The Panhard PL17 was a car designed and built by the French manufacturer Panhard et Levassor from 1959 to 1965. The 17 was a Panhard Dyna Z which was modified for be in its time, the PL17 had a less rounded shape than the Dyna Z.
Panhard was the first society in the world to do wind tunnel tests to their car, they began to do that with the Dynavia, the prototype of the Dyna Z, the utility of those tests was to reduce the consomation of the car, the Dyna Z consommed 6L for 100km traveled.
The PL17 was the first car serie after the Pons' plan, (the automobile plan which destructed a great part of the French automobile heritage) which banned Panhard to build cars, to be build with a steel body, the others were built with aluminium.
In the early 60s, Panhard et Levassor known a great shortfall and in 1965, the society was bought by Citröen, for a lot of people Citröen was the saviour of Panhard but it just stabbed Panhard in the back, the production of one of the most beautiful car of the 60s, the PL17 was stopped, leaving it as the last saloon from Panhard et Levasseur, the production of the PL24 was stopped in 1967 before it could have a saloon or a cabriolet variant. The PL17 and the PL24 were replaced on the production line of the factory of Porte d'Ivry by the Citröen 2CV Fourgonnette (Post-van) in 1967.