Stellantis Poissy Plant

Less than ten years later Simca closed their existing plant at Nanterre, leaving Poissy as their only significant auto-production facility.

That is the name under which it was sold, and since that time the plant has concentrated on the production of small Citroën and Peugeot badged models.

Ford brought cash to the deal, and a fractious partnership ensued, Mathis having found themselves obliged to abandon production of their own cars in October 1934.

Construction began on a large 240,000 m2 site bordering the River Seine in Poissy at the start of November 1938 and progressed remarkably rapidly, with the plant formally completed on 1 May 1940.

[1] Located a short distance downstream from Paris along the (here fully navigable) River Seine, Poissy was near to Asnières, which was home to Chausson, at that time a car body producer and principal supplier to Ford France.

[1] The principal product to be produced at Poissy was to be closely based on the Matford “Alsace” V8, itself a version of the existing US 3622 cc Ford Model 48 but with a restyled rear.

On 14 June 1940, Poissy was occupied by the German Army; under conditions of occupation, the plant concentrated on light trucks.

As the war dragged on, there was a move, in 1943, to crate up Ford's newly completed Poissy plant for shipment to the company's Cologne location, but this was blocked, apparently due to the intervention of a recently resigned but still influential former Vichy government minister called François Lehideux.

Sales volumes were disappointing, and although the engine was produced in-house and final assembly took place at the Poissy plant, other components and sub-assemblies were bought in which was believed to make production vulnerable to supplier problems.

Poissy's new model would be sold with a wide range of names, and in many export markets it would be badged as a Ford during its first few years, but in retrospect it is remembered as the Simca Vedette.

Unfortunately the Suez Crisis struck at the end of 1956, and the resulting fuel shortages placed the emphasis back on very small cars.

Late in the 1970s, Chrysler withdrew from Europe in response to financial pressures on the parent company, and on 10 August 1978 the entire business was sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën.

However, the reintroduced Talbot brand had not, in its 1980s incarnation, had time to generate huge amounts of brand loyalty, and the next new model from Poissy, scheduled to replace the Talbot Horizon, was first postponed and then turned up in 1985 badged as the Peugeot 309 - with Poissy producing left-hand drive models and the former Rootes Group factory at Ryton near Coventry producing the right-hand drive versions.

The 206 was also produced at Ryton until Peugeot closed the plant down in December 2006, switching production to Slovakia before it was finally discontinued in 2010.