History
Bruno and Louis Durisotti set up on 15 March 1956 at Sallaumines in the northern coalfield, repairing the coaches that carried miners' wives to the textile mills. In 1968 the firm turned to converting light commercial vehicles for the major manufacturers, and by 1972 Peugeot had it building minibuses, an early line in transport for people with reduced mobility that became one of its specialities. Over the following decades it grew into the second-largest industrial coachbuilder in France, with additional plants at Agen and Metz, and by the 2010s was converting around 17,000 vans a year across four lines of work: trade fit-outs, law-enforcement vehicles, minibuses and accessible transport.
Its Land Rover work sits in the defence line. When the French Army bought several hundred Defenders in 2008–2010 — 334 ordered in 2009, close to 550 in delivery by March 2010, in about thirty versions — Durisotti showed militarised Td4 Defenders on Land Rover's Eurosatory 2008 stand and went on to convert station wagons, double cabs and a Defender 130 command post for the armée de Terre, its badge usually sitting above the grille. The original company went into judicial restructuring on 30 January 2019 and was bought the same day by Liberty, part of the GFG Alliance; the successor filed for restructuring again on 28 April 2026, with the works still at Sallaumines after almost seventy years.
Vehicles in this registry
4 records. Each opens its full registry page.
French Army Defender 110 Double Cab2009 · 110″ · Double cab · Rear canvas · converted
French Army Durisotti Defender 130 Ambulance2013 · Defender 130 · Durisotti box-body ambulance · Armée de Terre · built
French SF Durisotti Defender 1102009 · Stone · JTAC station wagon · SOFINS 2019 · converted
French Army Defender 110 Station Wagon2009 · Convoy escort · 6072077 · TRIDENT JUNCTURE 2018 · convertedSources & citations
- Durisotti (founded 1956 by Bruno and Louis Durisotti at Sallaumines; coach maintenance until 1968, then commercial-vehicle conversion; Peugeot minibuses from 1972; sites at Agen and Metz; 227 staff; judicial restructuring and acquisition by Liberty on 30 January 2019; successor's restructuring filing 28 April 2026) ↗ — Wikipédia (accessed 2026-09-11)
- Le carrossier Durisotti, fleuron historique français des véhicules utilitaires, au bord du gouffre (founded 15 March 1956; second-largest industrial coachbuilder in France; ~17,000 vans a year; nearly seventy years at Sallaumines; receivership) ↗ — Auto Infos (accessed 2026-09-11)
- Liberty acquiert Durisotti, le carrossier de Sallaumines ↗ — L'Usine Nouvelle (accessed 2026-09-11)
- Land Rover Defender, le véhicule polyvalent de l'armée de Terre (Defender 130 command post fitted out by Durisotti; 334 Defenders ordered in 2009, ~550 in delivery by March 2010 in some thirty versions) ↗ — Milinfo (accessed 2026-09-11)
- Land Rover Td4 2.4, les versions militarisées proposées par Durisotti (militarised Defenders shown on Land Rover's Eurosatory 2008 stand) ↗ — Esprit de Valmy (accessed 2026-09-11)
Maker record updated 2026-09-11T08:59:45.482Z · status: researched