 Matra had been involved in car manufacturing since the acquisition of Automobiles René Bonnet in 1963.The first road car to be sold under the Matra marque was the Renault-powered Matra Djet (pronounced "jet"), which was an update of the Bonnet Jet; the Djet was subsequently replaced with the Matra 530, Bagheera, the Murena and the Rancho, an early type of sport utility vehicle (SUV).At its peak, Matra Automobiles was manufacturing 60,000 vehicles per year at its automobile plant in Romorantin-Lanthenay.