The Kriéger Victoria: the electric car for Kings and Emperors

• 

This distinguished couple is no ordinary duo. Here we see King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena of Italy, on their way through the Parco del Castello di Racconigi near Turin.

The picture has appeared on postcards and on a number of magazine covers. La Stampa Sportivo featured it in September 1904, naming the car simply a Vittoria Elettrica. The French periodical La Vie au Grand Air of May 1904 gave more detail, calling the car a Victoria Electrique Kriéger and describing it as “the car for Sovereigns”. It added that the Italian royal couple had been recommended the Kriéger by the King of England as well as by the Emperors of Germany and Russia, all of whom were said to drive their Kriéger cars themselves rather than be chauffeured.

Kriéger Automobiles of Paris, founded by Louis Antoine Kriéger, was undoubtedly a pioneering manufacturer. The company is credited with inventing regenerative electric brakes. As early as 1903 it also offered a hybrid electric vehicle with front-wheel drive, power steering and a petrol engine to supplement the batteries.

Apparently, this struck a chord with royalty of the time. We found an article stating that even more monarchs were zooming around in Kriéger’s cars, mentioning: “Members of the Spanish (Borbón y Austria), Russian (Romanov), Italian (Savoia), Egyptian (Alawiyya), Danish (Glücksburg), British (Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and, perhaps, Belgian (Saxe-Cobourg et Gotha) royal families owned at least one vehicle from the workshops of the Compagnie Parisienne des Voitures électriques.”

Victor Emmanuel III is also believed to have ordered another Kriéger, a coupé, in September 1905. Still, in the end the electric car would lose the race against its petrol-powered rivals, and by 1909 Kriéger Automobiles had disappeared.

That said, more than a century later, a Kriéger would make a rather fitting choice for today’s London to Brighton Run: It would also glide effortlessly through London’s Low Emission Zones without raising an eyebrow.

Picture: Lincoln Car Museum

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.