Ligier is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Championship between 1976 and 1996.

The firm entered the automobile business with the Ligier JS2, a mid-engined sports car for the road initially powered by a Ford V6 and from 1971 by the same Maserati V6 engine as the Citroën SM. The JS2 was considered by many as a well-designed car with a very good power-to-weight ratio. 

The Ligier motorcars were all designated with the prefix "JS" in honour of Ligier's great friend and cohort Jo Schlesser who was killed in the 1968 French Grand Prix while driving for Honda.

The final SMs were also produced in the Ligier factory in Vichy. The 1973 energy crisis caused such a decline in the market for the JS2 that production ceased soon after, and the firm changed its focus to microcars, beginning with the 1980 moped-powered Ligier JS4.

js1

At the Paris Motorshow in September Guy Ligier unveiled the JS1, named after his late friend. Reflecting the political situation, the JS1 was a true European car, with a British engine, French chassis and Italian designed body. Inspired by the Lotus Europa, the new Ligier featured an aluminium backbone chassis, which was suspended by double wishbones front and back.

Power came from a mid mounted Cosworth FVA Formula 2 engine, displacing close to 1.6 litre. For 1970 the 220 bhp FVA engine was replaced by the slightly larger FVC 'four', good for 240 bhp. The package was completed with a Pietro Frua penned fiberglass body.

After just three cars were constructed is was already ending for the JS1 . For road use Ligier launched the Maserati engined JS2 exactly a year after the JS1 and for competition use the Cosworth DFV powered JS3 was prepared for 1971.

js2

The Ligier JS2 is a mid-engined sports coupé that was built by Ligier in the French commune of Abrest near Vichy in the department of Allier between 1971 and 1975. Road-going and competition versions were built.

To qualify to race in the GT class, 500 copies of a car had to have been built. Ligier's plan was to reach that goal with the JS2. The letters in the name of the car, like the JS1 before it, are a tribute to Schlesser.

The new car's appearance was similar to that of the JS1. Bodywork was again by Frua, but Guy Ligier insisted that the proportions of the cabin be adjusted so that the car was not too wide and had a low centre of gravity and good outward visibility. His requirement that it also be practical necessitated wide doors for ease of access and a usable trunk.

Ford declined to supply engines to Ligier for the JS2 so they used the Maserati C114 V6 from the Citroën SM.

In 1974 Ligier entered into an agreement to sell their cars through Citroën's dealership network, which would also provide after-sales service.

js3

The Ligier JS3 is a sports-racing car built by Automobiles Ligier. It was unveiled in 1971 and ended its competition life the same year. Only one JS3, chassis JS3-01, was ever built.

In contrast to the dual-purpose JS1 fixed-head coupé, the JS3 was an open-top two-door two-seat "barquette" meant exclusively for circuit racing.

Ligier chose Cosworth to supply the engine. The JS3 did not use the four-cylinder FVA found in the JS1 but instead got a 2993cc DFV V8 capable of producing more than 400 bhp. This engine had already had considerable success in Formula 1, but far less success in sportscar racing.

Ligier's purpose for building this car was to win the 24 Heures du Mans.

The JS3 was officially unveiled on March 15, 1971, at Automobiles Ligier's Vichy workshops. It wore the distinctive green-and-yellow livery of the car's sponsor, British Petroleum.

js4

The Ligier JS4 is a four-wheeled, two-seater microcar manufactured from 1980 to 1983 by Ligier, the street vehicle branch of French Formula One manufacturer Équipe Ligier. It marked a change in Ligier's priorities as they had recently ended manufacture of the Ligier JS2 sports car. It is a "Voiture sans permis", a light vehicle which did not require a driver's license and was thus popular with the elderly, the young, or with those who had lost their driving privileges.

The single-cylinder engine is mounted at the rear, below the luggage compartment, and produces 3.2 hp and powers the rear wheels through a continuously variable transmission.

The JS4, with its pleasant appearance and Formula One heritage, proved a strong seller. 6941 were sold in 1981, its first full year of production, a very good number for a voiturette.

In 1982 the more expensive JS8 model appeared, mostly the same as the JS4 but equipped with a 125 cc BCB engine. The more capable JS8 jas 7.5 hp  and required an A4 permit (tricycle/quadricycle), unlike the JS4 (and later JS6) which required no permit at all as they had less than 5 hp and a top speed under 45 km/h.

optima

The Ligier Optima is a four-wheeled, two-seater microcar manufactured from 1987 to about 1995 by Ligier,

There was also a four-seat version offered from 1993 until 1995, called the Optima 4. The car was originally introduced as the Ligier Série 7, but the name was changed to Optima in 1989. It replaced the earlier Série 5, the final development of a series of cars which started with the boxy Ligier JS4.

Introduced in 1987, the Série 7 was decidedly more car-like in appearance than the earlier JS4-derived Série 5. The increase in length also made the car more practical, with a considerably larger cargo area. The car was introduced with a 325 cc single-cylinder diesel engine, but this was soon replaced with an air-cooled 265 cc engine built by Fuji Robin in Japan. Power for the original engine was 5 hp (3.7 kW) and top speed was no more than 45 km/h.

nova

The Ligier Nova was a miniature 2-seater city car (microcar) built by the French automaker Ligier (Lisieux) between 1999 and 2004. It replaced the Ligier Ambra and was replaced by the Ligier X-Too.

Initially, the Nova carried only a 2-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engine, with a displacement of 505 cm³ and a power of just 5.4 hp  and the top speed was just 44.5 kilometers per hour. Soon, however, Ligier added to its palette a 650 cm³ petrol engine, also 2-cylinder and 4-stroke, with an output of 20.4 hp, which gave the Nova visibly better performance. Both of these mechanical assemblies came from the Italian company Lombardini and met the mandatory Euro 2 exhaust gas standards at the time.

At the time of its commercial market launch, the Nova was offered in two equipment versions, known in most states as the Base and Pack.

In September 2008, Ligier Automobiles completed its acquisition of Beneteau Group's Microcar division, with financing provided by 21 Investimenti Partners. The Microcar company was founded in 1980 as a division of Jeanneau, a major sailboat manufacturer.

Phillipe Ligier, son of the company's founder, remains as CEO. The Ligier and Microcar brands are to retain their separate identities and manufacturing facilities. The merger creates Europe's second largest microcar manufacturer (after Daimler's Smart unit, if one considers that a microcar), and largest manufacturer of drivers license-exempt vehicles.

formula 1

Ligier is best known for its racing division, Equipe Ligier (Team Lisieux) which first appeared in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1976 and in some years has been a force to be reckoned with, but without celebrating a title.

The team was sold after the 1996 season and formed the basis of the Prost Grand Prix. The parent company still exists as a subsidiary of Italian Piaggio.

Lisieux entered Formula 1 in 1976, having bought out Matra's racing division. For the first three years he raced with only one car, however driver Jacques Lafitte took the podium several times, even achieving a victory at the Swedish Grand Prix in the 1977 season. Lafitte's performance led Lisieux to good positions in the constructors' standings, higher than several teams that participated in a full line-up.