- Founded
- 1904 – 1932
- Country
- France
Financier Édouard Cheilus and constructor Albert Jean established Austral in 1904 and homologated Walter Thor's Type B tricar in February 1905. Its interchangeable passenger and cargo bodies and licensed manufacture helped popularize the French tricar. Direct chain drive arrived with the B2 in 1906. For 1907, the pressed-steel, wheel-steered Type G Tourisme Grand Luxe paired full suspension with Austral's own water-cooled 498 cc engine, while the simpler Type H served delivery work; tricar production continued to 1913 as motorcycles and bicycles became the main business. Austral returned to commercial three-wheelers in 1929: the Moussard-powered L1 remained a homologation prototype, but the 500 cc Sturmey-Archer L2 found fleet use through closure in 1932. Motorcycle-only models remain outside the automobile catalog.
Text adapted from “Austral (France)” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗