Latil

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.

• Name — Automobiles Industrielles Latil S. A. • Former Name — * Charles Blum & Cie • Charles Blum & Cie S.C.A. (trading as Automobiles Industrielles Latil) • Predecessor — Compagnie Française d'Mécanique et d'Automobiles • Successor — Saviem • Type — Limited company • Industry — Automotive • Products — * Commercial vehicles • Military vehicles • Founded — 1909 • Founder — Charles Blum • Owner — Blum family (majority) • Defunct — 1955 • Fate — Merged with Somua and Renault Poids Lourds into Saviem • Hq Location City — Suresnes • Hq Location Country — France (from 1914) • Subsidiaries — * S. A. Belge des Automobiles Industrielles Latil (Belgium) • Latil Industrial Vehicles Ltd. (United Kingdom) • Area Served — Western Europe

In 1898, Georges Latil and Aloïs Korn established an enterprise in Marseille (Korn et Latil) to market a Latil invention, the avant-train Latil, a kit to convert carriages into front-wheel drive vehicles. In 1901, Latil and Korn moved its operations to Levallois-Perret and created the Compagnie Française d'Mécanique et d'Automobiles 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 Charles Blum & Cie. 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 société en commandite par actions and renamed Charles Blum & Cie S.C.A., later trading as Automobiles Industrielles Latil. That same year, Blum established another company to operate a fleet of vehicles equipped with the avant-train Latil. In 1914, Latil opened a new, larger production plant in Suresnes to replace Levallois-Perret. The Suresnes plant had 20,000 square metres (m 2) of covered area in a site of 30,000 m 2.

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.

• Illustration — Latil bus In November 1928, all the Latil group companies were merged into Charles Blum & Cie S.C.A. which became a société anonyme and was renamed as Automobiles Industrielles Latil. 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.

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'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.

• Chassis — Variants — Engines — Payload — Gearboxes — Wheelbase — Type • Number of cylinders — Bore and stroke • B — * B1 (lighter version) * B2 (heavier version) * B2T (tractor unit) — | rowspan="16"| Petrol — I4 — 85 mm x 130 mm — * 1.5 tonnes (B1) * 2 tonnes (B2) * 5 tonnes (hauling) (B2T) — | rowspan="23"| 4-speed manual — 3,500—3,900 cm — Light truck and bus/coach — 1922–1930 • VL◇ — * VL1 (lighter version) * VL2 (medium version) * VL3 (heavier version) — | rowspan="5"| 105 mm x 140 mm — * 1 tonne (VL1) * 2 tonnes (VL2) * 3 tonnes (VL3) — |rowspan="2"| 3,500–4,424 cm — Transit bus and delivery truck — 1919–1924 • NVL◇ — * NVL2 (lighter version) * NVL3 (heavier version) * NVL2/3 S (low chassis) — | * 2 tonnes (NVL2) * 3 tonnes (NVL3) — | 1925–1930 • P◇ —? — 3–4 tonnes —? — Truck — 1919–1924 • NP◇ — * NP (lighter version) * NP3 (heavier version) * NTP (4x4 tractor unit) — | * 3 tonnes (NP) * 4 tonnes (NP3) * 10 tonnes (hauling) (NTP) — | 3,500–3,900 cm — 1925–1930 • B5 — * B5 (normal) * B5S (low chassis) * B5T (tractor unit) — | * 5 tonnes * 10 tonnes (hauling) — | 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 — * PB2 (lighter version) * PB3/PB3D (heavier version) * PB3-TRB2 (tractor unit) — | 90 mm x 130 mm — * 2 tonnes (PB2) * 3 tonnes (PB3) * 6 tonnes (hauling) (PB3-TRB2) — | 2,430–4,280 cm — Truck and bus/coach — 1931–1935 • GPB — * GPB * GPB2 * GPB3 * GPBS (low chassis) * GPB3T/GPB3T-PR26 (tractor unit) — | 100 mm x 130 mm — * 1.8 tonnes (GPB) * 2 tonnes (GPB2) * 3 tonnes (GPB3) * 6–7 tonnes (hauling) (GPB3T/GPB3T-PR26) — | 2,430–4,280 cm — 1931–1937 • SPB — * SPB3 (normal) * SPB3S (low chassis) * SPB3T-RAB10/SPB3-RAY10 (tractor unit) — | 105 mm x 160 mm — * 3–4 tonnes * 10 tonnes (hauling) || 2,665–4,400 cm || 1931–1935 • FY10 — - — 110 mm x 160 mm — 10 tonnes — 5,530 cm — 6x2 truck — 1932–1934 • FB6 — - — * 6 tonnes * 10 tonnes (hauling) — | 4,100–5,140 cm — Truck — 1934–1939 • PB10 — - — 10 tonnes — 3,800 cm — 1932–1933 • V3 — * V3 B8 (normal) * V3 Y10 (6x2 truck) * V3 TU (6x2 military truck) * V3 A B3 (bus/coach) — | V8 — 100 mm x 115 mm — * 8 tonnes * 10 tonnes — | 4,710–5,517 cm — 4x2/6x2 truck and 4x2 bus/coach — 1932–1938 • M — * M1B (lighter) * M1B1 (heavier) — | rowspan=6"|I4 — 75 mm x 120 mm — * 1.2 tonnes (M1B) * 2.5 tonnes (M1B1) — | 3,350–3,410 cm — Light truck and bus/coach — 1934–1939 • Mb — * M2B1 (light) * M2B3 (medium) * M2B4 (heavier) — | 100 mm x 130 mm — * 1 tonne (M2B1) * 3 tonnes (M2B3) * 4 tonnes (M2B4) — | 3,410–4,750 cm — | Truck — 1935–1942 • H4B1 — - — Diesel — 95 mm x 133 mm — * 2 tonnes — | 3,410 cm — Light truck — 1935–1940 • H1B6 — - — 108 mm x 152 mm — * 6 tonnes * 10 tonnes (hauling) — | 4,100–5,140 cm — Truck — 1934–1939 • H1 A1 B6☆ — - — * 6 tonnes — | 4,940 cm — 1936–1939 • H1 A B3 — - — * 3 tonnes — | 4,710–5,517 cm — Bus/coach — 1937–1939 • H2B8 — - — I6 — * 8 tonnes — | 4,100–5,140 cm — Truck — 1934–1943 • H2 A1 Y10☆ — - — * 10 tonnes — | 5,325 cm — 6x2 truck — 1937–1948 • H2 A1 B8☆ — - — 8 tonnes — 3,890–4,950 cm — Truck — 1937–1948 • H1 A1 B4/B4T☆ — - — I4 — * 4 tonnes * 11 tonnes (hauling) — | rowspan="2"|5-speed manual — 2,300–4,880 cm — 1939–1948 • H3 A1 B5☆ — - — * 5 tonnes — | 3,270 cm — 1947–1948 • Latil H14 and H16 A1☆ — - — * I4 * I6 — | Various — * 4-speed manual * 5-speed manual — | Various — 1948–1960 • H12 B10 T — - — I6 — 116 mm x 152 mm — 30 tonnes (hauling) — 4-speed manual — 4,165 cm — 1950–1957 • Notes • * Some vehicles equipped with the avant-train Latil were used for commercial purposes before World War I * Vehicles marked with a (◇) have front-wheel drive, unless otherwise indicated. The rest are rear-wheel drive * Vehicles marked with a (☆) are forward control, the rest are conventional * From the late 1920s and up to the early 1930s, a few chassis could be equipped with inline-two diesel engines supplied by the Compagnie lilloise de moteurs. * From the early 1930s, some chassis primarily powered by H Gardner-type diesel engines could mount optional M or F type petrol engines developed by Latil. * In low volumes, various vehicles used alternative fuels apart from petrol or diesel. • Sources

• Illustration — Latil TP (left) and TAR (right) showing the difference in size between the two

• 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)

• 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)

• Illustration — Latil H14 TL10 • 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)