page_title: Automotive industry in France
section_title: 18th and 19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Automotive industry in France / 18th and 19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: La vente aux enchères RM auctions aux pied des Invalides à Paris le 4 février 2015.
context_page_description: France was a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe. It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000.
  France is home to two major automaking companies:
  PSA Group the 2nd-largest automaker in Europe and the 11th-largest of the world in 2015.
  Renault Group the 3rd-largest automaker in Europe and the 10th-largest of the world in 2015.
  Additional lesser automotive manufacturers in France include:
  Bugatti, a luxury marque of the Volkswagen Group headquartered in Molsheim.
  Venturi, a small sports car manufacturer and Formula E team sponsor.
  Aixam and Mega, microcar marques of Polaris Industries headquartered in Aix-les-Bains.
  Microcar and Ligier, microcar marques of DrivePlanet headquartered in Abrest.
  The France-based Renault Trucks is a major producer of commercial vehicles and is owned by Volvo AB. Both PSA and Renault produce a large number of vehicles outside France.
context_section_description: 1769 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot builds the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle.
  1807 - François Isaac de Rivaz invents a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine.
  1859 - Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir develops an internal combustion engine.
  1884 - Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville is credited in France with building the first gasoline-powered
  automobile.
  1885 - Amédée Bollée begins manufacturing steam-powered vehicles.
  1887 - Léon Serpollet begins building steam-powered vehicles.
  1887 - Panhard et Levassor established as a car manufacturing concern by René Panhard and Émile Levassor, with the first car produced in 1891.
  1890 - Armand Peugeot produces a four-wheeled car powered by a Daimler gasoline fueled internal combustion engine.
  1894 - Albert de Dion and Georges Bouton produce a single cylinder gasoline-powered engine and in 1898 produced a four-wheeler.  They had previously built steam-powered vehicles beginning in 1883.
  1894 - Delahaye is founded by Emile Delahaye.  The company is bought by Hotchkiss et Cie in 1954 and discontinues auto production.
  1896 - Armand Peugeot starts to build and fit his own engines to his cars.
  1896 - Léon Bollée builds gasoline-powered cars.
  1898 - The Renault brothers, Louis, Marcel and Fernand, sell their first car.
caption: 1925 Avions Voisin C3 Cabriolet Transformable
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