The editorial team had the opportunity to meet the Devinci teams on their stand at the Lyon Motor Show, to find out more about this real UFO of French car manufacturing.
As we wandered the aisles of the Lyon 2025 Motor Show, our eyes fell on a stand that stood out from the rest, that of Devinci. Cars with the racing style of the 30s and 40s, but powered by 100% electric motors, obviously speak to us at ECO MOTORS NEWS. But Jonathan Rouanet, the French manufacturer’s Sales Director, stops us dead in our tracks: the cars are designed and assembled in their workshop at St-Sulpice-la-Pointe in the Tarn region, using parts made by craftsmen, usually in the region and more rarely in the rest of France. Only the electric motors come from abroad, but from neighbouring countries (Germany, Italy). And the batteries? French, but incorporating imported cells. All these details pique our curiosity a little more, and we took some of Mr Rouanet’s time to tell us a little more about Devinci.
And we start by taking a step back in time. The brand was created in 2017 by its founder Jean-Philippe Dayraut, a designer and racing driver. Named Devinci, in a nod to the great Leonardo, « acomplete artist and engineer, a visionary inventor and creator of timeless works » with whom the company « shares this vision of know-how that is both technical and artistic » according to Jonathan Rouanet, it presented its first prototypes, the D417s, at the 2018 Rétromobile show. These first cars were « deliberately simple, with leaf spring front suspension, front and rear drum brakes, proportions inspired by the 1930s and a range of around 140 km« . The result? 30 orders! In the industry, for a niche manufacturer just starting out, that’s what we call a hit.
Devinci, objet d’art and… marketing tool
In 2019, Devinci inaugurated its current line-up, comprising four finishes of the same model, improved each year: Brigitte (40 examples), Adèle (10 examples), Marianne (10 examples) and Eugénie (5 examples, one for each continent), priced at €58,000, €75,000, €150,000 and €200,000 respectively (excluding tax). This is an important point, because although Jonathan Rouanet doesn’t identify a typical customer – « my youngest customer is in her twenties, my oldest is in her eighties » – he does note that, in addition to « car collectors and lovers of art or beautiful objects, who don’t necessarily own other cars« , most owners of Devinci models are « company directors who use the vehicle as a marketing tool, for example for estate agencies or 5-star hotels« . In fact, he claims that, more than just cars, Brigitte, Marianne, Adèle and Eugénie serve above all to transcribe values and convey a message more effectively than with more traditional means of communication. And that’s thanks to its positioning.
« We are positioned in a completely atypical niche, at the crossroads of several worlds: art and the automobile, industry and craftsmanship, the ancient and the modern« . The result is a real car, thanks to the founder’s « solid experience in motor racing – Formula Renault 3.5, Super Touring, rallies such as the Dakar« , but with the look of a rolling, chic, vintage work of art, all powered by modern electric power. The brand has already delivered its cars to some twenty countries around the world, and generates more than half its sales abroad.
Big ambitions
And there’s no end in sight for this « continuous and permanent improvement » manufacturer, which has just presented a new front end for its Eugénie model, as well as new Italian engines reserved for the top-of-the-range versions. As Jonathan Rouanet sums up, « each change is an opportunity for a new homologation« , but always with the same ambition: « Tocontinue to promote French excellence on the border between art and the automobile« . And it seemed to work at the Lyon 2025 Motor Show, as the Devinci stand was packed with people, all intrigued by these vehicles that were as anachronistic as they were desirable – further proof, if any were needed, that electric can go hand in hand with chic.
