Cars will always have a special place in the heart of any man. France is home to Paris, which is known as the city of love, so naturally people will fall in love with French cars. Cars not only assist a person get from one place to another a lot faster, but they also provide one with comforts, such as music, added safety when on the road, and lots of space for additional passengers or transporting items. When it comes to high tech engineering and quality cars, there’s no better choice than this list of the best French automobiles.
Citroën
Citroën
Citroën was founded back in 1919, by Andre Citroen. Their company headquarters are in Saint-Ouen, France. This company has quickly become the first mass production car company outside the United States of America. It was the first company to pioneer the concept of creating a services and sales networks that came as an addition to car deliveries. This feature, alongside the great cars they design and build make them one of the top competitors on the worldwide market. The company’s parent company is PSA Peugeot Citroën.
This French automobile company has been the receiver of several international awards such as the U.S. Car of the Year award, the European Car of the Year award, the Italy Car of the Year award, as well as other awards. They have also won three different Rally racing championships. To date they are the only car manufacturer to have won three different rally races. The major car categories included in the current production lineup is the DS line, the joint venture line, and the Citroën line.
Renault S.A.
Renault was founded in 1899, by Louis Renault, Marcel Renault, and Fernand Renault. Their company headquarters are in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. This manufacturer started their business with the Renault Voiturette 1CV, which was the first Renault car. They sold that first car to a friend of their Louis’ father in 1898. Since then they have created numerous car types, such as vans, race cars, sedans, trucks, tractors, tanks, and buses. They have always specialized in fulfilling the needs of different industry sectors.
This French car company still provides some of the best automobiles to be found on the market. They also have had a large success in motorsport competitions, with their cars, such as Formula 1. Renault has numerous subsidiaries all over the world, including ones in Romania, India, Spain, Russia, Argentina, Turkey, and Morocco just to name a few. They have also won the European Car of the Year Award six times in the last forty years, the most recent award was in 2006 and it was received for the Renault Clio III model.
Peugeot Logo
Peugeot
Peugeot was originally founded back in 1810 as a coffee mill manufacturer. The company then changed to a bicycle manufacturer in 1830. The first car was a steam tricycle that was created in 1889. Since then, the brand has created numerous car models that simply became the delight of people that love quality cars. In 1974, Peugeot bought 30% of Citroën, and it took over the company completely in 1975. However, the company still keeps separate identities for the two brands, although the two companies do share all technical and engineering resources.
Peugeot has received many international awards, such as four European Car of the Year awards, two Ireland Car of the Year awards, nine Spain Car of the Year awards, and five Italy Car of the Year awards. As expected, Peugeot has multiple factories in and outside France. They have extended to factories in Spain, Brazil, Slovakia, Czech republic, Japan, Indonesia, Portugal, Iran and Italy, among others.
Alpine Logo
Alpine
Alpine was founded in 1955, by Jean Redele. The company’s headquarters are located in Dieppe, France. They are one of the manufacturer that specialize in production of sports and racing cars. The company was acquired by Renault back in 1973, but they still remain the one of the top manufacturer of sports cars.
They also produce certain car models which are suitable for street use, such as the A106 or A110. The main focus of the automobiles being developed by this manufacturers are more suitable for racing. They have several factories outside of France, in counties such as Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Canada.
Bugatti
Bugatti’s headquarters are located in Molsheim, Alsace, France. Although it was revived in the 1990’s, the Bugatti company was founded in France back in 1909 by Ettore Bugatti. They have produced numerous cars that were suitable for racing. They also produced war vehicles for World War I and World War II. Bugatti was most recently to the Volkswagen Group in 1998. Nowadays, this manufacturer specializes in production of rare yet amazing cars in limited edition sport cars.
Bugatti was a contributor to the racing world from 1921 to 1939. The company held many racing victories. Sadly, one of their most notorious racing victories was their last one. In 1939, Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron won the 24 hours of Le Mans. The company took a significant turn in 1939, when Jean Bugatti died while testing a race car. Jean was Ettore Bugatti’s, the company’s founder, son.
French Car Logos
Many people recognize these different brands by their brand logos. Some logos have changed drastically over time and other haven’t changed much over the years. For an example, the Bugatti logo has not change since its creation in 1909. The logo has a red oval as its base, and it includes the Bugatti name. It also included a backwards “E” melted with a “B” which stands for Ettore Bugatti, the company’s founder. Other brand logos, like Peugeot have changed several times over the years. Interestingly enough, Peugeot has always incorporated a lion into their company logo, even throughout all the different changes.
Automobiles produced by these top brands of French cars are an amazing testament to a success of comfort, performance, and technological. France has a lot of tradition when it comes to creating beautiful and amazing cars. Many major car manufacturers have their company headquarters here, which goes to show the amount of dedication that went into the creation of these amazing vehicles. Don’t forget to check out our other lists of European car brands. German brands for example are also extremely popular.
