The AG model was built at the behest of Louis Renault from 1905 and used as a public service car (fiacre) for the city of Paris. The car had a free/busy flag and above all was equipped with a taximeter, from which the name ‘taxi’ derived. The taxi became a popular means of transport in the ville lumière, the most motorised city in the world at the time, and by 1914 there were around 10,000 taxis on the roads, of which 8,500 were the AG model.