The Delage D4 was a 4-cylinder compact luxury car in the 8CV car tax band produced by the manufacturer between 1933 and 1934.
The car
With the D4, the manufacturer returned to a market sector that it had neglected ever since ending production of the "Type AM" in 1921. A strategy of broadening the range downwards was understandable in the context of a French car market that failed to rebound from the economic depression like Britain and Germany. (French automobile production only returned to its 1928 level in 1938.[1]
Launched in October 1933 at the 27th Paris Motor Show, the D4 was positioned at the lower end of the Delage range, below the 2-litre D6-11 which had been introduced the previous year, initially to complement and then replace the manufacturer's DS. The D4 was, therefore, part of a broader change in focus by Delage away from the larger cars, reflecting a more general switch towards middle-class cars in the overall French auto-market during the first five or so years of the 1930s.
The D4 sat on a 2800 mm wheelbase, and was designed to incorporate the maximum possible level of component commonality with other Delage models.[2]