Like many of his cycle industry contemporaries, Charles Terrot turned to powered transport towards the end of the 19th century, and by the early 1900s his Dijon factory was making not only bicycles but also motorcycles, quadracycles and voiturettes. Previously a user of Givaudin, Dufaux, Zédel and British-built J.A.P. engines, Terrot began producing its own power units in the mid-1920s and by decade's end had become France's largest manufacturer of motorcycles. The company continued to offer a diverse range of machines in all sizes throughout the 1930s, garnering many competition successes along the way, but after WWII concentrated mainly on lightweights, including scooters. The firm was taken over by rivals Peugeot in 1961 and the once-famous name disappeared soon after.