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Unic was a French car manufacturer firm founded by Georges Richard
Georges Richard

Georges Richard was a Frenchman who ran a short lived automobile manufacturing firm from 1897 under his own name, copying Benz cars of the era....
 in 1906 after having left Richard-Brasier
Richard-Brasier

Richard-Brasier was the successor of the early French automobile maker Georges Richard from 1902. The firm made large chain-driven cars. The racers built by the firm won the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing in 1904 and 1905....
. Société anonyme des automobiles UNIC was established in Puteaux
Puteaux

Puteaux is a commune in France in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine D?partements of France, at from the Kilometre Zero....
 with two-cylinder and four-cylinder models. The 1943 cm³ 12 CV
Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several non-International System of Units units of power . It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses....
 (9 kW) four-cylinder model (used mainly as a taxi) was extremely successful and survived in production for nearly 20 years. (The engine was enlarged later to 2120 cm³.) During World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, taxis made by the company participated in Marne
Marne

Marne is a departments of France in north-eastern France named after the Marne River which flows through the department. The prefectures in France of Marne is Ch?lons-en-Champagne ....
 operation.






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Unic was a French car manufacturer firm founded by Georges Richard
Georges Richard

Georges Richard was a Frenchman who ran a short lived automobile manufacturing firm from 1897 under his own name, copying Benz cars of the era....
 in 1906 after having left Richard-Brasier
Richard-Brasier

Richard-Brasier was the successor of the early French automobile maker Georges Richard from 1902. The firm made large chain-driven cars. The racers built by the firm won the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing in 1904 and 1905....
. Société anonyme des automobiles UNIC was established in Puteaux
Puteaux

Puteaux is a commune in France in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine D?partements of France, at from the Kilometre Zero....
 with two-cylinder and four-cylinder models. The 1943 cm³ 12 CV
Horsepower

Horsepower is the name of several non-International System of Units units of power . It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses....
 (9 kW) four-cylinder model (used mainly as a taxi) was extremely successful and survived in production for nearly 20 years. (The engine was enlarged later to 2120 cm³.) During World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, taxis made by the company participated in Marne
Marne

Marne is a departments of France in north-eastern France named after the Marne River which flows through the department. The prefectures in France of Marne is Ch?lons-en-Champagne ....
 operation. After WW I, a new four-cylinder (1847 cm³) was offered, along with the taxis.

Truck production started in that era. During the 1920s, a 1997cc sports model was marketed and in some models sleeve valve
Sleeve valve

The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the more common poppet valve. They saw use in some pre-World War II luxury cars, sports cars, the Willys-Knight car and light truck, and saw substantial use in aircraft engines of the 1940s, such as the Napier Sabre and Bristol Hercules and Bristol Centaurus....
 engines were used. Georges Richard died in 1922. In the 1930s, there were two eight-cylinder models.

Passenger car production ceased in 1938, and from then on Unic concentrated in the truck business, being one of the leading French makes. In 1966 it was taken over by Italian Fiat
Fiat

Fiat S.p.A. Fiat based cars are constructed all around the world?the largest concern outside Italy is in Brazil . It also has factories in Argentina and Poland....
 and eventually merged into Iveco
Iveco

Iveco is an Italy truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin, Italy. It is a subsidiary of the Fiat Group, and produces around 200,000 commercial vehicles and 460,000 diesel engines annually, and for the year ended 2007 the company had Euro11,196 million in sales ....
 in 1975.

History

In 1952, the firm was taken over by Simca
Simca

Simca was a France automaker and marque, founded in 1934 by Henri Th?odore Pigozzi . Simca was originally affiliated with Fiat, but later, after a period of independence, when Simca bought Ford's French branch, became increasingly controlled by the Chrysler, in 1970 becoming a part of Chrysler Europe and a brand rather than independent compa...
, headed by Henri Pigozzi
Henri Pigozzi

Henri Pigozzi , a car merchant and industrialist, was born as Enrico Teodoro Pigozzi in Turin, Italy. He was introduced to Giovanni Agnelli, the owner of Fiat in 1922....
, who wanted a commercial vehicle production unit. Trucks of this period are commonly referred to as Unic-Simca trucks.

In 1956 the French arm of the Swiss truck manufacturer Saurer
Saurer

Adolph Saurer AG was a Arbon, Switzerland , based manufacturer of trucks and buses, under the Saurer and Berna brand names, and active between 1903 and 1982....
 was taken over.

In 1966 Unic joined the Fiat
Fiat

Fiat S.p.A. Fiat based cars are constructed all around the world?the largest concern outside Italy is in Brazil . It also has factories in Argentina and Poland....
 Group.

In 1975 a holding company named IVECO
Iveco

Iveco is an Italy truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin, Italy. It is a subsidiary of the Fiat Group, and produces around 200,000 commercial vehicles and 460,000 diesel engines annually, and for the year ended 2007 the company had Euro11,196 million in sales ....
 was established covering truck and bus brands such as Fiat
Fiat

Fiat S.p.A. Fiat based cars are constructed all around the world?the largest concern outside Italy is in Brazil . It also has factories in Argentina and Poland....
, OM
Officine Meccaniche

Officine Meccaniche was an Italy car and truck manufacturing company, founded in 1899 in Milan as Societa Anonima Officine Meccaniche.The inception of the company had resulted from the merger of two companies,Grondona Comi & C and Miani Silvestri & C....
, Lancia
Lancia

Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italy automobile manufacturer founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and which became part of the Fiat in 1969. The company has a long history of producing distinctive cars and also has a strong rally heritage....
, UNIC and Magirus
Magirus

Magirus Feuerwehrwerke Ulm was a Germany manufacturer founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus . The company began manufacturing fire-fighting vehicles in 1864....
.

In 1976 UNIC-FIAT S.A. became UNIC S.A..

In 1992 IVECO UNIC S.A. changed its name to IVECO FRANCE S.A..

In 2003, the company's headquarters moved from Villejuif
Villejuif

Villejuif is a commune in France in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 7 km from the Kilometre Zero....
 to Boissy St Léger, where a second facility was established in 1995.

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