CLEMENT BAYARD - Bicycles to aircrafts

In 1896 , Gustave Adolphe Clement (1855 - 1928) along with Charles Chetwynd Talbot and Harry Lawson (Daimler , England) acquired the Gladiator Cycle Company and renamed it as Clement , Gladiator & Humber (France) Ltd. They were in to manufacture of bicycles. Bicycles were sold under the Clement-Garrad brand. In 1897, with the collapse of the Lawson empire, the company was renamed as Clement Gladiator cycles.

Clement Gladiator experimented with motorisation and were one of the few manufacturer to bring out motorised bicycles and tricycles. The first Clement-Gladiator motorcar was introduced in 1902.

In 1903, the company was split to two branches - Clement-Talbot in Britain  and Clement-Bayard in France. The Bayard name was in recognition of Chevalier Pierre Terrali , Seigneurde Bayard, the savior of the city of Mezierres where the Clement Bayard factory stood.

Some of the Clement Bayard Cars -

A 1908 Clement Bayard 

A 1912 Clement Bayard -

A 1913 Clement Bayard -

In 1908 Clement Bayard went on to manufacture aero-planes. In 1909, the French Government allowed Aldolphe Clement to use the name Bayard and thus he was officially known as Adolphe Clement- Bayard.

In 1922, Clement Bayard was taken over by Citroen.

Clement Bayard Logo -

BERLIET - Truck company with a locomotive Logo

Marius Berliet (1866 - 1949), of France started experimenting with engines and cars in 1894/95 and produced a single cylinder engine car.This car sold only a few numbers till 1900. By 1900, Berliet designed and manufactured reliable cars.

In 1902, Berliet bought the factories of Audibert & Lavirotte and started manufacturing 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder cars. In 1906, financial troubles led Berliet to sell design licenses to American Locomotive Co (ALCO) to manufacture Berliet design cars.

Marius Berliet was interested in manufacturing large trucks and by 1917 was a supplier of trucks  for the French army. Cars continued to be manufactured till 1936 and one of the famous car was the Berliet Dauphine with independent front suspension.

After cessation of car manufacture, Berliet continued to build large trucks. One large truck was the 1957 , Berliet T100 -

Berliet Logo -

While Berliet had no connection with manufacture of Locomotives, the logo depicts a locomotive. It is believed that this was related to the financial bailout by ALCO in 1906 which led to the adoption of this logo by Marius Berliet.

Berliet was taken over by Citroen in 1967 and when Citroen was taken over by Peugeot , the Berliet brand was sold to Renault. Renault integrated Berliet in to Saviem and then RVI which became Renault trucks. Renault trucks currently with Volvo group.

A Berliet Truck seen in the 2010 Paris Motor Show -