In the early 1910s, after some French government-sponsored trials of new traction systems, a retired French militaryman surnamed DePort, which was the technical advisor of a metallurgical company called Compagnie des Forges de Châtillon-Commentry, decided to develop a new all-wheel drive vehicle.

He partnered with the automotive company Société des Anciens Établissements Panhard et Levassor through its then manager Arthur Krebs[1][3] The new vehicle manufactured by Panhard et Levassor, the Tracteur Panhard-Châtillon (or Châtillon-Panhard), was tested by a French government commission for the first time in 1911.

[5] The Panhard-Châtillons were the only hauling transports used by France for its artillery units that were not horse-drawn at the First Battle of the Marne.

Some Panhard K13s were still in French Army service, mostly as gun-carriers for the 75 mm gun during the 1940 Battle of France.

[1][7] At the early tests, it used a 6.6-litre inline-six engine which delivered 45 metric horsepower (33 kW) at about 1,000 rpm.