Heuliez
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Founder | Adolphe Heuliez |
| Defunct | 2013-10-31 |
| Fate | Discontinued activities; production sites taken over by Fabrique régionale du Bocage |
| Headquarters | Cerizay , France |
Key people | Paul Quéveau (President) |
| Products | Coachbuilding, convertibles, estate cars, retractable roofs, complete vehicles (e.g. Opel Tigra) |
Number of employees | Over 2,000 (peak) |
Heuliez was a French coachbuilding firm that specialized in designing and manufacturing vehicles for automakers, concentrating on specialized segments such as convertibles and estate cars.
The company discontinued its activities on 31 October 2013. Subsequently, its production sites were taken over by the "Fabrique régionale du Bocage", an entity predominantly owned by the regional authority of Poitou-Charentes.
History
Established in 1920 by Adolphe Heuliez, who originally crafted horse-drawn carriages, the firm completed its initial automobile assembly—a Peugeot 177B—in 1925. Heuliez also developed a bus manufacturing division, which was divested in 1980 as Heuliez Bus.
A notable achievement for Heuliez was the development of the retractable roof mechanism for the Peugeot 206 CC, with production reaching 350,000 units. The company also produced entire vehicles, including the Opel Tigra. Since 1985, Heuliez had manufactured more than 450,000 automobiles and employed over 2,000 personnel.
Due to diminishing demand for the Tigra model, workforce reductions of 541 employees were implemented, and Opel scaled back production from 200 to 50 units daily by 2006.
In October 2007, Heuliez entered creditor protection proceedings. By July 2008, Argentum Motors proposed a €10 million capital injection plus an additional €10 million over five years in exchange for a 60% ownership share; however, this agreement did not materialize.
The principal manufacturing facility was situated in Cerizay, Deux-Sèvres. Leadership was under President Paul Quéveau.
In 2010, Heuliez withdrew from producing convertible roofs. Its electric vehicle component operations were acquired by the Franco-German consortium Baelen Gaillard Industrie-ConEnergy-Kohl and rebranded as Mia electric, which ceased functioning in 2014.
Production
- Citroën BX Estate (1985–1994)
- Citroën Visa Chrono (1984)
- Citroën Visa Mille Pistes (1984)
- Citroën Visa Convertible (1984)
- Citroën BX 4TC (1986)
- Citroën CX Estate (1989–1991)
- Citroën XM Estate (1992–2000)
- Citroën Xantia Estate (1995–2001)
- Opel Tigra TwinTop (2004–2009)
- Peugeot 206 CC (2000–2007)
- Peugeot 604 Limousine (1978–1984)
- Road versions of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
- Porsche 914/6 Murène concept car (1970)
- Renault 5 Turbo
Electric vehicles
- Heuliez Friendly, subsequently integrated into Mia Electric
- Heuliez Pondicherry, a prototype electric urban neighborhood utility vehicle
See also
- Active Wheel, featured in the Heuliez WILL concept vehicle
- Henri Chapron (France)
- Karmann (Germany)
- Magna Steyr (Austria)
- Bertone and Pininfarina (Italy)
- Valmet Automotive (Finland)