PAST IMPERFECT:The Peugeot lion has been around since the mid-19th century, always a symbol of the brand's prowess, writes BOB MONTGOMERY
PEUGEOT can trace its origins back further than most automotive manufacturers to two brothers, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frederic, who joined forces to create a steel foundry around the year 1816.
Their company, which soon prospered, produced “steel like that from Styria, rolled steel for saw blades similar to that from England, springs and bright steel rod”.
When, while on a visit to England, a descendant, Armand Peugeot, discovered a new form of locomotion, the velocipede, the Peugeot company was already well-established as a manufacturer of coffee grinders, steel saws and a wide range of other tools, as well as steel wire crinolines.
The cycle age that the velocipede ushered in came just at the right time for Peugeot as the crinoline market was just then in serious decline. The decision of the Peugeot family to turn to bicycle production was to lead directly to the massive car manufacturer we know today.
A common thread that has run through the company since its earliest days is the Peugeot lion, which itself has an interesting origin and history.
In 1847, the Peugeot brothers commissioned Justin Blazer, a goldsmith and engraver in Montbéliard to design a lion that would serve as a trademark for saws and other steel articles.
In a letter dated that same year they appealed “to the goldsmith’s good taste to ensure the best possible layout of the design and letters”.
Blazer apparently made several proposals and one representing a lion proudly walking on an arrow was chosen. When created, it was registered as a trademark with the Imperial Conservatory for Arts and Crafts.
For Peugeot, the lion reflected the three principal qualities of its saw blades: the strength of its teeth, like those of a lion; the flexibility of its blade, like that of a lion’s backbone; and its rapid cutting, like the swiftness of a springing lion.
By the time of the great World’s Fair in 1889, which established Peugeot’s reputation as a maker of quality tools, the Peugeot lion was known and respected throughout France as the symbol of the maker, with the result that tool and hardware merchants hung the metal signs outside their premises.
The king of beasts first appeared on Peugeot bicycles in 1899, on automobiles in 1906 and on the famous Bébe range of small cars in 1913. During this time the image evolved through several versions but in 1948, in a major departure, the lion from the Franche-Comté coat of arms was adopted.
This change proved quite controversial as the lion was said by many to be reminiscent of the lion sculpted by Bartholdi in Belford. But Bartholdi, famous as the sculptor of the American Statue of Liberty, created the monument at Belford at a later date, since it glorifies the heroic resistance of the citizens of Belfort against the Prussians during the War of 1870.
Since then the Peugeot lion has become increasingly stylised to become the rampant lion with which we are familiar, that is proudly displayed on the many products of this French auto manufacturer that appear on roads worldwide.