Matra Road Cars
The company was created following the acquisition of the brand Automobiles René Bonnet in 1965 by Jean-Luc Lagardere and disappeared in 2003.
The Matra name was first used for road cars with the Renault-powered Matra Djet (pronounced "Jet"), which was an update of the Bonnet Jet, the Djet was replaced with the Matra 530, Bagheera, the Murena and the Rancho, an early type of SUV.
In 1984 Renault launched the Matra built Espace minivan, the car became a big success.
After the discontiniuation of the Renault Avantime (co-designed and built by Matra), on February 27, 2003 Matra announced its intention to close its automobile factory in Romorantin-Lanthenay, with the factory closing a month later.
In September 2003, Pininfarina SpA acquired Matra Automobile's engineering, testing and prototype businesses. The company was subsequently named Matra Automobile Engineering. On January 13, 2009, Pininfarina sold its share in Matra Automobile Engineering to Segula Technologies.
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