The EBR is an 8x8 wheeled reconnaissance vehicle based on the previous Panhard AM 40 P/Model 201, a light armored car born before the Second World War, but remained only at prototype level.

Other innovations included new anti-bullet Michelin tyres and Veil-Picard tubes, which feature a series of nitrogen-filled cells, enabling them to absorb bullet hits and not go flat.

[3] The EBR had a crew of four, two drivers (front and rear) and a gunner and a commander, both seating in the oscillating turret,[4] and was powered by a 200 hp (150 kW) 6 liter[3] 12HD horizontally opposed air-cooled 12-cylinder engine (with dual carburetors and 6.6:1 compression, enabling it to run on low-octane petrol).

Nicknamed sauterelle (English: grasshopper), these EBRs had their SA 50 guns deactivated and their ammunition racks removed to free up space to fit a chart table and long range radios.

[5] Some EBR model 1954 were bought by the Federal Republic of Germany, Indonesia and Portugal (78 units), the latter were subsequently involved in the Portuguese Colonial War.

French tactical doctrine required reconnaissance elements to cover and range over a large and extensive battlefield, especially within the context of the slow and high-maintenance tanks of the time.

[6] In 1974, during the Carnation Revolution, EBR 75 FL10 cars of the Armed Forces Movement confronted M47 Patton tanks of loyalist troops in the Praça do Comércio.

[6] Aside from Portugal and a few newly emerging Francophone states in North Africa, the only export sales of the EBR were a few small quantities produced for the Indonesian Army and the West German Bundesgrenzschutz.