Although the passenger car was already its main subject, the weekly then covered news on a variety of rolling, flying and navigating machines.
Its audience, made up of users and professionals from the outset, expanded considerably from the 1950s thanks to the widespread use of private cars and the development of motorized vehicles.
To meet the new expectations of the general public readership, L'argus reoriented its content from the mid-1980s: from an opinion newspaper, it gradually transformed into a practical useful magazine centered on the problem of purchasing and vehicle sales.
[2] Since 2007, the newspaper has further distinguished its two types of readership: the version published for individuals, sold on newsstands, is also available accompanied by supplements dedicated to professionals, by subscription.
The launch was financed by Ernest Loste (1874-1944), a friend who achieved success in the automobile trade by becoming Fiat general agent for France in 1904 and the brand's first French importer.
Its title also reveals its ambition to be the rigorous “reporter” of their news: the term “argus” refers to the giant of Greek mythology Argos Panoptes who had a hundred eyes.
In order to defend their interests, he fought for the adoption of policies favoring the development of the automobile, taking public authorities as the main target.
In addition, he believed that “cars are needed at all prices”[4] (1929) and campaigned from the outset to make them a good accessible to all social categories.
These average prices (passenger cars, industrial vehicles and two-wheelers) were first provided by the Bureau Veritas organization until 1931, before being developed internally and taking the name "official rating of L'Argus".
Printed in a few thousand copies, the title gradually established itself during the 1930s, retaining its content and form, until the Second World War disrupted the life of the newspaper.
It must also take into account certain developments in demand, such as the valuation of gas-producing vehicles, sought after due to the gasoline shortage, or the impact of government regulations.
The reconstruction then made it possible to bring France into a period of great economic growth, the Trente Glorieuses[7] (1945-1973), during which the country discovered the consumption of mass.
Jacques Loste is mainly concerned with taxation and notably campaigned against the vignette introduced in 1956 and the increase in VAT on automobiles in 1969.
In 1984, 1996 and 2004, it reorganized its content into full-page sections and lightened its presentation by adopting more and more color and illustrations, the newspaper also having changed its format for the first time in 1984 (285 x 410 mm ).
This period of the 1980s was also marked by the rise of Information and communications technology (NICT) which pushed the press to reinvent itself in order to survive.
Since 1985, the Minitel's functionalities have made it possible to develop the Argus rating, which improves over time to allow the average price to be adjusted according to the characteristics specific to each vehicle (age to the nearest month, number of kilometers, optional equipment, etc.).
Until the beginning of the 2000s, the telematics service recorded a growing number of connections, without overshadowing the paper format: it was during the decade following its opening that the weekly experienced its largest circulations (sometimes more than 200,000 copies).
The division of the newspaper is also accompanied by a notable evolution of the form: the model is modernized, the format narrowed (230 x 297 mm) and the number of pages increases significantly.
For the general public edition, alongside news from the automotive world, the content focuses on the problem of buying/selling a car thanks to the study of models (comparisons, tests, new products), to the sections relating budget and advice for a successful transaction.
In 2010,[12] the journal definitively adopted its current name: L'argus, a name that the French Academy had recognized in 1992, during the publication of the first volume of the ninth edition of its dictionary.
Minitel Argus has no longer existed since June 30, 2012, due to the widespread closure of the telematics service by France Telecom.