Automobiles ERAD
French manufacturer of microcars
Automobiles ERAD (Études et Réalisations du Douaisis, "Concepts and Executions of Douai") was a French manufacturer of microcars. The company was founded by Daniel Renard in 1975, in Douai in northern France. Renard did not have a secondary education, but opened a small garage in Douai in 1967. He built a three-wheeled microcar in his spare time, which gained the attention of a local newspaper. This led to an order of another car by a reader, and the company was born. Series production began in 1978, after the company had moved to bigger premises in the nearby town of Aniche. In 1979 nearly 2400 vehicles were built, while in 1980 employees built 2640. Production came to and end in 1997 (after company funds had been misappropriated by a manager), when Savel (also located in Aniche) bought the company. In total, about 30,000 ERADs were built, of which 800 were electrical vehicles.
Models
ERAD's first model was the Capucine, a plastic-bodied single-seater.
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This entry incorporates text from “Automobiles ERAD” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.