Delahaye - After The Second World War

After The Second World War

After World War II, in late 1945, production of the Type 135 was resumed, all with new styling by Philippe Charbonneaux. The Type 175, with a 4.5-litre six, was introduced in 1948; this, and the related Type 180, proved unsuccessful. The Type 175 was replaced by the Type 235 in 1951, with an uprated 135 engine producing 152 hp (113 kW; 154 PS). After the war, the depressed French economy and an increasingly punitive tax regime aimed at motoring in general and at cars with engines above 2-litres in particular made life difficult for luxury auto-makers. Like all the principal French automakers, Delahaye complied with government requirements in allocating the majority of its vehicles for export, and in 1947 88% of Delahaye production was exported (compared to 87% of Peugeot and 80% of Talbot output), primarily to French colonies. Nevertheless, Delahaye volumes, with 573 cars produced in 1948 (against 34,164 by the market leader, Citroen), were unsustainably low.

Until the early 1950s a continuing demand for military vehicles enabled the company to operate at volumes, primarily thanks to demand for the Type 163 trucks, sufficient to keep the business afloat.

A 1-ton capacity light truck sharing its 3.5-litre engine with the company's luxury cars (albeit with lower compression ratios and power output) made its debut at the 1949 Paris Motor Show. During the next twelve months, this vehicle, the Type 171, spawned several brake-bodied versions, the most interesting of which were the ambulance and 9-seater familiale variant. The vehicle's large wheels and high ground clearance suggest it was targeted at markets where many roads were largely dust and mud, and the 171 was, like the contemporary Renault Colorale which it in some respects resembled, intended for use in France's African colonies. The vehicle also enjoyed some export success in Brazil, and by 1952 the Type 171 was being produced at the rate of approximately 30 per month.

As passenger car sales slowed further the last new model, a 2.0-litre Jeep-like vehicle known as VLRD (Véhicule Léger de Reconnaissance (Delahaye)), sometimes known as the VRD, was released in 1951. The French army believed that this vehicle offered a number of advantages over the "traditional" American built Jeep of the period. During 1953 the company shipped 1,847 VRDs as well as 537 "special" military vehicles: the number of Delahaye- or Delage-badged passenger cars registered in the same year was in that context near negligible at 36.

In 1954, Delahaye was taken over by Hotchkiss, who shut down car production and, after producing trucks with the Hotchkiss-Delahaye nameplate. The combined firm was eventually taken over itself by Brandt, and in 1956, the Delahaye name disappeared.