Berliet started to build four-cylinder automobiles featured by a honeycomb radiator and steel chassis frame was used instead of wood.

[4] After the war the manufacturer reoriented part of its production back to passenger cars, but Berliet nevertheless found themselves with excess capacity, as the army was no longer buying all the trucks the factory could produce, and overall output halved.

[5] Marius Berliet was not one to miss a trick: rather than devote time and engineering talent to developing a new car for the new decade, he obtained and copied an American Dodge.

[5] The Dodge was famously robust, and the Berliet copy was well received in March 1919 when it had its first public outing, locally, at the Lyon Trade Fair.

[5] The headlights were mounted unusually high and the simple disc wheels were large, giving the car a pleasing "no nonsense" look.

[5] The factory had been set up to produce the "Berliet Type VB" at the rate of 100 cars per day which would have been an ambitious target under any circumstances.

[2] The rapid drop-off in demand for what at this stage was the manufacturer's only passenger car model that followed the quality issues plunged the business into financial difficulties, with losses of 55 million francs recorded in one year.

[2] Marius Berliet himself had held 88% of the share capital, but was unable to pay off all the company's creditors and the firm therefore fell into the hands of the banks.

[2] During the ensuring decade, supported by a sustained recovery in demand that in turn reflected an effective model strategy after 1922, Berliet was able to pay off his debtors and, in 1929, to regain financial control over the business from the banks.

By October 1928, just twelve months before the Wall Street crash crystallized a savage downturn for the western economies, three of the four cars offered for 1929 on the Berliet stand at the Paris Motor Show, were powered by six cylinder engines.

[10] Regular passenger car production ceased in 1939 and after World War II, the company produced trucks only, with buses added to the range later.

The company was given back to the family in 1949, but to Marius Berliet's son Paul following the founder's death earlier that year.

Later on a separate company called MOL Trucks of Hooglede, Belgium bought the design rights of some original Berliet models of the 1970s and started to manufacture their own original MOL model range consisting of medium to large 4X4, 6X6 and 8X8 lorries and roadtractors.

[14] Following the take-over the merged company stated that Citroën-Berliet would command 58% of France's market for commercial vehicles above 6 tons.

However, after the 1973 oil crisis, Michelin decided to divest itself of these two companies in order to concentrate on its tire business.