Automobiles Industrielles Latil, commonly known as Latil, was a French manufacturer of commercial and military vehicles created to manage the assets of the defunct Compagnie Française d'Mécanique et d'Automobiles, to market Georges Latil's , an early front-wheel drive system. The company was established in 1909 by entrepreneur Charles Blum as Charles Blum & Cie. It started to use in the 1910s as a trading name. The company started to produce military vehicles by the 1910s and commercial ones in great numbers by the end of World War I. In 1928, the company adopted its trading name as its legal name. It was dissolved in 1955 after being merged into the Saviem group.
History Early years and predecessors In 1898, Georges Latil and Aloïs Korn established an enterprise in Marseille (Korn et Latil) to market a Latil invention, the , a kit to convert carriages into front-wheel drive vehicles. In 1901, Latil and Korn moved its operations to Levallois-Perret and created the to sell it in Paris. Despite an initial success, the company was declared bankrupt. By 1905, Charles Blum became an investor and administrator of the company's assets. In 1909, he took over the assets and created a new company called to manage them. He kept Georges Latil and his brother Lazare as part of the technical managing team. In June 1912, the company was reorganised as a and renamed , later trading as . That same year, Blum established another company to operate a fleet of vehicles equipped with the . In 1914, Latil opened a new, larger production plant in Suresnes to replace Levallois-Perret. The Suresnes plant had 20,000 square metres (m2) of covered area in a site of 30,000 m2.
World War I and market expansion By 1911, the company started to develop field artillery haulage, for which they created tractors with the layout of a truck. Latil produced one of its first four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle called the TAR, which it sold to the army to use on the Voie Sacrée during World War I to supply troops with 155 mm guns.
After the war, the company also fully entered into the commercial vehicle business, including trucks. In 1924, it unveiled the first of the TL series of four-wheel drive multipurpose tractors.
Late interwar years and World War II
In November 1928, all the Latil group companies were merged into which became a and was renamed as .
In the 1930s, Latil introduced diesel engines using Gardner licence for direct injection. The company also opened a second plant at Saint-Cloud.
During World War II, it collaborated with the ammunitions company MAP and sold tractors under the name MAP-Latil. After the occupation of France, the Latil plants produced vehicles for the Wehrmacht and only escaped Allied bombing because they were in densely populated areas. In October 1944, Blum, being a French Jew, died exiled in New York.
Final years and merger In 1945, the Pons Plan reduced the number of vehicle manufacturers from 28 to seven and Latil was made part of the Peugeot-led grouping.
After World War II, the company found it increasingly difficult to compete with its larger rivals. In 1948, it simplified its forward control range by introducing the H14 and H16 A1s, with a shared cabin, standardised components and using mostly just a couple of engines with Gardner licence.
In 1955, Latil was combined with the heavy vehicles division of Renault and with Somua to form Saviem. The Blum family and other stockholders kept shares in the new company until it became a wholly owned Renault subsidiary in 1959. The Latil truck range was gradually phased out, initially being sold as Latil and then briefly as Saviem-LRS and Saviem.
Following the merging, Latil's TL tractor range was also sold as Latil and then as Saviem. In 1962, the licence for the tractors' production was sold to the Creusot-Loire conglomerate, which marketed them as the Latil Batignolles.
Latil in the UK Latil's British subsidiary, Latil Industrial Vehicles Ltd., was established in 1924. Up to 1932, Latil's products were imported from France. From 1932 to either 1937 or 1939, Latil licensed local assembly (mostly Latil's all-wheel drive tractors) to Shelvoke and Drewry. From late 1933 onwards, British-assembled Latil tractors were marketed as Latil Trauliers.
After World War II, Latil's tractors in the UK were partially assembled by US Concessionaires Ltd. The British assembled tractors usually changed the original engines for local ones, mostly Meadows units.
Products Commercial vehicles Chassis Variants Engines Payload Gearboxes Wheelbase Type Bore and stroke B Petrol I4 85 mm x 130 mm 4-speed manual 3,500—3,900 cm Light truck and bus/coach 1922–1930 VL◇ 105 mm x 140 mm 3,500–4,424 cm Transit bus and delivery truck 1919–1924 NVL◇ 1925–1930 P◇ ? 3–4 tonnes ? Truck 1919–1924 NP◇ 3,500–3,900 cm 1925–1930 B5 4,100–5,140 cm Truck and bus/coach 1925–1936 PB - 85 mm x 130 mm 1.8 tonnes 3,412 cm Light truck and bus/coach 1931–1933 PBb 90 mm x 130 mm 2,430–4,280 cm Truck and bus/coach 1931–1935 GPB 100 mm x 130 mm 2,430–4,280 cm 1931–1937 SPB 105 mm x 160 mm 2,665–4,400 cm 1931–1935FY10 - 110 mm x 160 mm 10 tonnes 5,530 cm 6x2 truck 1932–1934FB6 - 4,100–5,140 cm Truck 1934–1939PB10 - 10 tonnes 3,800 cm 1932–1933 V3 V8 100 mm x 115 mm 4,710–5,517 cm 4x2/6x2 truck and 4x2 bus/coach 1932–1938 M I4 75 mm x 120 mm 3,350–3,410 cm Light truck and bus/coach 1934–1939 Mb 100 mm x 130 mm 3,410–4,750 cm Truck 1935–1942 H4B1 - Diesel 95 mm x 133 mm 3,410 cm Light truck 1935–1940H1B6 - 108 mm x 152 mm 4,100–5,140 cm Truck 1934–1939H1 A1 B6☆ - 4,940 cm 1936–1939H1 A B3 - 4,710–5,517 cm Bus/coach 1937–1939H2B8 - I6 4,100–5,140 cm Truck 1934–1943H2 A1 Y10☆ - 5,325 cm 6x2 truck 1937–1948H2 A1 B8☆ - 8 tonnes 3,890–4,950 cm Truck 1937–1948H1 A1 B4/B4T☆ - I4 5-speed manual 2,300–4,880 cm 1939–1948H3 A1 B5☆ - 3,270 cm 1947–1948Latil H14 and H16 A1☆ - Various Various 1948–1960H12 B10 T - I6 116 mm x 152 mm 30 tonnes (hauling) 4-speed manual 4,165 cm 1950–1957Notes Sources
Tractors and military vehicles
1911–1928 TI (light tractor) U (light tractor) TP (cargo tractor, 4x4 commercial truck, armoured truck) TH (heavy artillery tractor, commercial tractor/truck) TAR ( heavy artillery tractor, commercial tractor) TAR 2 TAR 3 Tourand-Latil (self-propelled plow/tractor) TL (agricultural and forestry tractor, hauler tractor, medium artillery tractor, rangefinding for anti-aircraft units hauler)
1928–1945 F SPB4 (military truck) TAR 4 TAR 5 F TAR AMD Latil (prototype scouting armoured car) TAR H1 (heavy tractor prototype) JTL (agricultural and forestry tractor, hauler tractor) KTL (agricultural and forestry tractor, hauler tractor, medium artillery tractor) GTL (prototype artillery tractor) M7 T1 (light infantry, liaison and reconnaissance tractor) M7 Z1 (light artillery tractor) M2 TL6/M3 TL6/H4 TL6 (multipurpose tractor, military tractor) M2 TZ (medium artillery and military transport tractor) N (chenillette tractor) TAR H2 (heavy artillery and workshop tractor) M2 TX (prototype heavy workshop tractor) MAN AS250 (German MAN agricultural tractor assembled by Latil from 1943 onwards, as MAN focused exclusively on military vehicles. After the war, it was briefly marketed as Latil AS250) TL7-RR (rail/route tractor)
1945–1955
H4 TL9 (agricultural and forestry tractor) H14 TL10/H11 TL10 (agricultural and forestry tractor,multipurpose tractor) M17 T1 (prototype light truck and staff vehicle) M18 T2 (4x4 military truck) TRPZ (6×4/6x6 tractor/truck)
References