Chevrolet's European roots

Press Release

Louis Chevrolet (1878-1941): Founder of the Chevrolet Brand Came from Switzerland

On Christmas Day 1878, a boy was born in the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountains who was destined to change the world of the automobile for ever. His name was Louis Chevrolet. At the end of 1887, when Louis was just nine years old, the Chevrolets moved to Beaune in France with their five children (Alfred, Louis, Fanny, Berthe and Arthur), where the family continued to grow. After Marthe – the third daughter – Gaston appeared on the scene in 1892, the last of seven children.

While father Joseph earned his living in the clock making trade, Louis decided to become a mechanic. He found a job with the Roblin haulage contracting company that also repaired carriages and bicycles. Legend has it that, in the spring of 1896 or 1897, Louis Chevrolet was fetched from the workshop to fix the car of a guest who was staying at the "Hôtel de la Poste". The vehicle, which created enormous excitement at the time, belonged to the American multi-millionaire, Vanderbilt. That must have been the moment that Louis Chevrolet "fell in love" twice: once with the car and once with the idea of emigrating to America.

In Beaune, Louis Chevrolet discovered another passion – racing. Around that time, the teenager competed in his first cycle races in the hills behind Beaune, winning many of them.

It was actually his "Gladiator" cycle that induced him to go to Paris at the beginning of 1899. He was given a job in the workshop of the car manufacturer Darracq (who also built the Gladiator bicycles at that time), where he learned everything there is to know about the combustion engine. It is also said that he worked with De Dion-Bouton, Hotchkiss or Mors. But one thing is certain: Louis had fallen victim to the "automobile virus".

With the money he earned in Paris, he financed the crossing to the American continent, starting off in Canada. In Montreal, he worked as a driver and mechanic (which at that time was the same thing), only to move on a few months later to New York, again with some money in his pocket.

Major successes and serious accidents as a car racing driver

In New York, he first worked in an engineering workshop run by William Walter, a fellow Swiss from Biel who had emigrated to Brooklyn. In 1901, Louis moved to the American branch of De Dion-Bouton. He made the headlines in 1905 when he entered his first race. He drove his Fiat in grand fashion, winning the "Three Miles" at his first attempt and recording a new speed record over one mile. His average speed was 109.7 km/h. The achievement brought him fame over night and, the same year, he clipped another second off his own world mile record. He also broke the world record for a distance of 68 miles. In 1906, he joined Walter Christie to help with the design of a new racing car with front-wheel drive and a Darracq V8 engine. The result was another new world record – 191.5 km/h.

But the name Chevrolet was destined to become even more famous: In the following years, Arthur and Gaston followed their now famous brother into the world of motor racing, with the result that there were sometimes three Chevrolets on the starting grid for the races. In most cases, however, Louis was the hero, and was lovingly nicknamed by the Americans "the dare-devil Frenchman".

Over the next few years, Louis competed in many races, driving a Buick, a Cornelian and above all a Frontenac he designed himself. In 1916, Gaston and Louis drove in the "Indianapolis 500", each in a Frontenac, but neither completed the race. After the First World War, in 1919, the big races started again. Following some very serious accidents in Indianapolis, the Chevrolets nevertheless managed to finish well up the field, Louis coming in seventh and Gaston tenth.

One year later, seven Frontenacs (four of them under the name Monroe) qualified for Indianapolis, but the event turned out to be a dramatic experience: Louis Chevrolet, always intent on having the very newest materials, decided at the last moment to mount some track rods he had just received made of vanadium. Unfortunately, the vanadium had not been hardened properly. The result was that one car after the other had to pull out. Only Gaston Chevrolet finished, winning the legendary race with an average speed of 141 kph.

But the brothers' racing careers took their toll. Following a series of accidents between 1905 and 1920, Louis Chevrolet spent a total of three years in hospital. On November 25, 1920, his brother Gaston was killed during a race in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. After that, Louis Chevrolet never competed in a race again.

An ingenious designer has a dispute with the brand that bears his name

Through his involvement with Buick as a racing driver, the paths of Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors, crossed on several occasions. "Billy" Durant recognized the tremendous skills of Louis Chevrolet and joined up with him to found the "Chevrolet Motor Car Company" on November 3, 1911. The first Classic Six models left the factory in Detroit at the beginning of 1912.

Louis Chevrolet had always wanted to build high-quality cars, but Durant recognized very early the trend towards the "people's car". His aim was to manufacture cars as cheaply as possible. Neither of the two protagonists would yield, with the result that, in 1913, Louis Chevrolet threw in the towel and left his own company. He did, however, leave behind his name.

While the Chevrolet brand developed rapidly in line with Durant's plans, Louis Chevrolet returned to his original passion, namely to build state-of-the-art vehicles that could compete in top races. For this purpose, he founded the "Frontenac Motor Corporation" in 1914. For their time, the first racing Frontenacs were very high-tech with a lot of aluminum, and already boasted, for example, a locking differential for the rear axis.

Louis Chevrolet's newest developments soon attracted the attention of the industry again and, with the "Stutz Motorcar Co", he built the first production-line Frontenac despite the difficult economic situation. It soon became the showpiece car for the American motor industry in the 1920s.

But Louis Chevrolet wanted to continue designing. In 1926, together with his brother Arthur, he began developing a light aircraft engine in a company they founded under the name "Chevrolair 333". The company came to an end when he fell out with his brother.

Thereupon, Louis immediately set up the "Chevrolet Air Car Company" in Indianapolis, but it was forced to close again during the subsequent economic crisis. He made his final big "engineering coup" in 1932 with a 10-cylinder radial engine for which he applied for a patent. But by the time the patent was finally registered on February 19, 1935, Louis no longer had the strength to build the company up again. Instead, he worked – as he did at the beginning of his professional career – as a mechanic. And his employer was - the Chevrolet production plant in Detroit.

In 1934, Louis Chevrolet became ill and suffered a stroke. The same year, his 27-year old son, Charles, died. His second son, Alfred, lived in Detroit until 1971 and died at just 59.

Louis Chevrolet died on June 6, 1941, at the age of 63 in his house in Lakewood, to the east of Detroit. He has left behind millions of cars bearing his name. An American journalist once asked him whether he was so famous because of the Chevrolet brand or vice versa. Chevrolet answered with a smile: "It was certainly a little of each. But one thing is certain: I was there first ..."

The Life of an Automobile Pioneer

Following in the footsteps of Louis Chevrolet

·          Past: Significant stages in the life of the automobile designer

·          Present: The current range from Chevrolet Europe

·          Future: The sporty WTCC R+ prototype based on the Lacetti

La Chaux-de-Fonds, Bonfol, Beaune: Three places of major significance in the European history of the Chevrolet brand. La Chaux-de-Fonds was the birthplace of Louis Chevrolet in 1878, Bonfol was his father’s hometown and where the family returned soon after Louis’ birth, and Beaune was where Louis went to school and undertook an apprenticeship as a mechanic in a bicycle shop. From its beginnings in the Jura region, the life story of Louis Chevrolet, company founder, inspired automobile designer and daring racing driver, continued in New York and Detroit.

The brand bearing his name is now enjoying a strong comeback in Europe. With growth of around 25 percent in the first half of the year, Chevrolet Europe is among the fastest growing brands on the company founder’s home continent. “Because the new Matiz also enjoyed a successful launch, we believe that there are excellent prospects for further growth”, reports Chevrolet Europe Executive Director Erhard L. (“Hardy”) Spranger. “Our up-to-date range of models is also being extremely well-received in Eastern Europe, and in some countries, for example Poland and Ukraine, there was even a four-digit percentage gain this year.”

Chevrolet is also returning to its roots as far as motor sport is concerned. This year sees the brand taking part in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with three racing cars based on the Lacetti, where it is competing against manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo and BMW. Derived from the racing car is a sporty prototype known as the WTCC R+. The company’s founder would have doubtlessly relished the opportunity of driving the WTCC R+, a four-door vehicle developing 172 bhp.

Chevrolet’s growing significance in Europe is also confirmed by a new range of high-quality mechanical watches, which was launched at the beginning of the year. They are made under the name of “Louis Chevrolet” by watch manufacturer AJS in Courgenay in the Swiss Jura. The young product line currently comprises four models with automatic or wind-up movement, with or without a large date display.

Chevrolet Europe’s range presently consists of six models.

·          Matiz: The new generation of the bestseller in top form

·          Kalos: An attractive compact car with three, four or five doors

·          Lacetti: A spacious fastback model with a sporty design

·          Nubira estate and station wagon: An elegant four-door and practical load-master

·          Rezzo: A family-friendly van with a fresh outward appearance

·          Evanda: The top model with comprehensive standard equipment