[1] He joined with Gustave Gobron to create the Société des Moteurs Gobron-Brillié and to develop an opposed-piston engine he had invented.
It participated in the Paris–Madrid race of 1903, and set speed records, including that of being the first car to exceed 160 km/h (100 mph).
He created the automobile company Eugène Brillié and had cars of his design built by the workshops of Schneider & Cie at Le Havre (former Forge Artillery Workshops and Chantiers de la Méditerranée, bought by Schneider in 1897).
[4] In Belgium, Leon and Maurice Nagant of Liège made some Gobron-Brillie products under licence.
During the First World War, a meeting between Colonel Estienne and Brillié led to the development of a tank project in December 1915.