Alain Cournil dies at 74

Alain Cournil, whose father created the Cournil line of 4×4 off-road vehicles before he took over the company, died early this week at the age of 74. His son Christophe confirmed his passing on Sunday.

Bernard Cournil founded Cournil after the Second World War, where he had served with the French Resistance and provided vital assistance to Allied troops in the liberation of his country. At war’s end, he began modifying surpluses of American Jeeps and became a producer, eventually spinning them off into his own brand.

Although Cournil’s vehicles, which included agricultural and heavy machinery, grew in popularity in France, he built most of them with limited support out of his shop. This eventually resulted in financial trouble, prompting Alain and his wife Myriam to take over the company in 1971. Still, monetary concerns persisted until 1977 when they sold the production rights to French arms maker Gévarm and Portuguese firm UMM; the latter was entrusted with building the Cournils outside of France. Auverland subsequently became the manufacturer in France and Brazil in 1984.

Even then, Alain remained involved with Cournil. In 1979, he greenlit factory support for drivers entering the inaugural Paris–Dakar Rally in one, which included Jean-Pierre Kurrer (finished fifty-first overall) and Gil Guillot (finished sixty-eighth overall). The following year, Kurrer scored the car’s best finish of twelfth while Patrick Thenoux was twenty-fourth.

UMM later entered the Dakar with the Alter, using the Cournil’s template. The company proudly proclaims at least one Alter reached the finish at every Dakar it ran in the 1990s. In January, João Costa and Paulo Sergio da Silva Oliveira raced UMM Alters in the Dakar Classic, an adjacent event to the Dakar Rally for older vehicles, respectively finishing sixty-first and forty-first overall; eight Alters were also brought to the race to support them.

In 1996, Alain became a licenced dealer for Mitsubishi before adding Kia to his portfolio in 2008. He also continued to support Cournil and UMM by restoring them once he acquired the necessary parts in 2009. After his retirement, he passed down the company reins to Christophe and son-in-law Sébastien Carlat.