Hotchkiss Hotchkiss-Grégoire History

In 1948, Hotchkiss acquired the rights to Jean-Albert Grégoire's advanced front-wheel-drive design — a fully unitized body, independent suspension all round, and a 2.2-litre flat-four engine — and launched it as the Hotchkiss-Grégoire in 1951. The car was technically ambitious and modern in a way that the traditional Anjou was not.

Despite its engineering merits, the Hotchkiss-Grégoire was expensive to manufacture and priced beyond most buyers' reach. Coupé and cabriolet variants were announced in 1951 but attracted minimal orders. Production ceased in 1952 after only 247 cars had been completed — 235 of them four-door saloons, with seven each of the two-door body styles. The write-off on the Grégoire programme was a significant blow that accelerated Hotchkiss's retreat from car manufacturing.