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The story
Founded by Armand Peugeot on Sep 26, 1810.1
Early manufacturing
The Peugeot family of Valentigney, Montbéliard, Franche-Comté, France, began in the manufacturing business in 1810 with a steel foundry, which quickly started manufacturing saws; then other hand tools and, circa 1840 to 1842, coffee grinders; in the 1850s, the company introduced waist corsets made with light steel blades; then, in 1874, pepper grinders; and then, circa 1880, bicycles. The company's entry into the vehicle market was by means of stiff, structured petticoats or crinoline dresses, which used steel rods, leading to umbrella frames, chisels, wire wheels, and bicycles. Armand Peugeot introduced his "Le Grand Bi" penny-farthing in 1882, along with a range of other bicycles.
The company's logo, initially a lion walking on an arrow, symbolized the speed, strength, and flexibility of the Peugeot saw blades. The car and motorcycle company and the bicycle company parted ways in 1926, but the family-owned Cycles Peugeot continued to build bicycles throughout the 20th century until the brand name was sold off to unrelated firms. The family-owned firm Peugeot Saveurs continues to make and market grinders and other kitchen and table-service equipment.
Early motor vehicles
Armand Peugeot became interested in the automobile early on and, after meeting with Gottlieb Daimler and others were convinced of its viability. The first Peugeot automobile, a three-wheeled, steam-powered car designed by Léon Serpollet, was produced in 1889; only four examples were made. Steam power was heavy and bulky and required lengthy warm-up times. In 1890, after meeting Daimler and Émile Levassor, steam was abandoned in favour of a four-wheeled car with a petrol-fuelled internal combustion engine built by Panhard under Daimler licence. The car was more sophisticated than many of its contemporaries, with a three-point suspension and a sliding-gear transmission. An example was sold to the young Alberto Santos-Dumont, who exported it to Brazil.
More cars followed, 29 being built in 1892, 40 in 1894, 72 in 1895, 156 in 1898, and 300 in 1899. These early models were given "type" numbers. Peugeot became the first manufacturer to fit rubber tyres (solid, rather than pneumatic) to a petrol-powered car. Due to family discord, Armand Peugeot founded the Société des Automobiles Peugeot, in 1896, but in 1910 it was merged back with the family's Peugeot bicycle and motorcycle business.
Peugeot was an early pioneer in motor racing, with Albert Lemaître winning the world's first motor race, the Paris–Rouen, in a 3 hp Peugeot. Five Peugeots qualified for the main event, and all finished. Lemaître finished 3 min 30 sec behind the Comte de Dion whose steam-powered car was ineligible for the official competition. Three Peugeots were entered in the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, where they were beaten by Panhard's car (despite an average speed of 20.8 km/h (12.9 mph) and taking the 31,500 franc prize). This also marked the debut of Michelin pneumatic tyres in racing, also on a Peugeot; they proved insufficiently durable. Nevertheless, the vehicles were still very much horseless carriages in appearance and were steered by a tiller.
In 1896, the first Peugeot engines were built; no longer were they reliant on Daimler. Designed by Rigoulot, the first engine was an 8 hp (6.0 kW) horizontal twin fitted to the back of the Type 15. It also served as the basis of a nearly exact copy produced by Rochet-Schneider. Further improvements followed: the engine moved to the front on the Type 48 and was soon under a bonnet at the front of the car, instead of hidden underneath; the steering wheel was adopted on the Type 36, and they began to look more like the modern car.
Also in 1896, Armand Peugeot broke away from Les Fils de Peugeot Frères to form his own company, Société Anonyme des Automobiles Peugeot, building a new factory at Audincourt to focus entirely on cars. In 1899, sales hit 300; total car sales for all of France that year were 1,200. The same year, Lemaître won the Nice-Castellane-Nice Rally in a special 5,850 cc (357 cu in) 20 hp (14.9 kW) racer.
At the 1901 Paris Salon, Peugeot debuted a tiny shaft-driven 652 cc (40 cu in) 5 hp (3.7 kW) one-cylinder, dubbed "Bébé" ("baby"), and shed its conservative image, becoming a style leader. After placing 19th in the 1902 Paris-Vienna Rally with a 50 hp (37.3 kW) 11,322 cc (691 cu in) racer, and failing to finish with two similar cars, Peugeot quit racing.
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In 1898, Peugeot Motocycles presents at the Paris Motorshow the first motorcycle equipped with a Dion-Bouton motor. Peugeot Motocycles remains the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.
Peugeot added motorcycles to its range in 1901, and they have been built under the Peugeot name ever since. By 1903, Peugeot produced half of the cars built in France, and they offered the 5 hp (4 kW) Bébé, a 6.5 hp (4.8 kW) four-seater, and an 8 hp (6.0 kW) and 12 hp (8.9 kW) resembling contemporary Mercedes models.
The 1907 salon showed Peugeot's first six-cylinder and marked Tony Huber joining as an engine builder. By 1910, Peugeot's product line included a 1,149 cc (70 cu in) two-cylinder and six four-cylinders, of between two and six liters. In addition, a new factory opened the same year at Sochaux, which became the main plant in 1928.
A more famous name, Ettore Bugatti, designed the new 850 cc (52 cu in) four-cylinder Bébé of 1912. The same year, Peugeot returned to racing with a team of three driver-engineers (a breed typical of the pioneer period, exemplified by Enzo Ferrari among others): Jules Goux (graduate of Arts et Metiers, Paris), Paolo Zuccarelli (formerly of Hispano-Suiza), and Georges Boillot (collectively called Les Charlatans), with 26-year-old Swiss engineer Ernest Henry to make their ideas reality. The company decided voiturette (light car) racing was not enough, and chose to try grandes épreuves (grand touring). They did so with an engineering tour de force: a dual overhead camshaft (DOHC) 7.6-liter four-cylinder (110x200 mm) with four valves per cylinder. It proved faster than other cars of its time, and Boillot won the 1912 French Grand Prix at an average of 68.45 mph (110.2 km/h), despite losing third gear and taking a 20-minute pit stop. In May 1913, Goux took one to Indianapolis, and won at an average of 75.92 mph (122.2 km/h), recording straightaway speeds of 93.5 mph (150.5 km/h). making Peugeot the first non-American-based auto company to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 1914, Boillot's 3-liter L5 set a new Indy lap record of 99.5 mph (160.1 km/h), and Duray placed second (beaten by ex-Peugeot ace René Thomas in a 6,235 cc (380 cu in) Delage). Another (driven by Boillot's brother, André) placed in 1915; similar models won in 1916 (Dario Resta) and 1919 (Howdy Wilcox).
For the 1913 French Grand Prix, an improved L5 (with 5,655 cc (345 cu in) engine) was produced with a pioneering ballbearing crankshaft, gear-driven camshafts, and dry sump lubrication, all of which soon became standard on racing cars; Zuccarelli was killed during testing on public roads, but Boillot easily won the event, making him (and Peugeot) the race's first double winner. For the 1914 French GP, Peugeot was overmatched by Mercedes, and despite a new innovation, four-wheel brakes (against the Mercedes' rear-only), Georges proved unable to match them and the car broke down. (Surprisingly, a 1914 model turned a 103 mph (165.8 km/h) lap in practice at Indy in 1949, yet it failed to qualify.) Peugeot was more fortunate in 1915, winning at the French GP and Vanderbilt Cup.
During the First World War, Peugeot turned largely to arms production, becoming a major manufacturer of arms and military vehicles, from armoured cars and bicycles to shells. Between 1917 and 1920 the company produced 4,084 Type 1525 trucks. Peugeot also manufactured aircraft engines. The firm designed and built the Peugeot 8Aa engines, which equipped the 1,123 Voisin VIII bombers and cannon fighters used by the Aéronautique Militaire. Additionally, Peugeot was one of the major license producers of the Hispano-Suiza 8 aero engines which powered many French and British fighter aircraft during the second half of the conflict.
Interwar years
After the war, car production resumed in earnest. Racing continued as well, with Boillot entering the 1919 Targa Florio in a 2.5-liter (150-in3) car designed for an event pre-empted by World War I; the car had 200,000 km (120,000 mi) on it, yet Boillot won with an impressive drive (the best of his career) Peugeots in his hands were third in the 1925 Targa, first in the 1922 and 1925 Coppa Florios, first in the 1923 and 1925 Touring Car Grands Prix, and first at the 1926 Spa 24 Hours. Peugeot introduced a five-valve-per-cylinder, triple-overhead-cam engine for the Grand Prix, conceived by Marcel Gremillon (who had criticised the early DOHC), but the engine was a failure.
The same year, Peugeot debuted 10 hp (7.5 kW) and 14 hp (10.4 kW) fours, the larger based on the Type 153, and a 6-liter 25 hp (19 kW) sleeve valve six, as well as a new cyclecar, La Quadrilette.
During the 1920s, Peugeot expanded, in 1926 splitting the cycle (pedal and motor) business off to form Cycles Peugeot, the consistently profitable cycle division seeking to free itself from the rather more cyclical auto business, and taking over the defunct Bellanger and De Dion companies in 1927. In 1928, the Type 183 was introduced.
New for 1929 was the Peugeot 201, the cheapest car on the French market, and the first to use the later Peugeot trademark (and registered as such)—three digits with a central zero. The 201 would get independent front suspension in 1931, Soon afterwards, the Depression hit; Peugeot sales decreased, but the company survived. The Peugeot system of using three-digit names with a central 0 was introduced in 1929. The first digit has always signified the car's size and the final digit has indicated the generation of the vehicle.
In 1933, attempting a revival of fortune, the company unveiled a new, aerodynamically styled range. In 1934, Peugeot introduced the 402 BL Éclipse Décapotable, the first convertible with a retractable hardtop — an idea followed later by the Ford Skyliner in the 1950s and revived in the modern era by the Mitsubishi 3000GT Spyder in 1995. More recently, many manufacturers have offered retractable hardtops, including Peugeot itself with the 206-cc.
Three models of the 1930s were the Peugeot 202, Peugeot 302, and Peugeot 402. These cars had curvaceous designs, with headlights behind sloping grille bars, evidently inspired by the Chrysler Airflow. The 2.1-liter 402 entered production in 1935 and was produced until the end of 1941, despite France's occupation by the Nazis. For 1936, the new Airflow-inspired 302 (which ran until 1938) and a 402-based large model, designed by Andrean, featured a vertical fin and bumper, with the first high-mounted taillight. The entry-level 202 was built in series from 1938 to 1942, and about 20 more examples were built from existing stocks of supplies in February 1945. The 202 lifted Peugeot's sales in 1939 to 52,796, just behind Citroën. Regular production began again in mid-1946, and lasted into 1949.
During World War II
Peugeot assisted the Nazi German war effort by manufacturing armored vehicles.
While Peugeot manufactured vehicles for the Nazi war effort, management was generally more sympathetic with the French Resistance, with workers engaging in industrial sabotage and Rudolphe and Jean-Pierre Peugeot themselves granting a loan of one hundred thousand francs to Special Operations Executive agent Harry Rée. In 1943, after a July bombing raid that left 110 dead, Peugeot management at the Sochaux plant also made a deal with Rée to continue sabotage operations in order to avoid being subjected to future bombing operations by the Royal Air Force. This sabotage operation involved a team of 22 saboteurs who were never identified by the Waffen-SS tasked with security of the plant.
During World War II, Peugeot produced VLV, a two-seater electric car, in response to fuel shortages. The company built 377 examples, many of which were used by the postal service.
After World War II
In 1946, the company restarted car production with the 202, delivering 14,000 copies. In 1947, Peugeot introduced the Peugeot 203, with coil springs, rack-and-pinion steering, and hydraulic brakes. The 203 set new Peugeot sales records, remaining in production until 1960.
Peugeot took over Chenard-Walcker in 1950, having already been required to acquire a controlling interest in Automobiles Hotchkiss in 1942. A popular model introduced in 1955 was the Peugeot 403. With a 1.5-liter engine, it sold one million copies by the end of its production run in 1962.
The company began selling cars in the United States in 1958, and in 1960 introduced the Peugeot 404, which used a 1,618 cc (99 cu in) engine, tilted 45 degrees. The 404 proved rugged enough to win the East African Safari Rally four times, in 1963, 1966, 1967, and 1968.
More models followed, many styled by Pininfarina, such as the 504, one of Peugeot's most distinctive models. Like many European manufacturers, collaboration with other firms increased; Peugeot worked with Renault from 1966 and Volvo from 1972. The results of this cooperation included the development of the V6 PRV engine, which was first manufactured in 1974.
Several Peugeot models were assembled in Australia, commencing with the 203 in 1953. These were followed by 403, 404 and 504 models with Australian assembly ending with the 505 in the early 1980s.
Takeover of Citroën and Chrysler Europe
In 1974, Peugeot bought a 30% share of Citroën and took over it completely in 1975 after the French government gave large sums of money to the new company. Citroën was in financial trouble because it developed too many radical new models for its financial resources. Some of them, notably the Citroën SM and the Comotor Wankel engine venture proved unprofitable. Others, the Citroën CX and Citroën GS for example, proved very successful in the marketplace.
The joint parent company became the PSA Peugeot Citroën group, which aimed to keep separate identities for both the Peugeot and Citroën brands while sharing engineering and technical resources. Peugeot thus briefly controlled the Italian Maserati marque, but disposed of it in May 1975.
The group then took over the European division of Chrysler (which were formerly Rootes and Simca) in 1978 as the American auto manufacturer struggled to survive. Soon, the whole Chrysler/Simca range was sold under the revived Talbot badge until the production of Talbot-branded passenger cars was shelved in 1987 and on commercial vehicles in 1992.
1980s and 1990s
In 1983, Peugeot launched the successful Peugeot 205 supermini, which is largely credited for turning the company's fortunes around. The 205 was regularly the bestselling car in France, and was also popular in other parts of Europe, including Britain, where sales regularly topped 50,000 a year by the late 1980s. It won plaudits for its styling, ride and handling. It remained on sale in many markets until 1998, overlapping with the introduction of the 106 in 1991, and ceasing production at the launch of the 206, the best-selling Peugeot model of all time, with 8,358,217 cars sold by 2012.
As part of the Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Company (GPAC) joint venture, the Peugeot 504 and 505 were built in China from 1985 to 1997.
By 1987, the company had dropped the Talbot brand for passenger cars when it ceased production of the Simca-based Horizon, Alpine, and Solara models, as well as the Talbot Samba supermini which was based on the Peugeot 104. What was to be called the Talbot Arizona became the Peugeot 309, with the former Rootes plant in Ryton and Simca plant in Poissy being turned over for Peugeot assembly. Producing Peugeots in Ryton was significant, as it signalled the first time Peugeots would be built in Britain. The 309 was the first Peugeot-badged hatchback of its size, and sold well across Europe. The 309's successor, the 306, was also built at Ryton.
The 405 saloon was launched in 1987 to compete with the likes of the Ford Sierra, and was voted European Car of the Year. This, too, was a popular car across Europe, and continued to be available in Africa and Asia after it was replaced by the 406 nearly a decade later. Production of the 405 in Europe was divided between Britain and France, although its 406 successor was only produced in France. The 106, Peugeot's entry-level model from 1991, was also produced solely in France.
The Talbot name survived for a little longer on commercial vehicles until 1992 before being shelved completely. As experienced by other European volume car makers, Peugeot's United States and Canadian sales faltered and finally became uneconomical, as the Peugeot 505 design aged. For a time, distribution in the Canadian market was handled by Chrysler. Several ideas to turn around sales in the United States, such as including the Peugeot 205 in its lineup, were considered but not pursued. In the early 1990s, the newly introduced 405 proved uncompetitive with domestic and import models in the same market segment, and sold less than 1,000 units. Total sales fell to 4,261 units in 1990 and 2,240 through July 1991, which caused the company to cease its U.S. and Canada operations after 33 years.
In 1997, just six years after pulling out of both United States and Canadian markets, Peugeot returned to Mexico after a 36-year absence, under the Chile–Mexico Free Trade Agreement. However, Peugeot models (1997–present) are not to be bought or imported into the United States from Mexico.
2000s to present
On 18 April 2006, PSA Peugeot Citroën announced the closure of the Ryton manufacturing facility in Coventry, England. This announcement resulted in the loss of 2,300 jobs, as well as about 5,000 jobs in the supply chain. The plant produced its last Peugeot 206 on 12 December 2006, and finally closed down in January 2007.
Peugeot set an ambitious target of selling 4 million units annually by the end of the decade. In 2008, its sales stayed below the 2 million mark. In mid-2009, "adverse market and industry conditions" were blamed for falls in sales and operating losses. Christian Streiff was replaced by Philippe Varin (CEO) and Jean-Pierre Ploué (head of design) was transferred from his post at Citroën. In 2009, Peugeot returned to the Canadian market with the scooter brand only.
Peugeot still plans on developing new models to compete in segments where it currently does not compete. Collin said that the French automaker competed in 72% of market segments in 2007, but he wanted to get that figure up to 90%. Despite Peugeot's sportscar racing program, the company is not prepared to build a pure sportscar any more hardcore than the RC Z sports-coupe. It is also pursuing government funding to develop a diesel-hybrid drivetrain, which might be key to its expansion.
By 2010, Peugeot planned on pursuing new markets, mainly in China, Russia, and South America. In 2011 it decided to re-enter India after 14 years with a new factory at Sanand, Gujarat.
Peugeot re-entered the Philippines in 2012 after having a short presence in 2005 with distribution done by the Alvarez Group.
In March 2012, General Motors purchased a 7% share in Peugeot for 320 million euros as part of a cooperation aimed at finding savings through joint purchasing and product development. In December 2013, GM sold its entire Peugeot stake, taking a loss of about 70 million euros.
From Wikipedia’s article on Peugeot, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5