It's not every day that the most famous lion in France gets a facelift.
This Thursday, during an online press conference, Peugeot unveiled its new logo.
A feline head staged and raised using a subtle play of shadows, in a triangular shield.
The last evolution of the emblem of the car manufacturer dated from January 2010.
In 2021, the Peugeot lion appears in profile, in close-up, swollen mane and visible fangs.
Its designers assume a zoom on the head of the animal, which allows "a much more assertive expression of identity".
Eyes are turned to the left, but the ambition is clearly to look to the future.
A new one is also a standard for commercial conquest.
“This logo marks ten years of moving upmarket,” explains Matthias Hossann, Peugeot design director.
The brand is modernizing its symbol to keep pace with its vehicles, which have been completely renewed for a decade.
Today, six in-house cars are leaders in their segment: the 208, the 2008, the 308, the 3008, the 508 and the 5008. Of course, the 2020 volumes have melted, pandemic oblige (356,430 vehicles sold in the France, i.e. -20.1% compared to 2019) but the manufacturer prefers to retain the gain in market share (17.8%, + 1.2 point).
1858, first logo, a work of goldsmith
“The new logo is a perfect link between Peugeot's DNA and our vision for the future,” continues the design director.
Zero carbon mobility is now at the heart of Peugeot's strategy.
"We want to support our customers towards the energy transition and electrification", insists Thierry Lonziano, marketing director.
Today, one in five 208 sold is electric.
The 2021 logo, which "speaks to young people", he hopes, must also allow "to attract the best talents to the company".
The various evolutions of the Peugeot logo (left) and the new one (right).
/ Peugeot
The metamorphoses of the iconic lion systematically invite you to glance in the rearview mirror, and to nostalgia.
"The relationship is more than a hundred years old, which is to say if all French people share a piece of their personal history with Peugeot", underlines the marketing director.
Let's start the reverse gear: when the brothers Jules and Emile Peugeot asked a silversmith to imagine their logo, in the middle of the 19th century, it was initially a question of promoting… saw blades!
The lion chosen and deposited in 1858 symbolizes three qualities: "flexibility of the blade, resistance of the teeth and speed of cut".
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The family business was created in 1810 by their father and uncle, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frédéric, who transformed the hydraulic mill in Hérimoncourt (Doubs) into a steelworks.
Springs for the watch industry, then all kinds of tools or utensils like coffee grinders leave the factory.
The third generation began manufacturing bicycles and motorcycles and soon “horseless” cars.
The first Peugeot, equipped with a Daimler engine, was sold in 1891. Armand the visionary, Emile's son, parted professionally from his cousin Eugène, not convinced by the future of these four-wheeled vehicles, and founded the company. Peugeot Automobile Limited Company.
These are decorated with the logo from 1905.
One of the first Peugeot cars, in 1897./Roger-Viollet
Since then, ten developments have followed one another.
The first-generation feline, rich in details worthy of a painting by animal painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry, has gradually become stylized.
In 1936, at the time of the Popular Front and the first paid holidays by bicycle (Peugeot is still a manufacturer of cycles), it is displayed on a shield, under the appearance of a sphinx.
The next one, in 1955, plays on the resemblance to the lion of Franche-Comté, cradle of Peugeot and its emblematic factory in Sochaux, inaugurated in 1912. In 1970, it is a very “shield of the Middle Ages” lion, clumsy , rough-hewn, but to whom Valéry Giscard d'Estaing will offer his letters of nobility by driving (himself!) his 604 in the courtyard of the Elysée.
Then by replacing the sacrosanct DS of the General with a Peugeot.
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In their jargon, experts (and enthusiasts) speak of "automotive heraldry", the science of coats of arms and, by extension, that of the logos of manufacturers.
"The current animal has settled down, technicalized, observes Mathieu Flonneau, lecturer at the University of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne and specialist in the cultural history of mobility.
In terms of colors, the early gold has disappeared in favor of silver ”, which better embodies the era of printed circuits and the vehicle of tomorrow, electric, connected and autonomous.
The decision to dust off the fawn's mane predates the merger between PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) which, at the start of the year, gave birth to the Stellantis group.
However, "this new logo at the start of a new era is timely," said an engineer, summarizing the general opinion in the company.
“The big brands must regularly update their logo, underlines Stefan May, CEO of Continental France, who sports a prancing horse for emblem.
But the exercise is always delicate ”.
We must evolve without rushing, modernize without betraying the heritage.
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Continental's stallion, for example, almost as old as the Peugeot lion, has barely changed since its inception in 1871, when the company made rubber horseshoes.
“It embodies mobility and loyalty to our roots,” says Stefan May.
We stepped up the slope slightly in 2016 to give it a more dynamic look.
For the French manufacturer, the choice of a hyperexpressive logo is against the grain of that of its competitors.
BMW, Audi, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota and others have changed their visual identity since 2015, but in favor of a simplified and often minimalist graphic charter.
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"In a sanitized world, where brands tend to standardize, we have decided to assert our identity", proudly assumes Matthias Hossann, Director of Design.
A qualified opinion by Mathieu Flonneau.
“I see a form of fading.
This lion could be a big cat.
Its portrayal has lost the socially arrogant dimension of the early golden logo, offering an increasingly controlled image of the automobile.
"
To the new 308 to release the new emblem
To groom its lion, Peugeot has chosen the in-house solution, a rather rare choice among manufacturers.
The Peugeot Design Lab's in-house studio was responsible for drawing, for an amount kept secret, the beast of the future, which the general public will find on cars, in dealerships and on the brand's new website.
The company has worked on developing its new identity with two agencies, W and OPEN, a structure tailor-made by the American giant Omnicom, which has just won the manufacturer's worldwide communication budget from Havas.
The roadmap is clear: digitization and internationalization.
The 2021 design of the Peugeot lion is the launching pad for this ambition.
The former president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (here in 2007), the one who will give his letters of nobility to the French brand by adopting it ... or even driving it himself!
/ AFP / Thierry Zoccolan
But the main objective is obviously the conquest of new buyers.
“A new logo is also a commercial argument,” opines Mathieu Flonneau.
There is an obvious marketing dimension which applies as much to yogurts as it does to the automobile.
“At a time of globalization, Peugeot has therefore taken care to choose a shape that speaks to everyone.
"The coat of arms (
Editor's note: inside a shield)
is an archetype that works in a planetary way", welcomes Matthias Hossann.
An American as a Chinese can be sensitive to it.
The new 308, third generation, will have the honor of unveiling the logo during its official presentation, on March 18, then in dealerships from this fall.
But the round of emblems is an eternal restart.
This lion 2021 is reminiscent of the one that was inaugurated by the 404 ... in the early 1960s.