Designers Édouard Joly and Jean Délémontez based the design on two of their earlier projects; they combined the wing of the projected D.10 with a lengthened and widened version of the D.9 fuselage.
In 1961, Jean Délémontez designed a two-seat light aircraft for the Société Aeronautique Normande (SAN) at Bernay in Normandy to replace his earlier Jodel D.11, which SAN (amongst other manufacturers) were building to meet a requirement for aircraft to equip flying clubs subsidised by the French government.