Peugeot (, ; ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis.
Peugeot was founded as a family business in 1810 and Automobiles Peugeot was created in 1896, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applied for the lion trademark. Armand Peugeot (1849–1915) built the company's first vehicle, a steam-powered tricycle. In 1886, the company collaborated with Léon Serpollet, followed by the development of an internal combustion car in 1890, which used a Panhard-Daimler engine.
The Peugeot family and company are originally from Sochaux, where Peugeot still operates a large manufacturing facility and the Peugeot Museum.
Peugeot vehicles have received numerous international accolades, including six European Car of the Year awards. The brand also boasts over a century of success in motorsport, with victories including the Indianapolis 500 in 1913, 1916, and 1919. Peugeot Sport has won the World Rally Championship five times (1985, 1986, 2000, 2001, 2002), the Dakar Rally seven times (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2016, 2017, 2018), the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times (1992, 1993, 2009), the World Endurance Championship twice (1992, 1993), the Intercontinental Rally Challenge Championship three times, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup twice (2010, 2011), and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb three times (1988, 1989, 2013).
History 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.Georgano, p.22. 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.Darke, p.1683. 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 carDarke, p.1684. The Panhards were disqualified for being two-seaters. Georgano, p.22. (despite an average speed of Georgano, p.20. and taking the 31,500 franc prize). This also marked the debut of Michelin pneumatic tyres in racing,Darke, p.1684. 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 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 racer.
At the 1901 Paris Salon, Peugeot debuted a tiny shaft-driven one-cylinder, dubbed "Bébé" ("baby"), and shed its conservative image, becoming a style leader.Darke, p.1685. After placing 19th in the 1902 Paris-Vienna Rally with a racer, and failing to finish with two similar cars, Peugeot quit racing.
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 Bébé, a four-seater, and an and 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 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.Darke, p.1686.
A more famous name, Ettore Bugatti, designed the new 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.Darke, p.1686 & 1688. 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.Darke, p.1688. In May 1913, Goux took one to Indianapolis, and won at an average of , recording straightaway speeds of . 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 , and Duray placed second (beaten by ex-Peugeot ace René Thomas in a Delage).Darke, p.1689. 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, 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 lap in practice at Indy in 1949, yet it failed to qualify.)Darke, p.1690. 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.Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot. The exhibit label (2012) states: «Le site industriel de Sochaux fut créé en 1912 pour la production des poids lourds. Des différents types de camion Peugeot produits de 1913 à 1918 celui-ci fut les plus utilise par l’armée française. Au total 6,000 camions Peugeot ravitaillèrent le front de Verdun pendant la 1ère guerre mondiale. Le camion Type 1525 fut produit en 4,084 exemplaires de 1917 à 1920. Moteur 4 cylindres 4,712 cm3, puissance 22 ch., boite de vitesses a 4 rapports, transmission par arbre, roues en acier coule, jumelée à l’arrière, avec bandage caoutchoucs plein, charge utile 4,000 kg. Vitesse max 30 km/h». ("The Sochaux industrial site was created in 1912 for the production of heavy goods vehicles. Of the various types of Peugeot trucks produced from 1913 to 1918, this one was the most widely used by the French army. A total of 6,000 Peugeot trucks supplied the Verdun front during the First World War. The Type 1525 truck was produced in 4,084 units from 1917 to 1920. 4-cylinder 4,712 cm3 engine, 22 hp, 4-speed gearbox, shaft drive, cast steel wheels, twin at the rear, with solid rubber tires, payload 4,000 kg. Max speed 30 km/h.") 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) 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 and fours, the larger based on the Type 153, and a 6-liter 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. Peugeot Sochaux production (units): 1930 43,303 1931 33,322 1932 28,317