Loved, despised, and loved again.

Peugeot is a French automotive manufacturer, part of Groupe PSA, which also includes Citroen, Opel, and Vauxhall. It was founded in 1896 by Armand Peugeot. The first car was built in 1889. Over the years Peugeot has received many awards for its cars that range from small to large luxury vehicles. The cars are reputed for their sturdiness on city and country roads, hence their fame in Africa where some 1960’s and 1970’s models are still on the road.

Peugeot is a brand that is famous and has impacted on many lives in Zimbabwe. It is very famous in Francophone Africa. It made its name, and left an enduring mark in Zimbabwe, for those that drove and fell in love with it. The Peugeot brand is renowned for unbreakable and award winning cars such as the Peugeot 404; perhaps the most famous, especially in the early 80’s. The cars are renowned for reliability, being able to take the battering they are subjected to on African roads; in the towns, and in the villages.

Peugeot offers a full range, from the petite mini compact, to the luxury and presidential sedans, to the award winning SUV’s, such as the 2017 Car of the Year 3008. The 404, like most of its siblings during the time, had three shapes and forms; the sedan, the station wagon, and the pick- up. The station wagon was perhaps made famous when it became the first urban people mover, when ZUPCO began to cough and stutter in the late eighties into the nineties. The large boot could easily accommodate six adults, sitting three aside, with legs stretched and interspaced.

The successor 504, in the same three variants, also came into the picture a few years later, and slid into the same roles, but with the additional role of being a B car, a role that it shared and took over from the Nissan Bluebird. All these variants were rear wheel drives.

The next model, the 405, took Peugeot a rung up, and started to offer the company executives that needed a company car, something that distinguished their seniority from the sales rep’s Mazda 323, or Nissan Sunny. The 405 was bigger, more spacious, quieter, and speedier than the predecessors.

The 405 was to be followed by another local assembly, the smaller 306. This car penetrated all markets, including government and private sector.

The next jump was the Peugeot 406, a beautiful, modern executive car that was as beautiful as it was smooth. It had head turning beauty, and luxury that put it on the same pedestal as any of the German luxury brands. The car was assembled locally by Quest Motors, who alongside Puzey and Payne, were the Authorised Dealers. A combination of UK grey imports that local mechanics could not adequately handle, abuse by owners, and other factors, damaged the name in the public eye.

However, to those who drove the locally assembled, it was a beautiful, smooth, spacious, low maintenance saloon.

The 407 was to follow, but by then, the dealers were struggling, and whilst it was also a beautiful one, the damage that had been done on the 406 seemed irrecoverable.

 

Peugeot remains a beautiful car for those who have experienced it, although for quite a number, the brand scores low on build quality, compared to other European brands.