Émile Mathis
Ernest Charles "Émile" Mathis (15 March 1880 – 3 August 1956) was a French industrialist who founded the Mathis automobile company in 1910. Before the 1919 border changes following World War I, he and his company identified as German.
Biography
Mathis was born in Strasbourg, at that time part of the German Empire. Between 1902 and 1904 he worked for the Lorraine-Dietrich motor firm alongside Ettore Bugatti. In 1904 the two collaborated on a model called the Hermes, marketed in Britain as the Burlington. In 1910 Mathis established his own automobile company, and a year later helped pioneer a small multi-cylinder engine, likely influenced by Bugatti's designs.[1]
In 1907 Mathis began constructing a large factory in his native Strasbourg, which would later produce his cars. During the Great Depression he sought a partner and in 1934 entered into a collaboration with Ford Motor Company of the United States. The joint venture was briefly known as Matford.
When World War II broke out and German forces occupied France, Mathis fled to America, where he lived and worked through the war. He returned to Europe in 1946. Mathis died in 1956 after falling from a hotel window in Geneva.
See also
Further reading
- Pierre Haas, Émile Mathis – Passionnément automobile, Portraits Célèbres d'Alsace, Éditions Vent d'Est, 2013, ISBN 979-10-90826-19-9