microcarfan
  • Licence-free car
  • France
  • Four wheels
  • Two seats

JDM

Also known as Simpa JDM, JDM Automobiles

For a while it was Europe’s fourth-largest maker of cars you could drive without a licence. It ended at Cerizay, in a works that had already lost Heuliez, holding an order for 25 cars it had no stock to build.

Small gold two-door hatchback with alloy wheels seen side-on at a kerb with yellow road markings, a fence and trees behind.
A gold JDM Abaca in profile in a French street in 2008.Photo: Kamel15, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

JDM

S.A. Simpa J.D.M. · Avrillé

Built
1981–⁠2014From 1981 until the company’s liquidation in September 2014
Country
FranceAvrillé, near Angers; from January 2011 the former Heuliez works at Cerizay
Maker
S.A. Simpa J.D.M., trading as JDM AutomobilesOwned by the BGI group from 2010, then by Dominique Mocquard’s group from 2013
Engine
Yanmar or Lombardini dieselIn the Aloes, the Lombardini from late 2009; the electric Xhéos; earlier engines are not recorded
Seats
2
Wheels
4
Production
Over 40,000The company’s own claim, for all models

Not yet recordedpower, top speed, length and weight.

How big is it?

True proportion

Length unknown

No reliable length has been found. The Fiat 500, the Peel P50 and the adult stay, so the gap is shown, not hidden.

  • Two seats
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

Beside its contemporaries

The French microcars on the road in 1981, on the same 3.5 m scale. Lengths of cars without a page yet come from the census and are unverified.

  1. Acoma Mini Comtesse1972–⁠1984 · France

    1.68 m

  2. Erad1978–⁠1997 · France

    1.69 m

  3. Arola1976–⁠1983 · France

    1.84 m

  4. Delsaux Modulo1979–⁠1983 · France

    1.84 m

  5. Ligier JS41980–⁠1987 · France

    1.97 m

  6. Teilhol Citadine1972–⁠1986 · France

    2.12 m

  7. JDM1981–⁠2014 · France

The story

History

The letters have nothing to do with the Japanese-market cars of today’s car culture. S.A. Simpa J.D.M., which traded as JDM Automobiles, began building licence-free cars at Avrillé, near Angers, in 1981.1 What JDM and Simpa stood for has not been found, and neither have the founders’ names.

The German Wikipedia lists the models in order: the 49 SL and the 125, then the Parthenon of 1984, the Nueva of 1985, the Furio of 1987, the X5 of 1988, the Orane of 1994, the Madeira of 1995, the Titane of 1997, and the Albizia.1 No specifications have been found for any of them. The Journal de l’Automobile once ranked JDM fourth among Europe’s makers of licence-free cars.2 In 2009 it sold 1,609 cars in Europe, fifth among the French makers, behind Aixam, Microcar (the maker of the Microcar RJ49), Ligier (the maker of the Ligier JS4) and Chatenet.3 The Aloes of 2008 took the range in a new direction, and late in 2009 a Lombardini common-rail diesel joined the Yanmar.2

Cerizay

In October 2010 JDM was bought by the BGI group, which was then Heuliez’s shareholder, and Luc Jaguelin, from MSA and Kymco, became managing director.42 In January 2011 production moved from Avrillé to the former Heuliez works at Cerizay, in the Deux-Sèvres.42 The restart was slow, and registrations fell by 45 per cent in the first five months of the year. The Abaca and the MaxUt utility were dropped, and the Aloes stayed on, with a summer version called the Tip Top.2

Heuliez collapsed, and in September 2013 BGI pulled out. Dominique Mocquard’s group, “@l’1fini”, bought JDM, with difficult support from the region. JDM had bet heavily on an electric model, the Xhéos.4 JDM went into receivership on 30 July 2014, and on 17 September the commercial court at Niort ordered its liquidation, with a month’s further trading.4 The administrator found debts of about €10 million and a break-even point of 140 cars a month, against a single order for 25 cars that could not be built for lack of stock. The 32 employees had been laid off since the summer.4 JDM was the third business on the Cerizay site to close within months, after Heuliez, with 290 staff, and Mia Electric, with 210.4

Je suis terriblement déçu car c’est un vrai gâchis social et industriel.

Dominique Mocquard, whose group had owned JDM since 2013, after the liquidation, La Nouvelle République, 18 September 2014. In English: “I am terribly disappointed, because it is a real social and industrial waste.”4

He said, too, that he remained convinced the licence-free car had a future, especially as an electric car.4

Back of a small cream and black boxy car with a large glass tailgate, orange rear lamps and chunky tyres.
A 1981 JDM 49 SL from the rear in 2015, showing its glazed tailgate and JDM script.Photo: Buch-t, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 4

  • A small green two-door hatchback microcar with an oval grille badge parked on gravel beside a row of trees. Opens a larger view

    1 Green JDM Titane microcar, a Simpa JDM, parked under bare trees on a wet roadside in France in December 2020.

  • Rear of a grubby white small hatchback with ABACA lettering and plate CZ-086-CP, parked in a bay before a laurel hedge. Opens a larger view

    2 A white JDM Abaca, ABACA spelt out across its tailgate, parked in front of a laurel hedge in 2025.

  • Front of a small boxy cream car with black trim, two round headlamps, a slatted grille and 49SL badge on the scuttle. Opens a larger view

    3 A cream and black 1981 JDM 49 SL head-on in a museum.

  • Small red hatchback with white stripes, flame decals and RALLY on its doors, parked on brick paving by a brick house. Opens a larger view

    4 A red JDM in mock rally livery, lettered Turbo Oma, parked in a Dutch street in 2015.

Picture credits (4)
  1. 1 crash71100, CC0
  2. 2 Calreyn88, CC0
  3. 3 Buch-t, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
  4. 4 FaceMePLS, CC BY 2.0

Variants

Names, and little else

JDM models, roughly in date order
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
49 SL1980sAn early modelNot known
1251980sAn early model; the name suggests 125 ccNot known
Parthenon to Titane, and the AlbiziaFrom 1984Names and start years only: Parthenon 1984, Nueva 1985, Furio 1987, X5 1988, Orane 1994, Madeira 1995, Titane 1997; the Albizia undatedNot known
Abaca and MaxUtTo 2011The MaxUt a utility; both dropped in 2011Not known
Aloes2008–⁠14Yanmar or Lombardini diesel; a “Tip Top” summer versionNot known
Xhéosc. 2013–⁠14ElectricNot known

How many were built?

Every figure, with its source

Over 40,000, by the company’s countJDM claimed more than 40,000 vehicles in all. No independent total has been found; the one outside figure is a single year’s European sales.

  1. over 40,000all models, 1981–⁠2014One source

    German Wikipedia, giving the company’s own figure1

  2. 1,609sold in Europe in 2009One source

    French Wikipedia3

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. Fourth in Europe

    For a time JDM ranked fourth among Europe’s makers of licence-free cars.

  2. Over 40,000 cars

    The company’s own count for 33 years of building, from Avrillé and then Cerizay.

  3. Lost with Heuliez

    Moved into the Heuliez works in 2011, it was liquidated there in 2014.

Survivors and collecting

Today

No museum record, auction result or owners’ club for JDM has been found in the sources, though the photographs on this page show a 1981 49 SL in a museum in 2015.

Sources

Numbered as in the text

This is a thin record: no specifications, prices or road tests were found for any JDM, and what JDM and Simpa stand for is not known. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. German Wikipedia, JDM Automobiles, citing Linz and Schrader and Georgano.
  2. Journal de l’Automobile, “JDM”, 2011.
  3. French Wikipedia, Voiturette.
  4. Xavier Le Roux, “Le constructeur JDM Automobiles a été liquidé”, La Nouvelle République (Deux-Sèvres), 18 September 2014, read via the Internet Archive.