Floirat

New vehicles and partnerships

During the early 1960s the company introduced a renovated JL heavy and medium duty trucks range with a revised design, new buses and coaches and, in 1964, a S range of medium duty trucks (with Renault and Perkins engines), unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. In January 1961, Saviem took control of the bus manufacturer Floirat, based at Annonay. That year, Saviem signed a cooperation agreement with Henschel-Werke. In 1962, Pierre Dreyfus decided to expand the European partnerships of Saviem and the company received a large capital amount from the French State for recapitalisation and modernisation. It also got the Limoges factory, which manufactured diesel engines. Between 1963 and 1966, Saviem moved most of its production from the Paris area to Blainville-sur-Orne and Annonay. In 1967, the Blainville-sur-Orne factory produced 26,000 large goods vehicles and the Annonay factory 1,777 buses/coaches. In 1965, Saviem acquired the French heavy equipment manufacturer Richard-Continental in a bid to compete with Caterpillar.