Peugeot is a large French carmaker established in 1810 by the Peugeot family as a coffee mill company, before morphing into a car manufacturer in 1882 after Armand Peugeot met Gottlieb Daimler (cofounder of Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler-Benz) and became convinced of the viability of the motor car as a form of transport. It is currently part of the PSA Peugeot Citroen group, and is headquartered in Sochaux, France.
Peugeot is known for naming most of its cars in a specific format using 3 numerals, of which the middle one is always a zero. They ran out of numbers after reaching 90x, and the current format is 4 numerals, with the middle 2 being zeros. This will ensure the new models are not confused with the old ones, e.g. 306 and 3006. This also once caused friction when Porsche named one of their cars the 907. Peugeot is also the first company to build a convertible car with a retractable hardtop- the 1934 Peugeot 402 BL Eclipse Decapotable. As expected, this caused considerable excitement at the time. The company is also known for its 504 series, which was first produced in the 60’s and won the 1969 European Car of the Year award. The sedan especially, continued being sold in many developing countries well into the 1990’s despite its outdated looks and technology. This was due to the car’s rugged reliability and cheap parts. Other winners of the award are the 405 in 1988 and the 307 in 2002.
Peugeot’s New Zealand offerings start with the 207, a stylish small hatchback that’s a direct descendant of the famous ‘Pug’, the 205. Next up is the 308, a larger hatchback, and then the 407, a midsize sedan with distinctive styling. The 607 is a larger semi-luxury sedan, and the range is rounded off by the 4007, Peugeot’s first stab at an SUV.
Looking at buying a Peugeot? Check the vehicle history of any Peugeot by entering its number plate in the field above.