In this article we talked about the beginnings of Peugeot, a metallurgical manufacturer that decided to enter the automotive sector in the 19th century. These were times of expansion and development of the industry, an opportunity that the French family did not miss. Many of us know the firm from the vehicles that travel our streets but its beginnings were linked to the manufacture of tools such as saws, blades or mills. During this first phase, Peugeot remained a public limited company that was gaining industrial weight and expanding its line of business . It soon became essential to unify these departments under a single commercial photograph that would identify Peugeot products and certify their quality. A logo is an essential part of that brand image, and since much of their products were made from steel, the task was assigned to a goldsmith named Justin Blazer.
The first symbol of the lion would appear in 1847 but it was not applied to the first tools until three years later, at which point the oldest logo in the automobile industry was born. The first lion figure was engraved on a saw blade but Émile Peugeot registered that design eight years later , at the Imperial Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in France. Since then, the passage of time has printed modernity, digitization and electrification in a symbol that is still present: the lion. This animal was chosen for its qualities and characteristics, put in common with the manufacturing process of the Peugeot product. The firm explains it as follows: “the flexibility of the lion’s spine, which is compared to that of the blade; the speed of the latter in the cut is assimilated to the blow of the animal; and the sharp teeth represent the resistance of the products ”.
The idea of identifying the manufacturer through an image was key. In the mid-nineteenth century, a large part of the population could not read, so a design could serve to certify the quality of a tool. This strategy was present in all the units manufactured and soon it was transferred to other products of the brand such as grinders, bicycles and motorcycles. It wasn’t until 1905 that a Peugeot vehicle sported that logo .
