In 1905 Richard had a meeting with the entrepreneur-financier Baron Henri de Rothschild and obtained funding for the creation of the "société anonyme des automobiles Unic", based at Puteaux.

[2] The objective was to manufacture "unique" (rather than mainstream) vehicles, and at the start the company made only light cars and taxis with two-cylinder and four-cylinder engines.

Although the manufacturer's initial range was restricted to light cars, their popularity as taxis led to the production of delivery vans and other small utility style vehicles.

In 1922 the firm introduced a three-ton truck, called the Unic MSC, which marked the start of a switch towards production of larger commercial vehicles.

1922 was also the year when the founder of Unic, Georges Richard, died while awaiting transfer to a Paris clinic, following a motor accident en route to Rouen.

This was an evolution of the two-litre model exhibited in 1924, now branded as the Unic "Type L9", with a 3,150 mm (124.0 in) wheelbase and usually fitted with "Torpedo" or "Berline" (saloon/sedan) bodies.

[6] In addition to this passenger car, Unic continued to produce through 1934 a similarly sized taxi of "great robustness".

The Unic Type U4D was a four-cylinder 2,150 (12CV) car which featured overhead valves and offered a maximum output of 55 hp (41 kW), supported by a robust, rather traditional chassis with a 3,160 mm (124.4 in) wheelbase.

In 1975 a holding company named IVECO was established covering truck and bus brands such as Fiat, OM, Lancia, UNIC and Magirus.