The Origins of Panhard & Levassor
The history of Panhard & Levassor, one of the pioneering manufacturers of the automobile, began long before the appearance of the first motorcars. Its origins can be traced to a modest woodworking establishment in nineteenth-century Paris, where craftsmanship, mechanical ingenuity, and industrial enterprise gradually combined to create one of France's most respected engineering companies. By the time the name Panhard & Levassor appeared in 1886, the firm already possessed nearly four decades of manufacturing experience, an established international reputation, and the technical resources that would soon enable it to enter a new and revolutionary branch of industry.
The transformation of a small woodworking workshop into a major automobile manufacturer was neither accidental nor sudden. It resulted from the successive contributions of several remarkable individuals, beginning with Jean-Louis Périn, the founder of the enterprise, and continuing through René Panhard and Émile Levassor, whose engineering knowledge and entrepreneurial abilities would ultimately direct the company towards the internal-combustion engine and the automobile.
Jean-Louis Périn and the Foundations of the Company
Jean-Louis Périn was born in Rethel in 1816. The son of labourers and largely self-educated, he moved to Paris and established himself in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, a district traditionally associated with skilled craftsmen, cabinetmakers, and furniture manufacturers. His early professional life was devoted to woodworking, particularly the manufacture of furniture and the preparation of veneers. Through practical experience, he developed an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the machinery used in this industry.
Périn initially worked in a modest establishment belonging to an industrialist named Pauwels. Following Pauwels' death in 1846 or 1847, he assumed control of the business and began transforming the small workshop into a mechanical engineering enterprise. One of the decisive steps in this transformation was associated with the improvement of sawing machinery, particularly the band saw, whose development would establish Périn's reputation as an inventive and capable manufacturer.
An important contribution to this development came from Anne-Pauline Crépin, who received a patent in 1846 for a wood-cutting mechanism incorporating a system for guiding the saw blade. Périn subsequently developed and improved the application of blade guides, introducing constructional refinements that significantly increased the usefulness and reliability of sawing machines. In 1853, he obtained a patent for his own improvements. These technical advances made it possible to apply mechanical sawing to an increasingly wide variety of woodworking operations, from the preparation of veneers to the cutting of substantial timber sections.
The success of these machines provided the foundation for the company's industrial expansion. At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1855, Périn received a silver medal for his machinery, followed by a gold medal from the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale. Further recognition came at the London International Exhibition of 1862. By 1867, when Paris hosted another great Universal Exposition, his workshop had developed into a substantial engineering concern. Its machinery attracted considerable attention, earning Périn a gold medal and the distinction of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, presented by Emperor Napoleon III.
The growth of the business was equally impressive. From a small establishment employing only eight mechanics in 1850, it had expanded to approximately sixty workers by 1867. The original premises in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine could no longer accommodate its increasing production, and additional workshops were established in the nearby rue de Charonne. The firm was gradually extending its activities beyond woodworking machinery into the construction of increasingly sophisticated mechanical equipment, including machines and tools for cutting and working metals.
Among the young engineers who acquired practical experience in Périn's establishment was Gottlieb Daimler, who spent several months there in 1860. The future pioneer of the internal-combustion engine was particularly impressed by Périn's attention to precision engineering and the quality of the steels used in his machinery. At the time, neither man could have anticipated the remarkable circumstances under which their professional histories would intersect again. Several decades later, Daimler's engines would play a decisive role in the transformation of Périn's former enterprise into an automobile manufacturer.
René Panhard and Émile Levassor
The next stage in the company's development was closely associated with René Panhard, born in Paris in 1841 into a prosperous family connected with the carriage trade. His grandfather, François René Panhard, had established a business manufacturing and selling horse-drawn vehicles, which was subsequently expanded by his son Adrien. René, however, chose a different professional direction. After graduating from the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1864, he pursued a career in mechanical engineering and eventually joined Jean-Louis Périn's establishment.
On 27 August 1867, Jean-Louis Périn and René Panhard formalized their partnership by notarial deed. Panhard acquired half of Périn's business, and the resulting enterprise operated under the name Périn & Cie. The partnership, initially established for a term ending on 1 October 1876, had a capital of 400,000 francs, contributed equally by the two associates. The agreement brought together Périn, the experienced craftsman and practical inventor, and Panhard, the professionally trained engineer whose industrial knowledge and financial resources could support the firm's continued growth.
An equally significant figure was Émile Levassor, born on 21 January 1843 in Marolles-en-Hurepoix. Like René Panhard, he studied at the École Centrale, where the two young men became friends and graduated together in 1864. Levassor began his professional career at the John Cockerill works in Seraing, Belgium, one of the most important industrial establishments in continental Europe. There he gained valuable experience in mechanical design and manufacturing before returning to France and joining the Durenne workshops in Courbevoie.
Levassor possessed an energetic and independent character, combined with considerable engineering ability and an insatiable interest in technical problems. He was not easily satisfied with routine employment and sought opportunities that would allow him greater responsibility and freedom of initiative. René Panhard recognized these qualities and, in 1872, invited his former fellow student to join the growing enterprise. Levassor acquired a financial interest in the company and became one of its managing partners, strengthening its technical leadership at a particularly important moment in its development.
The arrival of Levassor coincided with a major expansion of the manufacturing facilities. In 1873, the company acquired land at 19 avenue d'Ivry, on the southern outskirts of Paris, where new workshops were constructed. The transfer from the cramped buildings of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine was undertaken gradually, with Levassor personally supervising much of the work. The new factory provided the space and machinery required for an increasingly diversified range of production, including woodworking equipment, machine tools, and other industrial machinery.
The establishment on avenue d'Ivry would eventually become inseparably associated with the name Panhard & Levassor. Yet when its workshops were first erected, the automobile did not exist as a practical commercial product. The company's immediate concern remained the manufacture of industrial machinery. Its entry into the field of engines would begin through another professional connection established by Levassor during his earlier career in Belgium.
From Machine Tools to Internal-Combustion Engines
While employed at the Cockerill works, Émile Levassor had formed a lasting friendship with Auguste Édouard Sarazin, a French engineer who later became the representative in France of the German engine manufacturers Otto and Langen. Their enterprise, associated with the Gas-Motoren-Fabrik Deutz, was developing gas engines at a time when internal combustion was beginning to emerge as a practical alternative to steam power for certain industrial applications.
Sarazin recognized the potential of the French market but faced difficulties in finding a suitable manufacturing partner capable of producing engines on a sufficiently large scale. The engineering establishment managed by Périn, Panhard, and Levassor offered precisely the combination of manufacturing experience, skilled labour, and mechanical equipment that was needed. Early in 1875, Levassor proposed that the company undertake the manufacture of Otto gas engines, and the suggestion was received favourably by his partners.
In May 1875, an Otto engine arrived from Germany in dismantled form. Levassor and his engineering staff carefully examined its construction, operation, and mechanical principles. Shortly afterwards, the firm obtained manufacturing rights through Sarazin and began preparing for the production of gas engines in France. This marked a fundamental enlargement of its industrial activities. For the first time, the company was no longer concerned solely with machines that performed mechanical work but was also manufacturing the engines that supplied the power necessary to drive them.
Initial production was relatively modest, with eight engines completed in 1876 and nine the following year. However, the business soon expanded rapidly. Output rose to thirty-six engines in 1878 and fifty-four in 1879, before reaching 202 units in 1880 and 380 in 1881. The growing demand required additional machinery and further enlargement of the factory, while providing the engineering staff with invaluable practical experience in the manufacture, assembly, and operation of internal-combustion engines.
At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878, the company presented an extensive range of industrial machinery alongside its Otto gas engine. Its exhibits demonstrated the remarkable breadth of its manufacturing capabilities, encompassing woodworking machinery, metal-cutting equipment, and engines. The enterprise received the Grand Prix, while René Panhard was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. By this time, the former woodworking establishment had become a major industrial concern with a reputation extending well beyond France.
Although the manufacture of Otto engines under the original licensing arrangements came to an end in the early 1880s, the experience gained during these years proved of lasting importance. The company had developed the manufacturing expertise, technical knowledge, and industrial organization required to enter the rapidly evolving field of internal-combustion engineering. Its future would no longer be confined to saws, machine tools, and stationary engines.
The Birth of Panhard & Levassor
By the middle of the 1880s, Jean-Louis Périn had largely withdrawn from the daily management of the factory, leaving its direction increasingly in the hands of his younger associates. He died on 6 August 1886 at Saint-Maur, at the age of seventy. During a career extending over four decades, he had transformed a modest woodworking shop into one of the most respected mechanical engineering establishments in France. His achievements provided the industrial foundation upon which the later success of Panhard & Levassor would be built.
Following Périn's death, René Panhard and Émile Levassor reorganized the enterprise and acquired the remaining interests of its founder's heirs. In October 1886, the company formally adopted the name Panhard & Levassor. Although the new designation marked the beginning of a distinct chapter in its history, the business itself was already a mature and successful industrial establishment, equipped with modern workshops, an experienced workforce, substantial manufacturing resources, and a well-established commercial reputation.
The significance of this industrial inheritance cannot be overstated. Unlike many early experiments in motorized transport, which originated in small workshops or the efforts of individual inventors, the future automobile manufacturer possessed the resources and technical discipline of an established engineering company. Its experience extended from precision machine tools and metalworking to the increasingly demanding manufacture of internal-combustion engines. Moreover, the professional relationships developed by its directors connected the firm with some of the most important figures in European mechanical engineering, including Gottlieb Daimler and the manufacturers of German gas engines.
Thus, when the possibility of applying a compact internal-combustion engine to road transportation began to attract serious attention, Panhard & Levassor was exceptionally well positioned to explore the new technology. The foundations had already been laid by Jean-Louis Périn's mechanical innovations, René Panhard's industrial leadership, and Émile Levassor's engineering expertise.
Towards the Automobile Era
The decisive transition towards automobile manufacturing occurred during the closing years of the 1880s, when Émile Levassor renewed his professional connections with Gottlieb Daimler through Édouard Sarazin and, subsequently, Sarazin's widow Louise. The lightweight petrol engines developed by Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach opened new possibilities for mechanical road transportation, and Levassor recognized that they could provide the basis for an entirely new industrial activity.
The company's early automobile experiments led to the development of practical petrol-powered vehicles and, in 1891, to the beginning of commercial production. Panhard & Levassor became one of the first manufacturers to establish a sustained programme of automobile production, introducing mechanical arrangements that would exert a lasting influence on the development of the modern motorcar. The front-mounted engine, mechanical transmission, and rear-wheel-drive layout associated with the Système Panhard became fundamental features of automobile construction for generations.
The appearance of the automobile did not, however, mark the end of the firm's technological evolution. During the following years, its engineers continued to improve engines, transmissions, steering systems, and chassis construction, while the growing popularity of motor racing offered new opportunities to demonstrate the reliability and performance of their machines.
Another important figure would enter the company's history at the close of the century: Arthur Krebs (1850–1935), an accomplished engineer whose achievements extended across several fields of mechanical technology. Following the death of Émile Levassor in 1897, Krebs assumed the technical direction of Panhard & Levassor and played a major role in the company's subsequent development. His work would help guide the enterprise through a period of rapid technological change, from the experimental motorcars of the pioneering era towards increasingly sophisticated automobiles of the early twentieth century.
These three engineers represented successive stages in the development of the company. Panhard provided industrial leadership and continuity, Levassor played a decisive role in the introduction and refinement of the petrol automobile, and Krebs directed important technical developments during the following two decades. Together, their contributions established Panhard & Levassor as one of the most influential names in the formative history of the motorcar.
The emergence of Panhard & Levassor as an automobile manufacturer was therefore the culmination of a much longer industrial history. What began with the practical ingenuity of a Parisian woodworking craftsman gradually developed into an engineering enterprise capable of transforming the possibilities of mechanical transportation. The company's later achievements in automobile design, industrial production, and motor racing would build upon the foundations established during these formative decades.
The pioneering history of Panhard & Levassor, its automobiles, engineering achievements, and participation in the great motor races of the early motoring era are explored in greater detail in Vladimir Vershinin's illustrated historical monograph, Panhard & Levassor: The First Automobile Era, available in the Books section of BrassCarEra.