The Peugeot 202 was an automobile from 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 It was sold until 1949, by when it had been replaced by the 203.
The body[]
The 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. There was also a timber frame "break" (estate) conversion offered: this cost 55% more than the berline, and anticipated future Peugeot policy by using a slightly longer chassis than that used on the other versions. There were only two models offered in France in this class offering this range of body types. The other was the still popular but soon to be replaced Simca 8.
Engine and running gear[]
The 202 was powered by a 1133 cc water-cooled engine giving a maximum of 30 PS (22 kW) at 4000 rpm and a top speed of approximately 100 km/h (62 mph). Power was tranferred to the rear wheels by means of a three-speed manual transmission featuring synchromesh on the top two ratios.
Improvements[]
Small improvements continued to be implemented almost until the point where production ended. Hydraulic brakes were a new feature for 1946. Shortly after this the dashboard was redesigned to incorporate a (very small) glove box. For 1948 the wheels were embellished with chrome plated hub caps and the car received redesigned hydraulic shock absorbers (which turned out to be of the design recently finalised for the forthcoming new 203 model).
Commercial[]
104,126 were built.