Peugeot (bicycles) - History

History

Peugeot was a French manufacturer of bicycles founded by Jean Pequignot Peugeot, a 19th century manufacturer of water mills. Using the mills' profits, Peugeot expanded with a steelworks in Montbéliard, which Jean Peugeot ran with a colleague and his two brothers. The company's trademark, a lion, was created in 1858 by an engraver, Justin Blazer, who lived near the factory. The company turned their steel into knives and forks, hydraulic equipment and, from 1882, bicycles, sold as Cycles Peugeot. In Beaulieu-sur-Doubs (Mandeure, Doubs) during the same year, the first Peugeot bicycle—a penny-farthing (high wheeler) called Le Grand Bi—was hand-built by Armand Peugeot.

During World War I, Peugeot built nearly 63,000 bicycles per year. It also manufactured 9,000 cars and trucks, 1,000 motorcycles, 10,000 plane engines, and 6 million artillery shells.

In 1926, the auto and bicycle manufacturing divisions at Peugeot were divided. Automobiles were constructed at Automobiles Peugeot, while bicycles were made at Cycles Peugeot. In 1930, bicycle production reached 162,000 units per year at the Beaulieu factory.

By 1955, the factory at Beaulieu was turning out 220,000 bicycles a year, employing nearly 3,500 workers, while Automobiles Peugeot completed its 100,000 automobile. During the 1950s, European interest in cycling as a means of transportation virtually disappeared, and by 1956, bicycle production at Cycles Peugeot was cut in half.

In 1958, Peugeot diversified into manufacturing components for the auto industry to augment declining sales of bicycles. As consumer interest in bicycling returned in the 1960s, Peugeot gradually increased its production of sport, racing, and touring road bicycles.