Peugeot

On March 2, 1938 the Peugeot 202 was formally launched with a dinner and presentation for the specialist press in the fashionable Bois de Boulogne district of Paris. The steel bodied 202 was instantly recognisable as a Peugeot from the way the headlights were set close together, in a protected location behind the front grille. The car was available as a four-door saloon, which by 1948 came with a steel-panel sliding sun roof included in the price. The boot was small and could be accessed only from within the car, there being no outside boot lid. There was also a two-seater, two-door cabriolet (décapotable) which did have a separate boot lid and a four-door, four-seater berline découvrable, which featured a full fold away hood. Between 1947 and 1949 Peugeot produced 3,015 timber bodied hatchbacks. The extensive use of timber was above all a response to shortage of sheet steel in post-war France. Production of the car ran between 1938 and 1942 and then restarted in mid-1946. It was sold until 1949, by when it had been replaced by the 203.