Lion-Peugeot Type VA
Encyclopedia
The Lion-Peugeot Type VA is an early motor car produced near Valentigney
by the French
auto-maker Lion-Peugeot
between 1906 and 1908.
First presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1905, but not offered for sale until the next year, the Type VA was the first of a succession of models to carry the “Lion-Peugeot” name.
The car was propelled using a single cylinder 785 cm³ four stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum of between 6 an 7 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels, and a top speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) was claimed..
The Type VA was 2,850 mm long, with a wheel-base of 2,000 mm. A carriage formate Voiturette
body provided space for two while the covered carriage Tonneau / Phaeton
format body offered space for four.
The Peugeot family had a long tradition of manufacturing steel components and mechanisms. The car appears to have featured a simple but efficient design, and the manufacturer was able to price the first Lion-Peugeot competitively. Volumes were, by the standards of the time, correspondingly high, and approximately 1,000 of the cars were produced between 1906 and 1908. This made the Lion-Peugeot Type VA the first car carrying the “Peugeot” name to reach 1,000 units. This also appears to have put the car ahead of Peugeot’s own Peugeot Bébé
model at the time, although the Bébé, in a succession of versions, would remain in production until 1916 and ultimately top 3,000 sales.
"Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand’s “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses and its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand’s automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot’s father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.
Valentigney
Valentigney is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; several members of the Peugeot family still live in the area....
by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
auto-maker Lion-Peugeot
Lion-Peugeot
Lion-Peugeot is a formerly independent French auto-maker. It is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of the established Peugeot car business, began to produce automobiles at Beaulieu near Valentigney....
between 1906 and 1908.
First presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1905, but not offered for sale until the next year, the Type VA was the first of a succession of models to carry the “Lion-Peugeot” name.
The car was propelled using a single cylinder 785 cm³ four stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum of between 6 an 7 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels, and a top speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) was claimed..
The Type VA was 2,850 mm long, with a wheel-base of 2,000 mm. A carriage formate Voiturette
Voiturette
Voiturette is a word mostly used to describe a miniature automobile; however, it has several nuanced meanings, depending largely on the usage date.-History:...
body provided space for two while the covered carriage Tonneau / Phaeton
Phaeton body
A Phaeton is a style of open car or carriage without proper weather protection for passengers. Use of this name for automobiles was limited to North America or its products....
format body offered space for four.
The Peugeot family had a long tradition of manufacturing steel components and mechanisms. The car appears to have featured a simple but efficient design, and the manufacturer was able to price the first Lion-Peugeot competitively. Volumes were, by the standards of the time, correspondingly high, and approximately 1,000 of the cars were produced between 1906 and 1908. This made the Lion-Peugeot Type VA the first car carrying the “Peugeot” name to reach 1,000 units. This also appears to have put the car ahead of Peugeot’s own Peugeot Bébé
Peugeot Bébé
The Peugeot Bébé or Baby was a small car nameplate from Peugeot made from 1905 to 1916. Vehicles under this name were known technically within Peugeot as the Type 69 and the Type BP1.-Type 69:...
model at the time, although the Bébé, in a succession of versions, would remain in production until 1916 and ultimately top 3,000 sales.
Lion-Peugeot and Peugeot: the difference
“Lion-Peugeot” is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of their cousin Armand’sArmand Peugeot
Armand Peugeot was a French industrialist, pioneer of the automobile industry and the founder of the French firm Peugeot.-Family:...
"Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand’s “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses and its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand’s automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot’s father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.
Sources and further reading
- Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: Die große Automobil-Enzyklopädie, BLV, München 1986, ISBN 3-405-12974-5
- Wolfgang Schmarbeck: Alle Peugeot Automobile 1890–1990, Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 1990. ISBN 3-613-01351-7