Henri Théodore Pigozzi (born Enrico Teodoro Pigozzi; 26 June 1898, in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

– 18 November 1964, in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

) was a car dealer and an automotive industrialist who is best known for having founded Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile (

Simca Simca (; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italy, Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simc ...

). In 1912 his father disappeared, leaving Pigozzi, then aged 14, to take responsibility for his mother, his sister, and a small transport business. In 1918, after the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, he secured the distribution rights for British and US motorcycles in the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

region, selling surplus machines from the military stocks of the allied armies. Between 1920 and 1922 he worked for a firm that imported coal from the

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. In 1924 he set up his own business, importing scrap steel from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

which was needed by the Piedmontese steel mills. The principal customer for steel in the region was Fiat and in 1922 Pigozzi was introduced to

Giovanni Agnelli Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian industrialist and principal founder of Fiat S.p.A., established in 1899. Under his leadership, Fiat became a cornerstone of Italy's automotive industry, significantly contr ...

, the owner of

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

. Agnelli was particularly interested in Pigozzi because at the time he was looking for a general commercial representative in France. Pigozzi was already familiar with the French industrial scene, and in 1926, when aged only 28, Pigozzi was appointed as Fiat's General Representative in France. In the same year, he established a new distributing company named SAFAF (Société Anonyme Français des Automobiles FIAT) in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020. Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...

(near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) for importing and later, for assembling Italian Fiat cars. From 1928 to 1934, about 30,000 FIATs were assembled and sold by him in his capacity as Director General of SAFAF. Pigozzi bought the premises at

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

of the defunct Donnet-Zédel car manufacturing company, and on 2 November 1934 he established there the Société Industrielle de Mécanique et de Carrosserie Automobile, known as

. He ran Simca for nearly three decades, as Director General between 1935 and 1954 and as President-Director General between 1954 and 1963, which was when

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

, a minority share holder since buying 15% from Ford in 1958, increased their share-holding in the business to 64% and took control. On 31 May 1963, with Chrysler in control, he was obliged to resign from the presidency of Simca. According to his son Jean (see below), all three of Henri's children were borne by his mistress but raised by his wife, Loisette, as her own. (Cite profile by Ingrid Sischy, "Living Large Is The Best Revenge", Vanity Fair, December 2010) He died suddenly, aged 66 from a heart-attack at

, a suburb of Paris, on 18 November 1964, eighteen months later.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20041012014947/http://www.histomobile.com/histomob/presmark.asp?ID=26&lan=2

Sources

* Jean-Paul Rousseau und Jaques Rousseau: ''Simca Histoire d’une marque'', Fontainebleau 1996 1898 births 1964 deaths Italian emigrants to France Italian automotive pioneers French founders of automobile manufacturers Italian founders of automobile manufacturers {{italy-business-bio-stub

See also

External links

Sources