Peugeot 202
| Peugeot 202 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | S. A. des Automobiles Peugeot |
| Production | 1938 - 1942 1945 - 1948 104,126 produced |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Supermini (B) |
| Body style | 4-door saloon 2-door cabriolet 4-door cabriolet 2-door pickup |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 1133 cc straight four |
| Transmission | 3-speed manual synchromesh on ratios 2 and 3. |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,450 mm (96 in) (berline) 2,650 mm (104 in) (hatch) |
| Length | 4,110 mm (162 in) (berline) 4,430 mm (174 in) (hatch) |
| Width | 1,500 mm (59 in) (berline) 1,590 mm (63 in) (hatch) |
| Height | 1,550 mm (61 in) |
| Curb weight | 890 kg (1,960 lb) (approx) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Peugeot 201 |
| Successor | Peugeot 203 |
The Peugeot 202 is a supermini developed and designed by the French car manufacturer Peugeot. Production of the car ran between 1938 and 1942 and then, after a brief production run of 20 in early 1945, restarted in mid-1946. It was sold until 1949, by when it had been replaced by the 203.
Production started in January 1938, and the car was formally launched on 2 March 1938 with a dinner and presentation for the specialist press in the fashionable Bois de Boulogne district of Paris. The previous autumn, at the 1937 Paris Motor Show, Peugeot had staged a massive "referendum" among visitors to the show stand to find out what customers expected from the new small car then under development. It is not clear whether there would still have been time to incorporate any of the suggestions of the public in the car as launched, but the participative nature of the exercise certainly generated positive pre-launch publicity for the 202.
The steel bodied 202 was instantly recognisable as a Peugeot from the way that the headlights were set, as on the older 302, close together, in a protected location behind the front grille. Most customers chose the four-door berline (saloon) version which by 1948 came with a steel-panel sliding sun roof included in the price. However the boot/trunk was small and could be accessed only from within the car, there being no outside boot lid. The two-seater two-door cabriolet "décapotable" did have a separate boot lid but cost approximately 30% more than the berline. Priced very closely to the berline was a structurally similar four-door four-seater "berline découvrable", which featured a full fold away hood: this type of body would become difficult to provide using the monocoque body structure then becoming mainstream and which would be a feature of the Peugeot 203. Both the Peugeot 202 and the Peugeot 203 had frontal suicide doors.
Between 1947 and 1949 the manufacturer produced 3,015 timber bodied "hatch" (hatchback) conversions: this model cost 55% more than the berline, and anticipated future Peugeot policy by using a slightly longer chassis than that used on other 202 versions. The extensive use of timber took the company back to a technology that it had abandoned in 1931 when production of the Type 190 ended, and according to the manufacturer was above all a response to shortage of sheet steel in post-war France.
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