Sign in

Private company

Matra

Logo: matra.com4

Former French company

Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace, defence, automotive, motorsports, transport and telecommunications. Following the acquisition of vehicle manufacturer Automobiles René Bonnet, the company founded Matra Automobiles during the 1960s, which produced a limited range of racing and sports cars.2 It is part of Lagardère Group.1 It ceased to exist in 2003.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1937Founded1
  • Industryaerospace industry, auto racing, automotive industry, weapons industry1
  • HeadquartersRomorantin-Lanthenay1
  • Websitewww.matra.com
  • Legal formjoint-stock company1
  • Kind of organizationFund1
  • LEI969500GS3E5AO5DXDJ183
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusIssued and current3
  • Registered address21 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN, 75009 Paris, France3
  • Registered withAutorité des marchés financiers, 85283

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

MHV Matra 530
Photo: MartinHansV, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons6

Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace, defence, automotive, motorsports, transport and telecommunications.2

Corporate structure

Matra is part of a group headed by Lagardère Group. 97 entities, 11 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

Products and brands

  • car
  • microcomputer
  • missile
  • mobile phone
  • rapid transit
  • telephone

Listed on Wikidata.1

Street models

Matra Djet

Matra 530

Matra Bagheera

Matra Murena

Read the full text

Matra Rancho

Renault Espace

Renault Avantime

Matra Hautes Technologies

Matra Hautes Technologies (MHT) was the defence arm of the firm. The division was involved in aerospace, defence and telecommunications.

During 1990, Matra Espace and the aerospace division of British electronics specialist GEC Marconi merged, creating Matra Marconi Space; the company had claimed this entity to have been the leading aerospace company in the European market at the time. Six years later, Matra Défense and British missile manufacturer BAe Dynamics merged to form Matra BAe Dynamics, a leading weapons manufacturer in Europe as well as the third largest in the world at the time. During February 1999, MHT merged with French aerospace conglomerate Aérospatiale to form Aérospatiale-Matra. On 10 July 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with Spanish aircraft company CASA and German aerospace firm DASA to become part of EADS, which subsequently became the Airbus Group.

Divisions (as of Aérospatiale merger)

Matra Défense

Matra Systèmes & Information

Matra BAe Dynamics (50% British Aerospace), formed in 1996, Matra BAe Dynamics brought together the missile business of BAe (BAe Dynamics) and half of the missile business of Matra Défense. (The other half remained as Aerospatiale Matra Missiles.)

Matra Marconi Space (49% GEC), was the space division of Matra which merged with the space operations of GEC (Marconi Space Systems) in 1989 to form Matra Marconi Space. In 2000, it was merged with the space division of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) to form Astrium. This was later renamed to EADS Astrium.

Matra Nortel Communications (50% Nortel)

Weapons produced

R.511 air to air missiles

R.530 air to air missiles

Super 530 air to air missiles

R.550 Magic air to air missiles

MICA air to air missiles

R.422 surface to air missiles

Mistral anti-aircraft missiles

Martel anti-radar and anti-shipping missiles in association with Hawker Siddeley

ARMAT anti-radar missiles

Otomat anti-shipping missiles in association with Oto Melara

BLG 66 Belouga cluster bombs

Durandal anti-runway bombs

Pods for the SNEB unguided rocket

From Wikipedia’s article on Matra, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

Subsidiaries

  • Matra Électronique

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded by Aérospatiale-Matra1
  2. Succeeded by Matra1

Timeline

  1. 2003Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1937Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
    Company websiteMatra logo
  5. 5
  6. 6