Latil was a French automaker specializing in heavy duty vehicles, such as trucks, tractors and buses, from 1898 to 1955. In 1897, Auguste Joseph Frederic Georges Latil patented a system of "broken transmission", allowing the steerable wheels to be also the driving wheels (front-wheel drive). In 1898 La societe Korn et Latil was founded by the engineer Georges Latil and the mechanic Alois Korn in Marseille. They invented a system that could easily replace the steering axle part of horse towed wagons by a fully motorised part. In 1903 the firm moved to Levallois-Perret, changed the name to "Avant-train Latil" and had great success transforming all kinds of horse powered wagons. 1908, Charles Blum joined the company. The company becomes "Compagnie Francaise de Mecanique et d'Automobile - Avant-Train Latil" and begins to build trucks of 3 tons loading capacity.
