Of course the Peugeot 205 is not as old as many other classic cars but it certainly is a modern day classic.
The predecessors of the Peugeot 205, which belonged to the Series 2, were the 201, built from 1929 to 1937 and the 202, built from 1938 to 1949. During WW2 no cars were produced. In 1948 production started again and the 203 that was launched in 1948 was the only vehicle built by Peugeot until 1954. From 1965 to 1977 the Peugeot 204 was manufactured and was pretty modern with its front-wheel drive.
Peugeot 205 ©flickr/Jaeger-Meister
The real predecessor of the Peugeot 205 with regard to the vehicle category was the Peugeot 104 which was launched in 1972. It was the first compact car made by Peugeot.
To break even the project M 24, out of which the Peugeot arose, started in 1977.
The car should appeal to a large number of customers and should have an up to date body style. In an appealing body, improvements in the fields of weight, stability, space and aerodynamics should be combined. Not an easy mission but manageable with computer-based technology.
It was also planned to use different kinds of engines in one car. One of them were GTI and automatic-transmission types. Engines were available from 33 kW (44 bhp/45 PS) to 94 kW (126 bhp/128 PS). The smaller engines were modified versions of the engines used in the Peugeot 104, Talbot Samba and Citroën Visa.
But also new engines were developed for the 205. For the XY7 the cylinder head of the stronger XY8 was combined with elements of the smaller XW7 engine. The TU series was related to the AX engines used by Citroën. From 1984 on the XU engine was used.
The transmission of the smaller engines was also modified and the GTI types got newly developed 5-speed transmissions.
After having worked on design studies for 2 years a car was built that combined timelessness and aerodynamics. A high standard was also applied for the passenger compartment. Security was as important as aesthetics.
Indeed the Peugeot 205 was one of the most successful Peugeot cars and between 1983 and the end of production in 1998 about 5.3 million cars were built.
