As a spare wheel became an eye-catcher!
Automobile production at `Grégoire et Cie` began in 1903 with the single-cylinder four-stroke 8 CV engine and the two-cylinder 12 CV drive. As early as the second year, the four-cylinder 20 CV was added to the range of engines, which clearly shifted the focus of the vehicles towards luxury.
Jean-Pierre Grégoire intuition for the young but steadily growing automobile market seemed to prove him right, as he found enough customers to establish himself on the French market.
In 1907, the company name was changed to `Automobiles Grégoire` and the general trend of having car bodies manufactured by external suppliers rather than in-house became apparent in Poissy. This led Grégoire to collaborate with the coachbuilding company `Alin & Liautard`.
Around 1909/10, the coachbuilder modeled a saloon for the Poissy factory, which had a very rounded shape with a rear end reminiscent of the lower part of a horizontal waterdrop. In January 1911, a further developed version was presented in the French magazine “Omnia”, which contained a very striking change – the curves at the rear had a bulge. This sheet metal part merely served as a cover, could be opened and then a spare wheel emerged from the depth of the vehicle! The trick with the spare wheel in the rear seemed to be very remarkable in the era shortly before the Frist World War, as there were several photographs of it in the trade press at a time when photographic printing technology was still in its infancy
