1.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
2.
Yvelines
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Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It inherited Seine-et-Oises official number of 78 and it gained the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble from the adjacent department of Essonne in 1969. Yvelines is bordered by the departments of Val-dOise on the north, Hauts-de-Seine on the east, Essonne on the southeast, Eure-et-Loir on the southwest, and Eure on the west. Two regional parks can be found in Yvelines, the parc of the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse, Yvelines is home to one of Frances best known golf courses, La Tuilerie-Bignon, in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche. In French, a man from the Yvelines is called Yvelinois, a woman is Yvelinoise
3.
Kilometre zero
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In many countries, Kilometre Zero or similar terms in other languages is a particular location, from which distances are traditionally measured. They were markers where drivers could set their odometers to follow directions in early guide books, a similar notion also exists for individual roads, and for individual cities. The most famous such marker of any part survives from ancient times is the Milliarium Aureum of the Roman Empire. Argentina marks Kilometre Zero with a monolith in Plaza Congreso in Buenos Aires. The work of the brothers Máximo and José Fioravanti, the structure was placed on the side of Plaza Lorea on October 2,1935. Highways in Australia are usually built and maintained by the states and territories, in the state of New South Wales, highway distances were traditionally measured from a sandstone obelisk in Macquarie Place in Sydney, designed by Francis Greenway in 1818. The obelisk lists the distances to locations in New South Wales at the time. For the railway, it is located at platform 1 of Sydney Central Station, the Byzantine Empire had an arched building, the Milion of Constantinople, as the starting-place for the measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the other cities. In the 1960s, some fragments were discovered and erected in its location, now in the district of Eminönü, Istanbul. The kilometre zero marker of the origin of the Trans-Canada Highway is located in St. Johns. Coordinates, 47°33′39. 78″N 52°42′44. 33″W Altitude,14.02 m The western origin of the Trans-Canada Highway in Victoria, Mile zero of the Trans Canada Trail is located adjacent to the Railway Coastal Museum in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Coordinates, 47°33′14. 0″N 52°42′50. 5″W Altitude,4.5 m Mile zero for the Alaska Highway is located in Dawson Creek, all national distances from Santiago originate at the Km.0 plaque, located at the Plaza de Armas main square in downtown Santiago. Chiles Autopista Central – Eje Norte-Sur has its Kilometre Zero at the intersection with the Alameda del Libertador Bernardo OHiggins, China Railways 0 km is located at the entrance to the Fengtai Yard on the Jingguang Line just outside Beijing. This point was historically the start of the line, the marker is a concrete marker. The kilometre zero point for highways is located at Tiananmen Square and it is marked with a plaque in the ground, with the four cardinal points, four animals, and Zero Point of Highways, China in English and Chinese. Cubas Kilometre Zero is located in its capital Havana in El Capitolio, embedded in the floor in the centre of the main hall is a replica 25 carat diamond, which marks Kilometre Zero for Cuba. It was replaced in El Capitolio by a replica in 1973, dR-1, DR-2, and DR-3 all depart from Kilometre Zero from Santo Domingos Parque de Independencia. Kilometre Zero in Egypt is located at the Attaba Square Post Office in 1st of Abdel Khaliq Sarwat Pasha Street, Cairo
4.
Simca
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Simca was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italian Henri Théodore Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and then, after Simca bought Fords French activities, in 1970, Simca became a subsidiary and brand of Chrysler Europe, ending its period as an independent company. Simca disappeared in 1978, when Chrysler divested its European operations to another French automaker, PSA replaced the Simca brand with Talbot after a short period when some models were badged as Simca-Talbots. During most of its activity, Simca was one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in France. For instance the Simca 1307 was sold in Britain as the Chrysler Alpine, Simca vehicles were also manufactured by Simca do Brasil in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, and Barreiros in Spain. They were also assembled in Australia, Chile, Colombia and the Netherlands during the Chrysler era, Henri Théodore Pigozzi was active in the automotive business in the early 1920s when he met Fiat founder, Giovanni Agnelli. They began business together in 1922 with Pigozzi acting as a merchant, buying old automobile bodies. Two years later Pigozzi became Fiats General Agent in France, in 1928, SAFAF started the assembly of Fiat cars in Suresnes near Paris, and licensed the production of some parts to local suppliers. By 1934, as many as 30,000 Fiat cars were sold by SAFAF, the SIMCA company was founded in 1935 by FIAT, when Fiat bought the former Donnet factory in the French town of Nanterre. The first cars produced were Fiat 508 Balillas and Fiat 518 Arditas and they were followed during 1936 by the Simca Cinq or 5CV, a version of the Fiat Topolino announced in the Spring, but only available for sale from October 1936. The Huit, an 8CV version of the Fiat 508C-1100, appeared in 1937, production of the 6CV and 11CV stopped in 1937, leaving the 5CV and the 8CV in production until the outbreak of World War II. The firm nevertheless remained closely connected with Fiat, and it was not until 1938 that the shortened name Simca replaced Simca-Fiat, of the businesses that emerged as Frances big four auto-makers after the war, Simca was unique in not suffering serious bomb damage to its plant. Despite France being occupied, Simca cars continued to be produced in numbers throughout the war. Nevertheless, shortly after the liberation the Nanterre plants financial sustainability received a boost when Simca won a contract from the American army to repair large numbers of Jeep engines, on 3 January 1946 the new government’s five-year plan for the automobile industry came into force. Grégoire owed his influence to a powerfully persuasive personality and an engineering talent. Regarding the future of the French automobile industry, Grégoire held strong opinions, a few weeks after the liberation Grégoire joined the Simca board as General Technical Director, in order to prepare for the production of the AFG at the company’s Nanterre factory. For Simca, faced with a determinedly dirigiste left-wing French government, in return, Grégoire obtained the personal commitment of the surviving Director General to the production at Nanterre of his two-door AFG. It is very easy to see how the two-door AFG looked, because its four-door equivalent went into production, little changed from Grégoire’s prototype and it was a car designed by an engineer, and Pigozzi thought it ugly
5.
Chrysler
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FCA US is one of the Big Three American automobile manufacturers. FCA US has its headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan and sells vehicles worldwide under its flagship Chrysler brand, as well as the Dodge, Jeep, other major divisions include Mopar, its automotive parts and accessories division, and SRT, its performance automobile division. The Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Chrysler in 1925, out of what remained of the Maxwell Motor Company, Chrysler greatly expanded in 1928, when Mr. The brand diversification efforts were inspired by Mr. Chryslers time working for General Motors, in the 1960s the company expanded into Europe, by taking control of French, British and Spanish auto companies, Chrysler Europe was sold in 1978 to PSA Peugeot Citroën for $1. Chrysler struggled through the 1970s to adapt to changing markets, increased US import competition, the company began an engineering partnership with Mitsubishi Motors, and began selling Mitsubishi vehicles branded as Dodge and Plymouth in North America. By the late 1970s, Chrysler was on the verge of bankruptcy, New CEO Lee Iacocca was credited with returning the company to profitability in the 1980s. In 1985, Diamond-Star Motors was created, further expanding the Chrysler-Mitsubishi relationship, in 1987, Chrysler acquired American Motors Corporation, which brought the profitable Jeep brand under the Chrysler umbrella. Like the other Big Three automobile manufacturers, Chrysler was hit hard by the industry crisis of 2008–2010. On June 10,2009, Chrysler emerged from the proceedings with the United Auto Workers pension fund, Fiat S. p. A. The bankruptcy resulted in Chrysler defaulting on over $4 billion in debts, by May 24,2011, Chrysler finished repaying its obligations to the U. S. government five years early, although the cost to the American taxpayer was $1.3 billion. Over the next few years Fiat gradually acquired the other parties shares while removing much of the weight of the loans in a short period. On January 1,2014, Fiat S. p. A announced a deal to purchase the rest of Chrysler from the United Auto Workers retiree health trust. The deal was completed on January 21,2014, making Chrysler Group a subsidiary of Fiat S. p. A, in May 2014, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, NV was established by merging Fiat S. p. A. into the company. This was completed in August 2014, Chrysler Group LLC remained a subsidiary until December 15,2014, when it was renamed FCA US LLC, to reflect the Fiat-Chrysler merger. The Chrysler company was founded by Walter Chrysler on June 6,1925, Walter Chrysler arrived at the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers company in the early 1920s. He was hired to overhaul the companys troubled operations, in late 1923 production of the Chalmers automobile was ended. In January 1924, Walter Chrysler launched the well-received Chrysler automobile, the Chrysler was a 6-cylinder automobile, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-engineered car, but at a more affordable price than they might expect. The original 1924 Chrysler included an air filter, high compression engine, full pressure lubrication
6.
Talbot
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Talbot or Clément-Talbot Limited was a London automobile manufacturer founded in 1903. Clément-Talbots products were named just Talbot from shortly after introduction but the business did remain Clément-Talbot Limited until 1938 when it was renamed Sunbeam-Talbot Limited, both men, Chetwynd-Talbot and Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot business during the First World War. Soon after the end of the war Clément-Talbot was brought into a combine named S T D Motors, shortly afterwards S T D Motors French products were renamed Talbot instead of Darracq. In the mid 1930s Rootes bought the London Talbot factory and Antonio Lago bought the Paris Talbot factory, then Lago used Talbot or Talbot-Lago in Paris. In 1938 Rootes renamed Clément-Talbot Limited Sunbeam-Talbot Limited, Rootes stopped using the brand name Talbot in the mid-1950s, the Paris factory closed a few years later. The marque came by a series of takeovers to Peugeot S. A. which revived use of the Talbot name from 1978 until 1994. In December 1919 A Darracq and Company Limited of London with its factory in Suresnes, Paris, bought the entire capital of Clément-Talbot and later bought Sunbeam and those initials referred to Sunbeam, Talbot and Darracq. But in the depth of the Great Depression S T D Motors became unable to pay its debts and its subsidiaries managed to find buyers and in 1936 S T D Motors ceased to exist. Clément-Talbot continued to be famous for the design and quality of its products, Clément-Talbot was bought by Rootes Group and later renamed Sunbeam-Talbot. Then Sunbeam alone twenty years after that, in 1920 Suresnes products were branded Talbot-Darracq but the word Darracq was dropped in 1922. Following the financial collapse of S T D Motors and Pariss Automobiles Talbot Antonio Lago, Antonio Lago involved Talbot in sports car and Grand Prix racing as well as producing high quality luxury cars. In the postwar world of austerity and socialism the French government introduced punitive annual taxation on cars with larger than 2. 6-litres. Lago continued the Talbot business until 1958 when the doors were closed. The dormant Talbot marque was sold to Simca, Simca was bought by Chrysler Europe in 1970. PSA Peugeot Citroën acquired the still dormant Talbot marque when it bought Chrysler in 1978, with mounting pressure on its core North American business, the decision was taken by Chryslers then CEO Lee Iacocca to offload the ailing European operations. The French Government persuaded both Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën to bid for the company, as it was keen to keep Simca in domestic ownership. In August 1978, PSA purchased Chrysler Europe for a nominal $1, the Peugeot takeover saw the end of the Rootes Chrysler Hunter production, but the Simca-designed 1510, and Horizon continued as Talbots. All former Chrysler products registered in Britain after 1 August 1979 bore the Talbot badge, the entry-level model in the Talbot range from 1982 onwards would be the Talbot Samba, a three-door hatchback based on the Peugeot 104
7.
Peugeot
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For the article about the bicycle manufacturer, see Cycles Peugeot. Peugeot is a French car manufacturer, part of Groupe PSA, the family business that preceded the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applied for the lion trademark, due to family discord, Armand Peugeot in 1896 founded the Société des Automobiles Peugeot. The Peugeot company and family are originally from Sochaux, France, Peugeot retains a large manufacturing plant and Peugeot museum there. In February 2014, the agreed to a recapitalisation plan, in which Dongfeng Motors. Peugeot has received international awards for its vehicles, including five European Car of the Year awards. In 2013 and 2014, Peugeot ranked the second lowest for average CO2 emissions among generalist brands in Europe, the Renault car maker group being ranked first, with 114. 9g CO2/km. Peugeot is known as a very reliable brand, citing how its 1950s and 1960s models are running in Africa and Cuba in the 2010s. Peugeot has been involved in sport for more than a century. In 2015, Peugeot returned to the Dakar Rally after its four victories in the 1980s, the Peugeot family of Valentigney, Montbéliard, Franche-Comté, France, began in the manufacturing business in the 19th century. In 1842, they added production of coffee, pepper, the companys entry into the vehicle market was by means of crinoline dresses, which used steel rods, leading to umbrella frames, saw blades, chisels, wire wheels, and bicycles. Armand Peugeot introduced his Le Grand Bi penny-farthing in 1882, along with a range of other bicycles, the car company and bike company parted ways in 1926 but Peugeot bicycles continued to be built until very recently. Armand Peugeot became interested in the early on and, after meeting with Gottlieb Daimler. The first Peugeot automobile, a three-wheeled, steam-powered car designed by Léon Serpollet, was produced in 1889, steam power was heavy and bulky and required lengthy warmup times. In 1890, after meeting Daimler and Émile Levassor, steam was abandoned in favour of a car with a petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine built by Panhard under Daimler licence. The car was more sophisticated than many of its contemporaries, with a three-point suspension, an example was sold to the young Alberto Santos-Dumont, who exported it to Brazil. More cars followed,29 being built in 1892,40 in 1894,72 in 1895,156 in 1898 and these early models were given type numbers. Peugeot became the first manufacturer to fit rubber tyres to a petrol-powered car, Peugeot was an early pioneer in motor racing, with Albert Lemaître winning the worlds first motor race, the Paris–Rouen, in a 3 hp Peugeot
8.
RER A
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RER line A is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The line runs from the termini of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Cergy Le Haut and Poissy to the eastern termini of Boissy-Saint-Léger. It is formed from the connection of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes – Boissy-St-Léger line in the east, two branches were added in the west, to Poissy and the new town of Cergy-Pontoise, and in the east to the new town of Marne-la-Vallée. The two latest extensions were to Cergy-Le Haut and Disneyland Paris, with more than one million passengers per workday, line A is the busiest Parisian RER and metro line. Ever-increasing traffic volume and the need to ward off imminent saturation have been factors in RATP. SACEM is still one of the most advanced traffic control systems, parisians have become used to the sight of a train pulling into a station as the one before it is just clearing the platform. Around the same time, RATP ordered a significant number of MI79/MI84 trains to remedy premature wear and tear on MS61 stock caused by over-utilization on Line A. Later in the 1980s, the need to relieve congestion on the segment of Line A was a key factor in selecting the route of the new. The same need governed the choice of the route of RER Line E in the early 1990s and is a factor in plans for that lines westward or south-westward extension. A new class of double-deck trains entered service in 1998, in part a product of RATPs belief that no further infrastructure improvement would relieve congestion on Line A. This was followed in 2011 by the MI09 double-decker stock, aimed at replacing the aging MI84, one simple solution to the congestion problem that has never been implemented is a change in the seating configuration in the trains. The RER is unusual among high-capacity urban train networks in its attachment to transverse seating, a change to longitudinal seating typically reduces the number of seats by 10% but increases standing room by 30%. The result is increased capacity and a less cramped ride for those without seats,14 December 1969, RATP buys the ligne de Vincennes from SNCF, connecting Bastille with Boissy-Saint-Léger in the east. A new 2. 5-km tunnel between Vincennes and Nation, which replaces Bastille as the terminus, length,17.5 km.21 February 1970, RATP buys the ligne de St-Germain from SNCF, connecting the Gare Saint-Lazare with Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the west. A new tunnel between La Défense and the Place de lÉtoile, which replaces St-Lazare as the terminus, shuttle service is operated La Défense – Étoile,4 km.23 November 1971, Tunnel opened Étoile – Auber,2 km. Shuttle service extended to operate La Défense – Auber,1 October 1972, Tunnel opened La Défense – Nanterre-Université,2 km. Shuttle service extended on the ligne de St-Germain to operate Saint-Germain – Auber, October 1973, New underground station, Nanterre-Préfecture, between La Défense and Nanterre-Université. 9 December 1977, The lines are connected by a 6-km tunnel, giving birth to the RER A line, two new stations, Châtelet-les Halles and Gare de Lyon
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Groupe PSA
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PSA is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange and is again a constituent of the CAC40 index after having been removed in 2012. Beginning in 2016, PSA began to outline a strategy which entailed the expansion of the company. PSA has announced plans to enter the Indian, American, Canadian, ASEAN, headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA was in 2016 the third-largest Europe-based automaker. Following the completion of the acquisition of the GM Opel and Vauxhall Motors brands. In December 1974 Peugeot S. A. acquired a 38. 2% share of Citroën, on 9 April 1976 they increased their stake of the then bankrupt company to 89. 95%, thus creating the PSA Group, becoming PSA Peugeot Citroën. Since Citroën had two new designs in the market at this time and Peugeot was typically prudent in its own finances. Further investment was required because PSA decided to create a new brand for the entity for the disparate French and British models, based on the Talbot sports car last seen in the 1950s. From then on, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the Talbot badge until production of Talbot-branded passenger cars was shelved in 1987, all of this investment caused serious financial problems for the entire PSA group, PSA lost money from 1980 to 1985. In 1987, the dropped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-developed Horizon. What was to have been the Talbot Arizona became the Peugeot 309, with the former Rootes plant in Ryton, producing Peugeots in Ryton was significant, as it signalled the first time that PSA would build cars in the UK. The Talbot name survived for a longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely. From 1987 to 1995, the plant also produced the Peugeot 405 saloon, on 29 February 2012, PSA announced the creation of a major alliance with General Motors, as part of which GM became PSAs second-largest shareholder, after the Peugeot family, with a holding of 7%. The alliance was intended to enable $2 billion per year of cost savings through platform sharing, common purchasing and other economies of scale. In July 2012, an official said that PSA Peugeot Citroën would cut as much as 10 percent of its French workforce of 100,356 employees on permanent. The jobs cut was more than previously announced, on 24 October, PSA said it was close to an agreement with creditor banks on €11.5 billion of refinancing and had won state guarantees on €7 billion in further borrowing by its Banque PSA Finance. And in doing so, PSA ended up losing revenue rapidly, CEO Philippe Varin says that Citroën and Peugeot are too close, so he plans on positioning Citroën C-line models lower than Peugeot with DS models above Peugeot. On 12 December 2013, General Motors announced it was selling its 7% stake in PSA Peugeot Citroën, in early 2016, PSA unveiled a roadmap detailing its plan to re-enter the North American car market for the first time in almost forty years. Although many only expected the DS to enter the North American market, on 10 February 2017, PSA announced the purchase of Hindustan Motors and the Hindustan Ambassador brand, which will be used to sell Peugeot and Citröen vehicles in India beginning in 2018
10.
Siemens
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Siemens AG is a German conglomerate company headquartered in Berlin and Munich and the largest manufacturing and electronics company in Europe with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the company are Industry, Energy, Healthcare, and Infrastructure & Cities, the company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 362,000 people worldwide, the von Siemens family remain the largest shareholder with a stake of 6. 9% percent. Siemens & Halske was founded by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske on 12 October 1847, based on the telegraph, their invention used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. The company, then called Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske, opened its first workshop on 12 October, in 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe,500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In 1850, the younger brother, Carl Wilhelm Siemens, later Sir William Siemens. The London agency became an office in 1858. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long distance telegraph networks in Russia, in 1855, a company branch headed by another brother, Carl Heinrich von Siemens, opened in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European telegraph line, in 1867, Werner von Siemens described a dynamo without permanent magnets. A similar system was independently invented by Charles Wheatstone. In 1881, a Siemens AC Alternator driven by a watermill was used to power the worlds first electric lighting in the town of Godalming. The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs, in 1890, the founder retired and left running the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm. In 1887, it opened its first office in Japan, Siemens & Halske was incorporated in 1897, and then merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co. Nuremberg in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert, in 1907, Siemens had 34,324 employees and was the seventh-largest company in the German empire by number of employees. In 1919, S & H and two companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company. During the 1920s and 1930s, S & H started to manufacture radios, television sets, in the 1920s, Siemens constructed the Ardnacrusha Hydro Power station on the River Shannon in the then Irish Free State, and it was a world first for its design. The company is remembered for its desire to raise the wages of its workers only to be overruled by the Cumann na nGaedheal government. Siemens exploited the forced labour of deported people in extermination camps, the company owned a plant in Auschwitz concentration camp
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Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, since 1964.
