PEUGEOT |
Peugeot - the
company's history Bibliography |
 |
The
Peugeots constitute an important family, whose generations all seem marked
by the same flair for business and enterprise. Their history begins in the
18th century, with Jean Pequignot Peugeot, who built water mills.
Gradually, the Peugeots shifted into coffee grinders (1855), then razors
for hairdressers, and sewing machines (in 1897), then roasting spits,
watch springs, clocks, garden furniture, saws, bicycles, tricycles,
gramophones(...) all available by catalogue. Towards 1815, brothers Jean-Pierre and Jean Frederic Peugeot joined forces with Jacques Maillard-Salins to operate a steelworks and saw blade factory in Sous-Cratet, in the Montbéliard region. The business was a success, and the Peugeot brothers gradually established an international reputation fro themselves.. |
| 1858 |  |
Montbéliard's gold engraver, Justin Blazer, was given the task of designing the lion trademark for steel articles fabricated in the Peugeot Brothers factories. He came up with a lion proudly striding along an arrow, symbolising the durability, suppleness and quickness of steel, like the animal itself. This trademark was registered with the Imperial Conservatory of Arts and Trade. (Conservatoire impériale des Arts et Métiers). |
| 1888 |  |
At
Beaulieu, in the Doubs, workers began to produce Peugeot cycles. An indoor poster from the time shows one of the Peugeot brothers showing their models to a small committee of bourgeois families, as if showing off his horses : "these are my stables!" |
| 1889 | 
|
The first models marked with the Lion stamp were presented at the Universal Exhibition. In view of the tremendous success these were met with, a shop was opened in Paris at number 22, then at 32 avenue de la Grande Armée. The enormous lion, their trademark, held his mighty paw over the bicycle. In fact, the Peugeot company did not dominate the world bicycle market. André Peugeot, irritated by British competition, made a press statement declaring he was proud to present a French label, hoping to stimulate patriotic feelings in potential buyers who would buy French... therefore Peugeot. During the Paris-Nantes race, 1,025 kilometres on the road, the first five winners were on Peugeot bikes : "Unprecedented Success!" A poster by Albert Guillaume immortalised this exploit, showing a crowd of gentlemen clustering around a poster announcing the latest Peugeot triumph. |
| 1889 | The Serpollet-Peugeot steam-powered tricycle was presented at the Universal Exhibition, since considered the first vehicle one could call an automobile. this vehicle is what gave rise to driving permits in Paris, and Serpollet obtained the very first of these. Next, the manufacturer came up with the gasoline powered quadricycle, which could reach 24 kilometres per hour, which he produced in association with his friend Emile Levassor (who held an exclusive contract for Gottlieb Daimler motors in France). |
| 1892 | 
|
A new company as established, manufacturing diverse articles and cycles : "Sons of Peugeot Brothers". A poster by E. Charles Lucas showed the Peugeot bicycle as a unisex vehicle : a young woman rides the bike with two girlfriends behind her. After "leisure" bicycles, Peugeot launched their "Vélocipèdes", or sports cycles, best performers in cycling races. Bicycles were seen as a rapid means of transport... and therefore of transmitting messages. Ernest Vuillemin designed a poster in which an officer on a bike hands a message over to an enlisted man on horseback. Other images illustrated how messages were transmitted in the army using this rapid means of transport.. |  |
| 1894 | The Paris -Rouen race, organised by the "Petit Journal", was won by a petrol powered Peugeot quadricycle, driven by Doriot. |
| 1896 | 
|
ARMAND PEUGEOT (1849-1915) founded the "Société Anonyme des
Automobiles Peugeot" (with family contacts and wide network of friends),
setting up his workshop and base in Audincourt, near Valentigney. His
business address was in Paris, at 83 boulevard Gouvion-Saint-Cyr (in the
17th), and he had a subsidiary firm in Marseilles. A poster designed by G
de Burgill announced the company's official opening in a surprising
manner: a couple well wrapped in coats sitting in their Peugeot car as it
roars off, leaving behind a trail of smoke which spells out the company's
name. A poster by artist L de H showed the automobile more as a luxurious vehicle for comfortable Sunday outings than as a means of transport. |
| 1897 | Peugeot gave up the Daimler two cylinder vertical engine for the Peugeot two cylinder horizontal model, which he placed in the rear of the car, thus lending the vehicle an original and hitherto unseen shape, altogether different from "hippomobiles" (till now, car bodies had always suggested something of the horse carriage in their shape). The car body now began to take on its' own characteristics. |
| 1898 | At 9 Avenue Niel in Paris, Peugeot set up a delivery car hire firm, which was an instant success. However, subsequent over-frequent reparations turned this project into a fiasco. |
| 1899 | André Peugeot reinvested his first profits to build a second workshop in the North of France, near Lille, at Fives. A distribution network was set up throughout France: Lyon, Marseilles, Nancy and Lille, all of which proposed a year's guarantee after purchase.The Peugeot Brothers produced a motorbike, so as not to drop behind in the various means of motorised transport. |
| 1900 | Peugeot's Phaeton Type 28 ran at 35 k/p/h. |
| 1901 | At the Automobile Show, the Peugeot Brothers displayed their cycle collection just a few feet away from Armand Peugeot's automobile stall. |
| 1902 | Peugeot now moved on from the prototype phase to launching new series: the double phaeton, built in Lille, equipped with a 4 cylinder engine (called a "square" or "supersquare" engine, set onto a "voiturette" or little car.) |
| 1905 | Two Peugeot stands, each under their own banner, both presented automobiles. André Peugeot's nephews proposed the "Lion". |
| 1907 | Armand Peugeot opened an exhibition hall at 30 avenue des Champs Elysées. |
| 1910 | The two Peugeot companies merged, and Peugeot brought out the Torpedo type 127, which ran at up to 70 k/p/h. |
| 1912 | In the Doubs, or more exactly at Sochaux, Peugeot inaugurated a new factory with greater production capacity. The l76 was specially designed for racing. In Dieppe, Georges Boillot won the Grand Prix for French Automobiles, with an average speed of 110,260 k/p/h. "Bébé", as Peugeot's new 6CV was baptised, created a sensation at the Auto Show that year. Its' hood, jointed windshield and speed capacity of 45 k/p/h were designed by an Italian from Milan, whose name would become world-famous : Ettore Bugatti. |
| 1913 | Behind the wheel of his Peugeot L76, Jules Goux won the Indianapolis American Grand Prix, and at Brooklands broke the world record in starting speed, reaching 170,558 k/p/h, thanks to a reinforced L76 nick-named The Torpille. |
| 1914-1918 | The Lille factory was occupied, and the others were mobilised for the war Effort : bicycles, cars, trucks, engines, tanks, aeroplane engines, bombs and shells were manufactured there in great quantities. |
| 1920 | The "Quadrilette" was produced, a new model designed at the war's end. The Peugeot Review's cover displayed various travel and leisure possibilities available through the automobile. |
| 1922 |  |
Charles Lemmel came up with a painting which brought together the brand's visual traits : over a background painted France's colours, factory chimneys were smoking, and the enormous lion astride the Peugeot arrow held a car in its' teeth. |
| 1927 | As the firm's cycle section was now operating on an autonomous basis, and its' advertising campaigns were so different from those promoting the automobile, the two companies separated again, and the Peugeot Cycles Company was founded. |
| 1928 | Jean-Pierre Peugeot invented sponsoring by becoming the president of the football club he'd just set up : the Sochaux FC. This team, known as the "Buttercups" because of their yellow t-shirts, stood up bravely to the "federal teams" imposed by Vichy. |
| 1931 | The 201 triumphed in the Monte-Carlo Rally. |
| 1934 | Peugeot launched their first aero-dynamic cars, like the six cylinder 601. |
| 1935 |  |
Press announcements presented the 601, based on a photograph retouched by Draeger, which figured a pin-up caressing a Peugeot car... "I love my Peugeot". Another poster used a photograph by Neubert, with a pin up behind the car's wheel: "The Peugeot 601 can only compare with cars cost twice as much..." |  |
| 1938 |  |
The 402 came in first at the Le Mans 24 hour race. The 202 was now put on the market, with a poster showing the car from every possible angle. the slogan was written across the silhouette of France : "you voted for it, and we built it for you : the 202 is the new car for French people!" A woman presented the car's advantages, how easy it was to use it... and the man bought it. |
| 1940-1945 | During the War, Peugeot factories were either occupied or sabotaged. |
| 1948 | The lion represented on the coat of arms for the region of Franche-Comté was used to represent the label. |
| 1952 | The two Peugeot companies merged again, under the name : "Peugeot and Company." |
| 1958 | As the colonies claimed independence, Peugeot came up with a poster to promote its' cyclomotors in Africa, showing a young couple on two wheels : "Peugeot at Africa's service!" (Peugeot is still very present on the African market). |
| 1961 | The 404's came in 1st, 3rd and 4th position in the East African Safari rally. |
| 1965 | Peugeot and Indenor merged, to form a new company called La Société des Automobiles Peugeot, whose purpose was the construction and sale of cars and spare parts, all manufactured in the Sochaux, Montbéliard, Bart, Mulhouse, Dijon, Lille, Saint-Etienne, Vesoul and La Garenne factories. |
| 1968 | The 504 triumphed in several rallies, as well as in this year's sales figures. Peugeot was now the 2nd French Automobile company. |
| 1971 | The company P.R.V. is founded (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) is founded, a Franco-Swedish motor company. |
| 1972 | The purchase of the Romilly-sur-Seine factory enabled the Peugeot cycle company to regroup manufacturing. |
| 1976 | Peugeot S.A. and Citro'n S.A. merged, and Peugeot acquired 90% of Citroën's capital. A young man behind the wheel of a 304 holds out a flower bouquet to a young girl on a motorbike " 304's are in love with life!" |
| 1977 |  |
Peugeot bought out Chrysler corporation's subsidiaries. After showing the 304 as the ideal getaway car for adventures, with hot air balloons, it was now suggested as the car to be audacious in, the car you can "dare" in, like offer a young girl on a motorbike a bouquet of flowers " 304's are in love with life!" |
| 1978 | An advertising campaign for the 104 in the form of circled personal ads appeared on the sides of buses : "Peugeot 104 seeks harmonious family life", "robust, and reliable seeks long-lasting relationship" "not afraid of household stains" "seek sports-lover for getaway weekends" … |
| 1979 | Peugeot and Talbot merged. |
| 1980 |  |
Advertising for the 104Z was based on economy : "More serious than a ... zebu." "faster than a zebra". |
| 1981 |  |
The Bazaine Agency commissioned François Merlet to make a "company image" film, basically centred on cycles (bikes, mobylettes and motorcycles). Gérard Thévenot, Europe's hang-glider champion, straddled a motorbike, attached to a hang-glider, and jumped off Beaune-La-Roche into the void... Advertising for the 305 played on the use of the prefix "extra" : "The extra-car"... showing the car as extra-ordinary and extra-terrestrial. |
| 1982 |  |
Peugeot adapted the slogan dreamt up by the Havas agency : "a car corporation gets its claws out"... to underline the advantages of the company's merger with Talbot : "Two brands for a bigger choice in French cars" |
| 1983 | 
|
To launch the 203, the tactic was to play on the car's numbers : presenting each of the figures as an "Auto Ticket" (like "lotto"), with the conclusion "what a number!". That became the car's slogan ("un sacré numéro!") Gerard Pirès's commercial showed James Bond at the wheel of a 205 GTI : a chase sequence in which an aeroplane tried to crush the car, a train, a helicopter, a "Gazelle" missile launcherÉ Bond ends up in the arms of a sublime young woman who whispers "I almost waited"É and the hero smoothly replies "Got to be careful on a slippery road". In another commercial, the 205 and its' passengers figure in a child-like garden of Eden setting, with the forbidden apple and the devil on a gasoline pump, symbolising Temptation. But, unfortunately for the devil, the 205 proves to be "an angel of economy" or "devilishly economic"... The 305 GTI was shown as an "aggressive" car "All its' claws are out" "The beast is on the loose"... | 
|
| 1985 | 
|
Peugeot won the world Rally championships with the 205 Turbo 16. After this triumph, a poster came out with the 205 painted like the Earth. Indians chase after the 205 in a comic book western setting. Another ad shows the car with a lipstick smear. The 205 denim jeans interior Cabriolet's campaign was geared to the advantages of a convertible car " Gone with the wind..." Gérard Pirès did another commercial for Haas, whereby a 205 GTI leads a race between a train and a helicopter, leaping off a cliff etc. |
| 1987 | 
|
Vatanen-Giroux won the Paris-Dakar with a 205 T16. Jean-Marie Périer did a 205 Jean Junior commercial (aimed at 18-30 years olds) with music based on Chuck berry's hit: Memphis Tennessee. Young girls look bored in the Zanzi Bar on a Camargue beach, while the boys talk motorbikes. Another boy turns up in his 205 Junior, and drives off with the girls who have totally succumbed, crammed into the back... The TV commercial was adapted for a photo campaign by Colin Wilson (the new "Blueberry" illustrator) and for the radio. During the Golf Open Tournament, Peugeot brought out a limited edition called the 205 Open "Beauty, Chic and Geared to Golf!" The 309 GTI "Pure Power" was shown in combat with a Judoka black belt. Another series of calmer posters showed the car alone, with the slogan "Always on the go!" ("toujours partante!"), above a lovely picturesque landscape : a suspended road, a forest road in Fall, winter fields, through the desert and finally the car being frustrated : a barricaded road barred with the sign "No dessert!" The car was shown alone during a sunset, with the slogan : "405, madly talented!" An indoors poster by Paul Bracq showed the brand's evolution, and the creation of Peugeot's Adventure Museum at Sochaux. | 
|
| 1988 | The 404 was crowned "Car of the Year". Peugeot won the 10th Pioneer: Paris-Algiers-Dakar. Peugeot's Adventure Museum was inaugurated. The Car of the Future : "OXIO" was presented at the International Auto Show. |
| 1989 |  |
"205 : the best way to say I love you", a furious husband at the wheel of his 205 spells out "Bitch" in the desert sand in Las Vegas, addressed to his wife, leaving above in an aeroplane. This ad was used in other countries, translated into Italian, German, English and Dutch. The 605 was presented as an "objet d'art", a sculpture: "We like to see big". |
| 1991 |  |
Peugeot pursued their implantation policy, with factories in Detroit, Torino, Wolfsburg and Munich. Director Jean-Baptiste Mondino revamped the 205 GTI image: three sexy, mean-looking ladies stop a 205 GTI, check it out, deign to get in, telling the young driver to step on it fast to ditch three bikers coming up behind. A limited edition of the 205 Lacoste was launched : "Victory right down the line." |
| 1993 |  |
For the Rolland Garros tournament, Peugeot brought out a limited edition of the 106. The 205 had become a symbol, which Peugeot played with in Costa Kekemenis' commercial. two little girls chat with a young Lord in a child-sized Rolls Royce, when another little boy pedals up in a wooden "car". He draws the magic number "205" on the car, and the little girls run off to play with him. An elegant young woman is being chauffeured in a big car, with a sticker on the rear window proclaiming "My other car is a 205 gentry", as an excuse... Photographer Buttler, for the EURO RSCG Agency, came out with a press campaign for the "106 kid, car of the 90's" : where one sees the car from behind, with the learner driver's "90" stuck on the back (now the letter A is used). Claude Lelouch was commissioned by Eurocom to do a commercial based on Francis Lai's music for his 1966 film "A Man and A Woman". A man in his car drives to the beach to meet his beloved... who, as soon as he turns up, throws herself not into his arms, but at the car, which she lovingly hugs : "Peugeot 306. The Rival." |
| 1994 | 
|
The 306 was the third best selling car in France. Euro RSCG commissioned an ad by Gérard Jugnot : one of the members in a religious sect is judged for having bought this car simply after trying it out. Gérard Pirès did another ad for RSCG, wherein famous musician Ray Charles drives a Cabriolet 306 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to the song "Georgia". Jean-Pierre Vergnes did a commercial for Euro Rscg where a physical therapist sees one of his ex-patients drive past in a Peugeot van... and instead of massaging his patient, a boxer, he maltreats him in fury. The press campaign for the 106 was based on the slogan "The first time men are crazy about their wives carsÉ" This campaign, launched by EURO RSCG, won the Association for the Promotion of Press & Magazine (re-grouping 100 titles) 10th Grand Prix. This campaign was developed along several lines : "Madame never wants to lend her 206. Yet Monsieur asks her so nicely..." and against a white background, everyday household appliances are photographed and presented as suchÉ leading one to understand it's the husband who uses them. "Yet Mister Duchemin has done everything he can to borrow his wife's 106..." There we see a variety of men's underwear of all shapes and sizes supposedly used by the husband in a vain attempt to seduce his wife. "Monsieur has tried to discuss this form every possible point of view. Madame will not lend her 106." This time, we see the car in the middle of kama-sutra images. "The 106 hold", or "React, before your 106 becomes your husband's 106" : here a series of defence and attack positions were illustrated. " When a husband starts giving his wife flowers, then it's usually because he wants to borrow her 106." Peugeot then brought out the 106 Green with the slogan : "Today women prefer to marry with a clause allowing for the division of possessions… Guess why." The 106 had become the symbol of something wives had to protect from their husband's envious impulses. |
| 1995 | 
| The
Limited Edition 106 Cherie FM was launched principally through a press
campaign : The first time men have been crazy about their wives' cars"
"Despite all of Mister Duchemin's valiant efforts to borrow his wife's
car, he has received a categorical "no"... after a series of vinyl records
in which we hear the husband's pleas to invite his wife to go on a trip
with him... ad the car. Patrice Leconte's commercial for EURO RSCG showed two men taking Tango lessons while their wives do shooting practice, to prevent thieves (their husbands) from taking the 106. Rémy Belvaux filmed a domestic break-in going wrong (the husband trying to steal his wife's car, and missing every time), another commercial showed a husband under the sheets, acting out the Squid's love dance, the giant Mussel, the caterpillar… and his wife leaves with the 106. When the husband finally finishes clowning around, he finds himself in his underwear, face to face with the maid. Publicity for the 806 used the child's point of view : appreciating the space, the comfort... the ad's slogan concludes: "The car kids recommend to their parents." This campaign used press announcements, TV and radio. In the press, the campaign was worded slightly differently : "When our parents looked at our holiday photos, they spotted loads of details they'd never noticed before..." : children in a swimming pool stare at the camera, from their swimming rings which they have shifted into position to form the car's 806. TV commercials were based on the same concept : a sick little boy is taken to the doctor, who asks him to say "thirty three" and the boy keeps repeating obstinately "806, 806", and his tummy is covered with red spots... spelling out the numbers 806. Stéphane Clavier brought a weird ambience to this theme, with repetitive music, hypnotic graphics and children controlling their parents : a tiny tot who hasn't started talking yet spells out 806 806 806 on the edge of his soup plate with alphabet pasta... or adds 806 to the shopping list, or whispers 806 into his parents ears as they sleepÉ another asks him mother innocently : "how much is 13 times 32?" And when she answers, says, "Thanks, Mummy!" as if the mother had just promised to buy the car. Rémy Babinet's commercial uses a crash test in the Peugeot factories... where wooden dummies, instead of smashing into the wall, slam on the 406's brakes and calmly drive off to the engineers' incredulous stares. The same concept was adapted for the poster campaign : "These two dummies are advertising the same car" one is in wood, and the other in is flesh and blood... The morale? Even dummies can't stay lifeless when faced with a 406. Peugeot brought out a limited edition, the 306 Eden Park, for the France-Wales rugby match during the Five Nation Tournament in the Parc des Princes, to reinforce the car's sporting image. This campaign's caption showed a dress designer in a bow tie, well known to rugby fans, proclaiming "You should always compare your car to a 306." Peugeot adopted a new slogan : "Peugeot. So that cars will always be a pleasure." |
| 1996 | Thanks to EURO RSCG's campaigns, the 106 is France's 2nd car. |
| 1997 | After the men begging the ladies to lend them their cars... it's the women's turn to wangle the keys away from their men. The 106 is shown here in several versions : the Equinox, Symbio, Green... Peugeot promotes a series of Rolland Garros cars in green hues : 106, 306, and 806... "Great leg work required for those who want to borrow one", "Be a good sport with people who haven't got their own yet"... And in the vein of "kids' favourite car", Peugeot comes up with one last giggle for the Rolland Garros 806 : "the car little Rolland would have recommended to Madame and Monsieur Garros." |
| The car manufacturer has, since earliest days, been linked to Esso : "Peugeot trusts Esso." |
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