Charron was a French automobile manufacturer, based in the Paris conurbation, and active between 1906 and 1930.^[1]

Although the company Automobiles Charron Limited was established (with a large injection of British finance) only in 1906 (and registered in 1907), its origins date from a business founded in 1901 called Automobiles Charron, Girardot et Voigt (C.G.V.).

Fernand Charron was born in 1866. Before turning his attention to automobiles, through the 1890s, he was a leading racing cyclist.^[1] However, he then became a successful racing driver, with several wins, driving a Panhard, during 1898.^[1]

Charron was swept up by the automobile craze, and in 1901, in partnership with Léonce Girardot and Emile Voigt, he established a company called Automobiles Charron, Girardot et Voigt (CGV), at 7 rue Ampère in Puteaux,^[1] approximately 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi) from the central Paris. In 1905 the company had capital of 2 franc million.

Girardot resigned in 1906 and Charron left the company in the same year; but with the help of a major cash contribution from investors in England he was able to found Charron Limited, the factory and administrative offices at the same location in Puteaux as before.^[1] The suffix at the end of the manufacturer's new name nevertheless reflected its legal status as a London-based company with a head office at 32 Old Jewry, in London.^[2][3]

Charron's commitment to the cars that bore his name was less than whole-hearted at this time. In 1908 Charron himself joined Clément-Bayard, where he both married and divorced the boss's youngest daughter, Jeanne Clément-Bayard, and worked as manager of the factory at Levallois-Perret.^[4] Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he seriously contemplated selling the Puteaux factory, but instead he used it to build cars for Alda, another automobile company, which he had set up in 1912.^[1]

Thanks to purchases by the army, the Charron company made it through the war.

After peace broke out Charron, not without difficulty, divested himself of the Alda business, selling it in 1920 to the Compagnie Générale d'Électricité (CGE) who would continue with the brand, selling cars produced at the Farman automobile factory, for almost another year.^[1]

Fernand Charron now concentrated on the cars that carried his own name. By 1919 the company was offering seven models, though it is not clear if these were all production ready, and a year later the range was down to a more sustainable three models.

Through the 1920s Charron was one of the many automakers operating in the Paris area. A certain restlessness seems to have been an enduring feature of Fernand Charron's business strategy, and by the time of the 19th Paris Motor Show, at which the manufacturer displayed a somewhat lacklustre trio of cars, Charron's own energies were focused on a Citroën dealership which he had recently acquired.^[2] It was also reported that he had recently acquired a significant chunk of the share capital in this rapidly expanding "quai de Javel" auto-maker, whose pioneering role in introducing mass production to France was now placing increasing pressure on the country's smaller auto-makers.^[2]

Towards the end of the decade, however, the economics of auto-production were changing, and by the late 1920s production was running down as the larger French auto-makers were able to out compete the many second tier manufacturers: 1930 was the final year of production.

• Charron

• Fernand Charron
• Charron, Girardot et Voigt