Darracq continued to run the business from Paris until retiring to the Côte d'Azur in 1913 following years of financial difficulties.

He had introduced an unproven unorthodox engine in 1911 which proved a complete failure yet he neglected Suresnes' popular conventional products.

Designed by Ribeyrolles[nb 1] this was a 6.5 hp (4.8 kW; 6.6 PS) voiture legére powered by a single-cylinder engine of 785 cc (47.9 cu in), it featured a shaft drive and three speed column gear change.

[nb 2] The attraction for the British venture capitalists was that French automobile technology and industry experience led the world.

[6] Its exceptional quality helped the company capture a ten percent share of the French auto market.

[citation needed] In late 1904 the chairman reported sales were up by 20 per cent though increased costs meant the profit had risen more slowly.

He also reported that during 1905 a large property had been bought in Lambeth for examining adjusting and stocking new cars ready for the peak sales period.

[9] Alexandre Darracq had long been interested in heavy vehicles for the carriage of people and the transport of goods.

A new factory was built at Suresnes capable of making one hundred chassis each month but the buses were not successful and in 1910 the directors had to tell their shareholders they had written off £156,000 of investment in heavy steam vehicles.

[6] In April 1908, the directors found it necessary to formally deny rumours of M Darracq's intention to resign noting his contract did not expire until September 1910.

[11][12] These, at the founder's insistence, would all be cursed with the Henriod[nb 4] rotary valve engine, which was underpowered and prone to seizing.

[6][9] A main board director, Hopkins, was sent to Paris to take charge of general administration and Owen Clegg[nb 5] was sent to Suresnes from Rover in Coventry and appointed works manager.

[14] By February 1913, shareholders had set up their own inquiry into the unsatisfactory position of the business and it reported poor co-operation between London and Suresnes, they had been pulling against each other, furthermore there had been considerable loss through "recent changes in personnel".

In June 1920 they bought control of Sunbeam Motor Car Company[20] and in August W & G Du Cros of Acton, taxi operators and van, lorry, bus and ambulance body builders.

There would now be central buying selling administration and advertising departments all with STD in Britain[22] All businesses retained their separate identities.

[23] Following the inclusion of Clément Talbot in the STD group Suresnes products were branded Talbot-Darracq but the word Darracq was dropped in 1922.

In early 1924, STD Motors went to the public to borrow funds amounting to around 15 per cent of its fully paid capital.

[27][28] In late March 1931, the suggestion was made by a specially called committee of shareholders that some "new blood" should be introduced to the board of directors.

At the end of 1931, the chairman reported a small loss for STD Motors but having, for the first time, synchronised reporting for the nine trading subsidiaries no one was quite clear about the year's real profits or losses of the group[31] but they did at least now have a proper grip of the extent of the group's assets and liabliilites.

[34] Two days later, just before the opening of the October 1934 Motor Show at Olympia London, "Crisp and Another" (trustees of the lenders' trust deed) applied to the High Court, Chancery Division, for the appointment of receivers to Sunbeam and Clément-Talbot.

The main vintage motorcar featured in the 1953 film Genevieve is a Darracq, of the two-cylinder 10/12 HP type, built in Paris in 1904.