1890 was the first year that cars were built in France. The cars were built by Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor, who originally started out as partners in a woodworking business but then changed to become the first French car manufacturers. The first cars were built on behalf of Edouard Sarazin, who held the licensing rights to the Daimler engine in France. In addition to building cars this particular partnership of Panhard, Levassor and Sarazin also made improvements to the body design of the cars.

The changes that were made to the cars were in a chain transmission, and pedal-operated clutch leading to a change-speed gearbox, and a front radiator. Levassor designed the Systeme Panhard which was to use a rear wheel drive lay out by moving the engine to the front of the car. Because better balance and improved steering was achieved this Systeme quickly became the standard for all cars.

At the beginning early French car manufactures did not standardise their vehicles. Each car was unique to any other. The first standardised car was the Benz Velo in 1894 and 134 standardised Velos were built in 1895.