Peugeot is a French automobile company that originally built bicycles and coffee mills beginning all the way back in 1810. By 1882, Peugeot was a car manufacturer, then a motorcycle company in 1898, and finally established itself as its own entity in 1926. Today, Peugeot makes up a portion of the PSA Peugeot Citroen company. Peugeot's headquarters are located on the Avenue de la Grande Arm?e in Paris, France.
The Peugeot family started their own manufacturing company during the 18th century. By 1842, they decided to add paper, salt, and coffee grinders to their list of products. Vehicle production was entered into with their production of the steel rods they used to manufacture crinoline dresses. These rods led to blades, frames, wheels, and finally bicycles. The Peugeot actually continued to manufacture these bicycles until just a few years ago. Amanda Peugeot was the family member to introduce an automobile to the company after meeting with Gottlieb Daimler (of Chrysler) and other enthusiasts. The first Peugeot was a steam-powered, 3-wheeled car that was produced in 1889 in four units. Steam was shortly after abandoned in favor of an internal combustion engine, created by Daimler's Panhard. This vehicle was much more sophisticated than many at the time, and it featured a sliding-gear transmission and a 3-point suspension. Following this vehicle, there were 29 built in 1892, 40 in 1894, 72 in 1895, 156 in 1898, and up to 300 in 1899. These models all received "Type" designations followed by a number.
By 1896, Peugeot was designing and building its own engines; the company became more independent of Daimler. Armand Peugeot also broke away from the family company to form his own company, and the Peugeot Type 19 was built in 1899. It became very successful, as did Peugeot as a company, due to it being the first auto manufacturer to use rubber tires. The company was also very successful in racing circuits. By the year 1903, Peugeot was producing half of the cars on French roads. Many popular models followed, including the 1912 B?b?, the Peugeot 403, 202, and the 1934 601 C Eclipse Pourtout.
In 1973, Peugeot completely took over one of its competitors, Citroen, which is now very successful under its watch. Peugeot also took over Chrysler Europe around the same time. Peugeot still has several other competitors to watch out for, however. These include Fiat, Renault (also of France), and Volkswagen. Peugeot struggled in the early 1980s, but with its launch of the popular Peugeot 205 model, the company was saved, and its fortunes were turned around. By 1991, however, Peugeot found itself selling badly in the Canadian and American markets and had to pull out after 33 years of sales in these countries. It has no plans to return soon, either. After 14 years of indecisiveness, Peugeot entered the Indian market in 2011. Today, Peugeot sells many different types of vehicles, including cars, vans, cycles, and motorcycles. Some of the newest automobiles are the Peugeot 4008, the Peugeot 3008Hybrid4, and the Peugeot 508RXH.