Are you talking about a car? The history of iconic cars?
The French Peugeot Automobile Company has a long history and can be called a century-old company. Its history of producing automobiles is second only to Daimler-Benz, the originator of automobiles. But unlike Daimler-Benz, its history did not start with the automobile industry. Before entering the automobile industry, it had been involved in hardware tools, household appliances, skirt braces, telescopes, pince-nez springs, saw blades, and surgical instruments. , shotguns, radios, sewing machines, etc. to name a few. Before the advent of the automobile, Peugeot produced bicycles, motorcycles and transport trucks on a large scale.
Started in agriculture
In the 15th century, the Peugeot family was mainly engaged in agriculture, but also had craftsmen, soldiers and officials. It started operating a mill in 1725, and later developed into a dyeing mill and an oil pressing mill. It was not until 1810, when the "Peugeot Brothers and Jacques Mayard-Salin Company" was established and the original mill was converted into a foundry that the Peugeot family entered the industrial age. The cold-rolled steel and steel bars produced by Peugeot's foundry mainly meet the local watch industry's demand for springs.
In 1819, the Peugeot Company was renamed "Peugeot Brothers and Partners". By 1824, Peugeot's steel production had reached a considerable scale, with a daily output of 100 to 150 kilograms and exported to Switzerland, Italy and Turkey.
By 1832, Peugeot Company was reorganized and the company name was changed to "Peugeot Brother Company", and the production scale developed towards hardware tool products. Peugeot's first coffee grinder was launched in 1840 and was produced until 1965.
Peugeot has always been a family-run company with a wide range of products, including saw blades, springs, skirt braces, umbrella stands and other metal products. In order to clearly identify Peugeot products, the logo's logo references the emblem of the Hong Kong SAR Franchise suit jacket designed by the jeweler Justin in 1847. For a while, the company's logo was simply used on the company's kitchen gadgets to signify the quality of their steel signature. Know that the logo company produces its own car and uses it on it. The "standing lion" on Peugeot today evolved from the lion at that time.
Peugeot began producing sewing machines in 1867 and continued until 1936. In 1869, Peugeot also produced horse-drawn lawnmowers for the army.
Entering the automobile age
Peugeot’s involvement in the “automotive industry” began in 1882. At that time, Peugeot made its first bicycle. The front wheel was large and the rear wheel was small. The cyclist directly Pedaling the front wheel, there is no transmission mechanism. It was not until 1886 that Peugeot bicycles using chain transmission began to be mass-produced.
At this time, the head of the Peugeot company was Armand Peugeot, the founder of Peugeot Motors. He was very interested in automobiles and once visited automobile inventor Gottlieb Daimler. Armand Peugeot predicted that the automobile industry would have great development and unlimited potential, and decided to lead Peugeot into the automobile industry.
1889 was a historic year for Peugeot. The first car bearing the name Peugeot was launched. Armand Peugeot collaborated with the famous steam dynamics expert Léon Sepole to build a three-wheeled steam-powered car called "Sepole-Peugeot" and presented it to Paris in 1889 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Exhibited at the fair. At that time, Peugeot had 1,100 workers.
The first racing championship
The performance of the steam car itself destined it to be just an excessive product. The Peugeot steam car was discontinued after only four units were produced. Armand Peugeot yearned for fast acceleration. , gasoline engine cars with sufficient power. The year after Peugeot produced steam cars, it resolutely switched to producing gasoline-engine cars. Armand Peugeot negotiated with Gottlieb Daimler to purchase Daimler's V-twin gasoline engine. In 1890, a Peugeot "Type 2" equipped with a Daimler gasoline engine was launched and became the first Peugeot car. Series production of the "Type 2" Peugeot began the following year.
In 1894, under the leadership of Armand Peugeot, Peugeot produced a variety of automobile varieties, launching the two-seat "Type 5", "Type 6" and "Type 7" light cars at about the same time. The "Type 8" foldable car, the "Type 9" sit-down car, and the "Type 10" passenger and cargo vehicle. But the biggest thing of the year was that Peugeot became famous in the "Paris-Lyon Horseless Car Competition" held in France. During the 127-kilometer race, Peugeot led the way and won the championship, thus establishing Peugeot's position in the world's car industry. .
Leading the Rubber Age
In 1895, because Germany insisted that Alsace and Switzerland in northeastern France were German territory, Daimler did not allow the use of Daimler-engined Peugeots. The car was sold in this area, which eventually led to the termination of the cooperation between the two parties. Armand Peugeot decided to assemble Peugeot cars using Grotien Michaux's newly designed horizontally opposed twin-cylinder engine. This brand-new Peugeot used Michelin's experimental pneumatic rubber tires for the first time in the "Paris-Bordeaux-Paris" car race held that year, and finally won the victory with the Michelin brothers driving it. This victory not only allowed Peugeot to completely get rid of its dependence on Daimler engines, but also brought automobile tires from the "iron ring" era to the comfortable and fast "rubber" era.
By 1986, "Peugeot Automobile Company" was established to specialize in the production of station wagons and trucks, while Armand Peugeot's three nephews continued to produce hardware tools, bicycles, and motorized tricycles. Armand Peugeot had no children, so he was personally responsible for the production of Peugeot cars. Armand Peugeot went all out and established two new automobile manufacturing plants one after another, all of which were equipped with its own opposed twin-cylinder engines, and successively produced five new models from Type 14 to Type 18.
By 1900, Peugeot's annual output had reached 500, while producing 20,000 bicycles, 100 tons of skirt hoops and 6 tons of springs for making pince-nez.
The Peugeot equipped with an in-line cylinder engine was born in 1901, but it was only a single-cylinder type. This Peugeot convertible, called the Type 36, was also Peugeot's first front-wheel-drive model and the first Peugeot to feature a tilt steering wheel instead of a rudder.
The birth of "Peugeot Baby"
In 1904, "Peugeot Baby" or "Type 69" rolled off the assembly line. The following year, the company "Sons of the Peugeot Brothers", run by Armand Peugeot's three nephews, also produced its first car. This is a single-cylinder "Lion Peugeot" car, which was later changed to a V-twin. Armand Peugeot's company targets the mid- to high-end market, while "Lion-Peugeot" targets mass buyers, so there is no direct competition between the two companies.
Peugeot cars achieved excellent results in a series of car races, especially in the Italian Targa Florio competition in 1908 and 1909, which made both Peugeot cars the best. Become a feared opponent by your peers.
In 1910, the "Peugeot Automobile Company" and the "Sons of the Peugeot Brothers" merged to form the "Peugeot Automobile and Bicycle Co., Ltd.", but the two car series coexisted until World War I. The new company was led by Robert Peugeot, and in the following year it signed a cooperation agreement with Bugatti Automobile founder Aito Bugatti to design new Volkswagen cars.
The world's first car using an overhead four-camshaft, four-valve-per-cylinder engine was born at the Peugeot Automobile Factory in 1912. This year, the second generation of "Peugeot Baby" designed by Bugatti also began production and continued to be produced until 1916, with a total output of 3,095 vehicles.
In 1915, Armand Peugeot, the founder of Peugeot, passed away.
In 1926, "Peugeot Automobile and Bicycle Co., Ltd." was divided into two entities: Peugeot Automobile Company and Peugeot Bicycle Company.
Model nomenclature with 0 in the middle
Now we see that Peugeot car models are represented by three digits with 0 in the middle. This method originated in October 1929 moon.
At that time, Peugeot launched a model called "Type 201" at the Paris Motor Show, and then changed its name to the shorter "201". The first number represents the series and the third number represents the algebra. Peugeot later registered this nomenclature as a trademark and it is still used today.
There is a story circulating in the international car industry that Porsche in Germany used "901" to name their new model. However, Peugeot later objected and believed that doing so was an infringement. As a result, Porsche changed its name to "901". 911".
The 201 was exhibited again at the 1931 Paris Motor Show. It was the first mass-produced car in the world to adopt independent front-wheel suspension. It also had the characteristics of low fuel consumption, helping Peugeot to survive more safely. World economic crisis.
The Peugeots on display at that time all adopted a streamlined appearance design. The eggshell-shaped headlights, slightly backward-inclined drag-reducing front grille and enveloping fenders were unique to Peugeots. The 301 launched at the same time also has a streamlined appearance, with a tail shaped like a "floor-trailing skirt".
The first hard-top convertible
The Eclipse is Peugeot's first hard-top convertible, based on the 401 chassis. This new and unique idea is the result of a collaboration between designer Paulin, Peugeot franchisee Dalmat and coachbuilder Pulto. This beautiful roadster became very popular after Peugeot went into production. Ford and Mercedes-Benz also launched hard-top convertible sports cars in the 1950s and 1990s, but Peugeot was even more outstanding in terms of styling. The European best-selling 206 series launched by Peugeot in the late 1990s was designed based on the Eclipse styling.
The "Spindle" model is another pioneering work of Peugeot in car styling. The 402, launched at the Paris Motor Show in 1935, was a mass-produced car designed based on aerodynamic principles. Its appearance was streamlined, with a shield-shaped air intake grille and hidden headlights. It was an avant-garde design at the time.
In 1940, the German army occupied Peugeot's Sochau automobile factory and forced the production of 500 light trucks per month. At that time, the production of Peugeot automobile factory was controlled by Ferdinand Porsche. Since the German army restricted the use of gasoline by the French, Peugeot successfully developed the electric vehicle VLV for use by Parisians.
During the war, the Peugeot depot was almost completely destroyed. 125 people were killed in an RAF bombing raid. It was extremely difficult to resume production after the war, and only 14,000 cars were produced in 1946.
Leading the trend of car styling
After World War II, Peugeot began to cooperate with Italian Pininfarina on car design. From the 403 in 1955 to today, the two parties have cooperated Continuously, the styling of Peugeot cars has always been at the forefront of its peers in the world. The Peugeot 404 designed by Pininfarina in 1960 produced 2 million units in 12 years. The 404 combined simple modernism with elegant taste, and its styling style had a great influence on the world's automobile styling.
The Peugeot 204, launched in 1965, caused a sensation. As Peugeot's first front-wheel drive car, the 204 was equipped with an overhead camshaft light alloy engine, four-wheel independent suspension, and the front wheel was a disc. brake. At the time, this could be described as a car fully armed with advanced technology. Also in this year, the original Peugeot Automobile Company became a holding company, controlling all subsidiaries in the name of Peugeot S.A.
On June 24, 1974, through negotiations with Michelin, Peugeot began to take over Citro?n Automobile Company. By April 1976, Peugeot acquired 90 shares of Citro?n controlled by Michelin. In exchange, Michelin received 10 shares of Peugeot. After reorganization, the "PSA Peugeot Citro?n" holding company was established.
The Peugeot 505, which was produced in China, was launched in 1979.
In 1997, the Peugeot 406 coupe designed by Pininfarina was considered the most beautiful car in France at the time, with 230,000 units sold in the first year. In 1998, production of the more beautiful 206 series cars began.
Peugeot's "cat face" shape was officially formed, and the 307, 607 and 807 produced thereafter all had this front face shape. Peugeot has evolved from a feared lion into a handsome cat loved by humans.
On April 21, 2004, Peugeot 307 4P will officially roll off the production line in Wuhan, China, and Peugeot finally returns to China.