SOMUA-SAVIEM-LATIL-BERLIET-RENAULT
Somua, an acronym for Societe d'outillage mecanique et d'usinage d'artillerie, was a French company that manufactured machinery and vehicles. A subsidiary of Schneider - Creusot , Somua was based in Saint-Ouen, a suburb of Paris.
The "Commission des plans de modernisation de l'automobile", which decided in 1946 to merge Somua with Willeme and Panhard to form a new company, the Generale francaise de l'automobile (GFA).
Around 1955 Latil , the heavyweight vehicle division of Renault , and Somua were merged under the LRS brand, which later became Saviem.
In 1912, Meyenburg Bodenfrasen manufacturing rights for France, Spain and Argentina were obtained by the French company "La Societe Motoculture Francaise SA" in Paris. A prototype was demonstrated at a show at the agricultural school in Grignon near Seine et Oise on 16th October 1913.
In 1919, their manufacturing rights were taken over by the company SOMUA (Societe d'Outillage Mecanique et d'Usinage d'Artillerie) at 170, Boulevard Victor-Hugo in Saint-Ouen, France. Although SOMUA had been founded in 1835, it took until 1914 to take over the activities of three companies, the Usines Bouhey and the Ets. Farcot, both well-known general engineers and constructors of heavy military equipment, and the automobile construction division of the Societe Schneider. The main activity of the new group would remain the production of commercial vehicles, making good use of the fame the Schneider trucks and buses had already established for themselves. During World War I SOMUA became famous for their artillery tractors and tanks. SOMUA made this 1919 tiller tractor, weighing 2430 kg, which was powered by a 35 hp 4 cilinder engine, shown here under demonstration near Basel, Switzerland. SOMUA later built small vinery- and market garden tillers.
The history of SOMUA trucks ended in 1955, when they amalgamated with the companies Latil, Floirat and the Renault trucks division to form SAVIEM (Societe Anonyme de Vehicules Industriels et Equipements Mecaniques). In 1962 SOMUA dealt a fusion with Henri Ernault (lathes constructor) in Paris. H. Ernault SOMUA was formed, resulting in more than 60,000 machines working all over the world. The SOMUA name still survives in the lathes construction of SOMUA Montzeron.
Âíåäîðîæíûå òðàíñïîðòíûå ñðåäñòâà (Land Locomotion – Mechanical Vehicle Mobility LL-MVM) Home