Ligier (() is a French

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

and minibus maker created by former racing driver and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

player

Guy Ligier Guy Camille Ligier (12 July 1930 – 23 August 2015) was a French racing driver and team owner. He maintained many varied and successful careers over the course of his life, including rugby player, butcher, racing driver and Formula One team owner ...

(1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of

microcars Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...

. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the

Formula 1 World Championship Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

between

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

and 1996. In collaboration with

Automobiles Martini Automobiles Martini is a constructor of Formula racing cars from France, founded by Renato "Tico" Martini in 1965, when Martini and partner Bill Knight founded the Winfield Racing School at the Magny-Cours circuit, in France. Martini's first car ...

, the Ligier-Martini entity offered

sports prototypes A sports prototype, sometimes referred to as simply a prototype, is a type of race car that is used in the highest-level categories of sports car racing. These purpose-built racing cars, unlike street-legal and production-based racing cars, are n ...

used in

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

hillclimbing Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

( CN). After the announcement of the creation of the new category

LMP3 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were creat ...

by the ACO, Ligier and Martini associated with

Onroak Automotive Ligier Automotive is a French company which designs, manufacturers, and sells racing cars, specifically sports prototypes for various international series. Onroak was founded in 2012 by Jacques Nicolet who split the design, manufacturing, and sa ...

(the manufacturer department of

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team con ...

) to offer a full range of prototypes ( CN,

LMP1 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

and

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

History

The firm entered the automobile business with the

Ligier JS2 The Ligier JS2 is a mid-engined sports coupé that was built by Ligier in the French commune of Abrest near Vichy in the department of Allier between 1971 and 1975. Road-going and competition versions were built. Conception and predecessor Gu ...

, a mid-engined

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

for the road initially powered by a Ford V6 and from 1971 by the same Maserati V6 engine as the

Citroën SM The Citroën SM is a high-performance coupé produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1970 to 1975. The SM placed third in the 1971 European Car of the Year contest, trailing its stablemate Citroën GS, and won the 1972 ''Motor Trend' ...

. The JS2 was considered by many as a well-designed car with a very good power-to-weight ratio. The Ligier motorcars were all designated with the prefix "JS" in honour of Ligier's great friend and cohort

Jo Schlesser Joseph Schlesser (18 May 1928 – 7 July 1968) was a French Formula One and sports car racing driver. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, including the 1968 French Grand Prix in which he was killed. He scored no championship ...

who was killed in the 1968 French Grand Prix while driving for

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

. The final SMs were also produced in the Ligier factory in

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

. The 1973 energy crisis caused such a decline in the market for the JS2 that production ceased soon after, and the firm changed its focus to

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are oft ...

s, beginning with the 1980

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typ ...

-powered

Ligier JS4 The Ligier JS4 is a four-wheeled, two-seater microcar manufactured from 1980 to 1983 by Ligier, the street vehicle branch of French Formula One manufacturer Équipe Ligier. It marked a change in Ligier's priorities as they had recently ended manu ...

. One of the world's first experimental prototypes of automatic parallel parking was developed on a Ligier electric car at

INRIA The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name ''Institut de recherche en informatiq ...

in the mid-1990s. In September 2008, Ligier Automobiles completed its acquisition of Beneteau Group's

Microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are oft ...

division, with financing provided by 21 Investimenti Partners. Phillipe Ligier, son of the company's founder, remains as CEO. The Ligier and Microcar brands are to retain their separate identities and manufacturing facilities. The merger creates Europe's second largest microcar manufacturer (after Daimler's Smart unit, if one considers that a microcar), and largest manufacturer of drivers license-exempt vehicles. In August 2018, Ligier teased a new road-going sports car to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The car will be built in collaboration with Onroak. It will feature a 3.7 liter V6 producing approximately 330 hp, and a 6-speed manual transmission. It will be homologated to FIA E II-SH regulation. More details are to be released in September 2018, and it is expected to go on sale in November 2018 at a price of €89,000.

Models

The Ligier model line currently consists of the JS50 line of mini cars, the X-Pro line of small commercial vehicles, and the Be Up/Be Two line of open-air, roadster-type vehicles. The company also produces a line of quad bikes and off-road utility vehicles sold as the Be Pro, Be Four, and Be Truck. The JS50, Ixo, Xtoo, Nova or Ambra are about two and a half meters long and have two seats. They are front-engined. Power units include two 2-cylinder four-stroke diesels of about half a liter displacement and feature a CVT for power transfer.

EZ10

The Ligier vehicle that's gained the most attention, is '' EZ10'' ''EasyMile'', a self-driving shuttle bus for light city transit. EasyMile SAS develops and markets the autonomous vehicles, and is a joint venture formed in June 2014 by Ligier and Robosoft Technology PTE Ltd (France). The joint venture is the result of the CityMobil2 project co-funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7). One EZ10 minibus can take between 8–10 passengers, and its speed is up to . In 2017, EZ-10 was introduced on the grounds of National Taiwan University in Taipei, and in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. In conjunction with Estonia's presidency of the EU Council, the minibus was presented in Tallinn on 14 July 2017 by EasyMile, and the tech companies in Estonia that co-financed the month-and-a-half-long project to bring the shuttle bus to the country. The buses will serve one line, including a stretch of tram line under reconstruction, and will run in Tallinn until the end of August.

Ligier in motorsport

Ligier is best known for its

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team, Équipe Ligier, that operated from to . Ligier entered Formula One in with a

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...

-powered car, winning its first Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite in . Ligier also competed in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

from to .

Gallery

Image:Ligier_JS2_vl_red.jpg, Ligier JS2 Image:1975LigierJS2FordCosworthDFV.jpg, Ligier JS2 File:Jeremie Dufour British F3 1995 Silverstone.jpg, Ligier Junior Team ( Jérémie Dufour,

British Formula Three Championship British Formula Three Championship may refer to: *British Formula 3 International Series The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of ev ...

, 1995) File:Ligier X-Too Microcar.jpg, Ligier X-Too Microcar Image:Ligier_ambra_CLS_rear_view.jpg, Ligier Ambra CLS File:Ligier Dué First - April 2015.jpg, Ligier Dué First (2015) File:Ligier.png, Experimental prototype on Ligier car capable of automatic parking File:Michael Shank Racing - Ligier JS P2-Honda -49 (27802320135).jpg, Ligier JS P2 File:Ligier JSP217 - Gibson - Team United Motorsport - 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018.jpg, Ligier JS P217

External links

Official website

References

{{Automotive industry in France Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1968 Bus manufacturers of France Car manufacturers of France Piaggio Group Minibuses Microcars Quadricycles 1968 establishments in France French brands Sports car manufacturers French racecar constructors Nissan in motorsport 24 Hours of Le Mans teams