Panhard & Levassor. Volume 1

This book is based on archival documents of the Panhard and Levassor automobile company, as well as magazines, newspapers and books from France, the USA and England of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I used photographs and reproductions from magazines and books of those years, as well as numerous photographs from modern museums and exhibitions. I personally photographed items in French museums and used them for this book.

If you asked which country had made the greatest contribution to the international auto industry at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, you might be surprised to find out that it was neither the USA, Japan, Germany nor England, but France! France was the country where the automotive industry was born and it became the pacesetter for every other country in the late 19th and early 20th century.
According to statistics (James Laux, “The European Automobile Industry”), in 1903, 14,100 cars were produced in France, 11,325 in the USA, 2,000 in England, 1,450 in Germany, and 225 in Italy. So, at the time, France produced more automobiles than any other country. Impressive!