Tied up with Premier Automobiles Ltd to
manufacture the Peugeot 309. The car bombed
and PALs relation with Peugeot turned sour.
After which there was no car launched from
the joint venture. Even the existing owners
find it difficult to find spares.
Peugeot names the models of their cars in
the x0y format; x describes the size of
the car (and hence its class), whereas y
describes the model number (the higher the
number, the newer the model). Therefore,
a Peugeot 406 is bigger and newer than a
Peugeot 305. This general rule has its exceptions,
for instance the Peugeot 309 was produced
before the Peugeot 306 - the out-of-step
number signified the 309's Simca underpinnings
rather than it coming from a Peugeot lineage.
Another exception is certain variants, such
as the 206 SW, which is around the length
of a "40y" car.
This tradition began in 1929 with the
launch of the 201, which followed the
190. All numbers from 101 to 909 have
been deposited as trademarks. Although
in 1963 Porsche was forced to change the
name of its new 901 coupé to 911,
certain Ferraris and Bristols have been
allowed to keep their Peugeot-style model
numbers. An unsubstantiated explanation
for the central '0' is that on early models
the number appeared on a plate on the
front of the car, with the hole for the
starting handle coinciding with the zero.
More recently, on the 307 CC and the 607
the button to open the trunk is located
in the '0' of the label.
Peugeot is planning to use a four digit
system in the future, with a double zero
in the middle for specific niche models
such as minivans or SUVs. It was tested
with the 4002 concept car. The 1007 used
this system when it was launched in 2005,
and it is expected that the upcoming Peugeot
SUV will also have a four digit number.
Peugeot has also announced that after
the 9 series, it would come back to 1,
producing new 201, 301 or 401.
Peugeot has produced three winners of
the European Car of the Year award.