GPM Eole
The GPM Eole was a French leisure and utility vehicle developed by GPM Automobile SA in Roanne, Loire. The company was founded in 1992 by Guy Minescus and Michel Laurent, former engineers at Auverland, who wanted to create a modern successor to open vehicles such as the Citroën Méhari and Renault Rodéo.
The Eole combined the functions of a small commercial vehicle and an open-air recreational car. Its design was created by PG Design, although the final body was simplified compared with the original styling proposal. The vehicle used a welded steel chassis developed by GPM and a polyester body produced by Fédit Plastique in Arlanc, Puy-de-Dôme.
Unlike many lightweight beach vehicles, the Eole was built around a conventional automotive structure. It used the front and rear suspension components of the Peugeot 106, together with the PSA 1.4-liter diesel engine. The four-cylinder unit produced approximately 50 or 51 hp and gave the 730 kg vehicle a claimed range of up to 1,000 km. Its reported payload was 570 kg, and a small tipping body was available for the utility version.
GPM offered the Eole as a multipurpose vehicle. It could be used as an open leisure car, a second vehicle for sunny climates, or a compact work vehicle for local authorities, tradespeople, shopkeepers, and farmers. The body configuration could be adapted to suit these roles, including a version with a small cargo bed.
The project entered production in France in the early 1990s, with the Eole first offered in 1992 and production continuing until 1995. Around 100 examples were ultimately sold according to several historical accounts, although a contemporary 1995 newspaper report stated that 173 had already been sold and that GPM hoped to reach 200 vehicles in circulation during that year. This difference reflects the limited and sometimes inconsistent surviving production records.
The Eole was priced at approximately 70,000 French francs. GPM also had ambitions to manufacture the vehicle in emerging markets, particularly Morocco. The company Jow North Industries considered producing between 3,000 and 4,000 examples annually from 1994, with possible demand from Greece, where similar lightweight utility vehicles had previously enjoyed some success. These plans did not materialize.
GPM struggled to establish a sustainable market for the Eole. In 1994, the company reportedly generated 1.7 million French francs excluding tax, corresponding to roughly twenty vehicles produced that year, while losses continued to grow. A proposed agreement with SEAT to build 500 cabriolet versions of the Marbella also failed to become reality.
GPM Automobile SA filed for bankruptcy in 1995 and was placed into judicial liquidation in August 1996. The Eole therefore remained a low-volume French vehicle, produced in Roanne in limited numbers and based on familiar Peugeot and PSA components rather than a fully new mechanical platform.
