on any supplier and, it was said, lower the risk of abusive copying in France of Fiat component designs. From the start, the French assembled Fiat 6CV was available as a "berline" (four-door saloon/sedan), a "coach" (two-door saloon/sedan), a "coupé" and a "roadster", and subsequently the range of body variant would be widened further. Power came, as in the Italian built cars, from a 995cc side-valve engine for which, initially, maximum power was listed as at 3,400 rpm. In November 1934 production at Suresnes came to an end when Fiat acquired the plant of the recently defunct auto-maker "Donnet", in the west of the country. It was at this point that Fiat funded and created the Société Industrielle de Mécanique et de Carrosserie Automobile (Simca). The move to the more spacious Nanterre facility permitted an increase in volumes which enabled the manufacturer to become one of the country's top tier automakers by the end of the decade. The name "Simca" was now introduced to French customers, the French built Fiat 508 being rebranded as the Simca-Fiat 6CV. In a culture of heightened political awareness and growing polarisation, there was some hostility to things Italian, at least from the French left, and especially in the buildup to Mussolini's Abyssinian invasion. Simca's (originally Italian) boss, Henri Pigozzi, was more attuned than most automobile bosses to the power of skilful marketing, and Simca-Fiat publicity of the period increasingly down-plays Fiat ownership: by 1936 its new models were being branded simply as Simcas. The Simca-Fiat 6CV nevertheless retained the Balilla engine and other mechanical components, and it continued to look like a Fiat. The Simca-Fiat 6CV made its last Motor Show appearance in October 1937. By this time three slightly bowed thin chrome stripes had appeared on each side of the bonnet/hood, representing the tail of a comet, and for its final year in production, the car was rebaptised as the "Simca-Fiat 6CV Comète". The list of different body variants produced by Simca in Nanterre extended to eight "different" shapes, though most of the steel body panels would have been common to several different shapes. The eight bodies featured in the 1937 show material were a 2-door "berline" (saloon/sedan), a 4-door "berline", a coupé, a cabriolet, a roadster, a "commerciale" (sharing most of the silhouette of the 2-door "berline" but with an opening tailgate) and a "fourgonette" (panel van). However, the Simca list did