Peugeot Celebrates its 200th Anniversary

200 years ago, two Peugeot brothers, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frédéric, established the Peugeot company with the creation of ‘la société Peugeot-Frères et Jacques Maillard-Salins’. The company was set up after the brothers had converted their father’s corn mill into a steel mill to make the most of the industrial revolution which was gathering pace.

Since then, Peugeot has been associated with saws, tools, steel crinoline stays, salt and pepper mills, coffee grinders, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, cars and vans. Each of these diverse products is founded on those early origins in steel while bearing Peugeot’s hallmark of modernity and innovation.

As early as 1858, Peugeot adopted the lion as the universal emblem of its saws and ancillary tools. The choice of the lion was made to illustrate the strength of the teeth, the suppleness of the blade and the rapidity of cut. Since then the Marque’s emblem has been represented in a variety of ways, right up to the brand new 2010 two-tone version featured for the first time on the RCZ Sports Coupé.

Throughout its 200 years, Peugeot has developed a unique long-term vision, enabling it to anticipate underlying trends, keep abreast of the times to adapt and accept new challenges. This vision led Peugeot to successfully produce bicycles and motorcycles from 1886, and then in 1891 the motor car.

From the first petrol-powered four-wheeler codenamed the Type 2, to its more recent products, Peugeot draws its strength from its industrial roots in the east of France allied to a pioneering spirit. That spirit led Peugeot to create the 403, the first mass-produced diesel powered saloon; to launch the 205, a true icon thanks to its many versions and sporting victories; to introduce the particulate filter as a world first on the 607; to drive an HDi FAP engine to victory at Le Mans and to create the BB1, the urban crossover between the car and the scooter.

By continually nurturing its engineering, human and industrial development, Peugeot has grown from an annual production rate numbered in dozens to a present day average daily production of several thousand units across 18 families of cars and light commercial vehicles.

Expansion started after the First World War, as demand for more and more varied cars grew and in 1929 Peugeot instigated the numeric identification system that is still in use today. The 201, named purely because it was the engineering department’s 201st project, was the first car to carry a number and this evolved to become the three-digit naming system. The first digit indicates which family the vehicle belongs to and the third number indicates the model’s generation. The second number, the 0, is the link between them.

Since then, the 2-series and 4-series are the only ranges that have continued this system without interruption. More than 26 million of these cars have been sold, representing nearly half of the Marque’s total sales.

In 2000, letters were added to the three numbers to designate specific body shapes; CC for Coupé Cabriolet, SW for the family/leisure body shape. In 2004, 75 years after the 201, Peugeot added a four-digit moniker to depict models that were not part of the original range, starting with the 1007.

During its 200 years in existence, Peugeot innovations gave us the independent suspension, the coupé cabriolet and turbo charged diesel engine.

At the beginning of 2010 Peugeot reinvented itself, presenting a new Marque plan and making clear its ambitions for 2015: to climb three places in the world ranking of car manufacturers; to make Peugeot the benchmark in terms of style and to become the leader in mobility services.

To reach these objectives, Peugeot can rely on an ambitious product strategy with no fewer than 14 new models scheduled to appear between 2010 and 2012, new style lines illustrated to perfection by the SR1 concept car, new mobility offers and also a new visual identity with a more modern, two-tone Lion and a new international signature: Peugeot, MOTION & EMOTION.

A global manufacturer with 55 million vehicles to its name, unique in its ability to propose an offer of global mobility, Peugeot has the strengths to face the future with confidence and rise to the challenge of creating ever greater harmony between the motor car and its environment.

Credits: wilswong