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. 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. (despite an average speed of and taking the 31,500 franc prize). also on a Peugeot; they proved insufficiently durable. After placing 19th in the 1902 Paris-Vienna Rally with a racer, and failing to finish with two similar cars, Peugeot quit racing. A more famous name,
Ettore Bugatti, designed the new four-cylinder
Bébé of 1912. It proved faster than other cars of its time, and Boillot won the 1912 French Grand Prix at an average of , 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 , recording straightaway speeds of . 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 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, Peugeot was more fortunate in 1915, winning at the French GP and
Vanderbilt Cup. 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 on it, yet Boillot won with an impressive drive (the best of his career) New for 1929 was the
Peugeot 201, the cheapest car on the French market, 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 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.
After World War II In 1946, 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. 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. coupé 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. In October 2013, Peugeot closed its production plant at
Aulnay-sous-Bois as part of a
restructuring plan to reduce overcapacity in the face of a shrinking domestic market. By December 2013, Chinese investors were rumoured to be potential investors. In February 2014, the Peugeot family agreed to give up control of the company by reducing its holdings from 25% to 14%. As part of this agreement,
Dongfeng Motors and the French government were each to buy 14% stakes in the company, creating three partners with equal voting rights. The board of directors was to be composed of six independent members, two representatives of each Dongfeng, the French state and the Peugeot family, and two members representing employees and employees shareholders. The French government took the view the deal did not require approval by Brussels as
EU competition rules do not count public investment in a company on the same terms as a private investor as state aid. The equity participation by Dongfeng expanded an already budding relationship with Peugeot. The pair at the time were jointly operating three car-manufacturing plants in China, with a capacity of producing 750,000 vehicles a year. In July 2014, the joint venture,
Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën, disclosed it was building a fourth factory in China in
Chengdu, in
Sichuan Province, targeting the manufacture of 300,000
sport-utility and multipurpose vehicles a year, starting towards the end of 2016. In January 2015, Indian multinational automotive giant
Mahindra & Mahindra purchased a major stake of 51% of Peugeot Motocycles for a price of 28 million euro. In 2015, the Spanish
National Commission on Markets and Competition fined Peugeot España, S.A. with over 15 million euros because it operated a
cartel with other car builders and sellers controlling 91% of the Spanish market between 2006 and 2013. They shared information about sales and repairs anti-competitively. In 2020, it was announced that a merger of
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and PSA is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2021. The combined company will be called
Stellantis. The merger was confirmed on 4 January 2021, after an overwhelming vote of shareholders from both companies and the deal officially closed on 16 January 2021. == List of CEOs ==