5. Fleet developments

The last two decades of the 19th century saw the development of the first vehicles equipped with internal-combustion engines and pneumatic tires, which could thus be called automobiles in the modern sense of the term, and the beginning of the 20th century saw the start of increasingly rapid growth in the – fleet, subject of course to the interruption caused by the two world wars.

Table 1 shows the evolution of the French car fleet since 1900.