What was the first car to NOT have a manual transmission as an option?

[Sandy G]

VAT killed a very thriving industry-the luxury car industry in France. VAT wasn't entirely responsible, but B4 the war, they had a luxury car industry that was second to none in the world. Delages, Delahayes, Bugattis-The REAL ones, not today's over-wrought Volkswagens, Panhard & Levassors, & several others were the pride of La Belle France. They re-vamped their income tax system after the war, & it assumed that if you owned a car that cost a lot of Francs-you were taxed accordingly. That is at least partly wht today, you have NO French equivalents of Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, BMW, or Porsche/Audi. You just KNOW, what with all the bother Ze French have had w/those dirty Boeschts in the last century, the fact there are no luxury cars regarded as "World Class" sporting the Tricolor MUST cheese a few of 'em off greatly...