Car : De Dion 10 CV
Year : 1921
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 70×120 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1847 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power :-
Maximum speed : -
Wheelbase : 9 ft 9 ins (2.97 m)
Suspension : front: semi-elliptic leaf- springs ; rear: cantilever leaf- springs
De Dion resumed production of V-s engines after the First World War. However, his interest in them went back to 191, when the company produced highly refined models which show what the French firm had accomplished since the pioneering days of steam cars. Amongst the pre-war V-8s there was a coupé and a torpedo. The same engines , apart from a few modifications, reappeared immediately after the war but in 1923 they were abandoned.
The 10 CV of 1921 can already be regarded, even in its shape , as a modern car but De Dion-Bouton had lost its elite clientele and its production was not numerically great enough to enable it to complete with Renault and Peugeot. After the war, during which De Dion-Bouton, like others, was occupied with orders for the military, it was unable to adjust itself to the new climate and to produce popular models. It returned to its old pre-war cars, including the 8-cylinders that had made it famous, but this was against the general trend. Three thousand cars a year was not enough to keep a car manufacturer alive. Perhaps one of the reasons for De Dion-Bouton’s decline was that the two founders did not train and mould young engineers to continue their work. De Dion-Bouton ceased to make cars in 1933.