(Fri 07 Jul 08)

Peugeot has announced that a 308 SW which came off the production line at Sochaux in France in June this year was the 50 millionth car it has ever built.

Peugeot's history goes back a very long way, and its list of products over the centuries has been vast - bicycles, crinoline dresses, wheels, umbrella frames, pepper mills (of which it still makes some of the best examples in the world) and of course cars.

Car production started in the early 1890s, and Peugeot breakthroughs have included the first four-cylinder engine in 1902, the first four-valves-per-cylinder engine in 1912 (for the French Grand Prix, which Peugeot won) and, more recently, the first standard fitment of a particulate filter to a diesel production car (the 607 in 2002).

Peugeot's current focus is on the environment. Since 2001 it has built more than 1.1 million vehicles with official CO2 emissions of less than 120g/km, and within a few years it will be manufacturing cars with second-generation Stop&Start systems "on a massive scale", along with a smaller number of vehicles with hybrid technology.

For our experiences of an 1895 model from the company's great heritage, see our feature, Peugeot Type 9: Two Centuries Back.

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