Family Fortunes Part Three

During the war, feeling that the future lay with making a cheap small car, Panhard had already begun preliminary work on a little front-wheel-drive flat-twin. Meanwhile Jean-Albert Gregoire,sponsored by Aluminium Franjais, had in 1942 completed an ultra-lightweight fwd prototype built around a cast-aluminium skeleton. This was hawked around France’s car manufacturers, with no takers – until it arrived at Panhard, who in late 1943 and early 1944 signed a series of contracts to produce the Aluminium Franjais Gregoire, with financial support from the Vichy government.After the Liberation of France, the post-war government was strongly dirigiste and established the Pons Plan, whereby the motor industry would be streamlined to a small number of manufacturers, each of which would make a single category of car. Panhard was excluded from the plan, its role being restricted to the manufacture of lorries.