, in the early 1960s, lease the rest of its premises to Franco Britannic, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce and Bentley, for the assembly of cars from the British Rover division and the construction of various models of fire engines.
