The first automobile show in the world was held in Paris in 1898 in the Tuilleries Gardens. Merely a handful of the innovative "automobiles" were exhibited at the outside location. To prove the strength of this new type of transportation, exhibitors have to drive their automobiles from Versailles to Paris.

While he opened this first Paris Motor Show, the President of France was frankly skeptical regarding automobile and punctuated his opinion when he left the car show in a horse-drawn carriage.

By 1922, several existing automobile makers had been available at the Paris Motor Show, truly then referred to as the Salon de l'Auto by those fluent in French. Peugeot, Renault and Citroën showed off their new models, as did lesser recognized (and today extinct) makes including Unio. Citroën, anticipating women using cars, displayed the "5 CV," that was geared towards use by them.

From 1939 to 1946, the Paris auto show went on break due to World War II. Finally, in the 1948 show, some fully new models debuted, with the iconic Citroën 2CV, an economy vehicle whose style seemed inspired by an lobster. The mid-'50s saw the debut of the Peugeot 403, the very first volume-produced diesel automobile from France, along with the Austin-Healy "bug eye" Sprite.

In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, the Paris Motor Show delighted viewers with the introductions of the Porsche 911, Plymouth Barracuda, VW Golf (Rabbit in the U.S.). In 1976 the choice was made to create the Paris auto show a biannual event, alternating with the Frankfurt show in Germany. In 1988 the Paris Motor Show altered its official name from Salon de l'Auto to Mondial de l'Automobile. Being the initial auto show ever organized, the Paris auto show holds a special place in vehicle maker's hearts, and as a result numerous world debuts happen there. In much more recent years, a lot of extraordinary cars have been shown for the first time in Paris, including Porsche's 605-horsepower Carrera GT supercar, Bentley's Continental GT and Ferrari's $670,000 Enzo.