About the marque
- Founded
- 1894 – 1901
- Headquarters
- Lyon, France
Maurice Audibert and Émile Lavirotte began constructing automobiles to order in Lyon in 1894 and formalized their company in 1896, making it the city's first sustained customer automobile producer. Initial rear-engine vehicles resembled Benz practice, but the workshop expanded into two- and four-cylinder cars and displayed five vehicles at the 1898 Tuileries exhibition. Production remained artisanal at approximately 150 vehicles in total. Financial pressure ended the enterprise in 1901 or 1902; Berliet acquired its facilities, while Lavirotte joined Berliet and Audibert moved to Rochet-Schneider.
Text adapted from “Audibert & Lavirotte” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗