1941 Peugeot starts the study of the 203. In October 1948 the car was presented at the French auto fare.

The car was replacing the 202, who was too old in comparison with the other competitors.

The Citroen 2CV was presented the same year.

The 203 was very in advance, esthetical and also from technical viewpoint, with a 1290 cm3 engine

that was not usual at that time. The other competitors where the Simca 8 and the Citroen "11' (Traction Avant)

The 203 was not received very well by the public, but reached very fast a good image due to his reliability.

There were some different models:

1949: The "Découvrable" ( soft-top) (right)

1951: the "Cabriolet" with leather interior ! (left)

1950: The "Familiale" and the "Commerciale" (family and commercial version)

1952: the "Coupé" produced only at 1000 times

There were no major changes (face-lift) till the production end in 1960.

The owners approved the nice body design, copied from the American cars, the serial

open roof , heating and the 4-speed gearbox (3^rd gear ratio 1:1, 4^th gear ratio 0.75:1 !)

Some other models:

The police used the "fourgon Tolé" (same than above red car) as well as it was used

as "Ambulance" (upper picture, left side behind the tree)

In 1954 they constructed 13 special models for the "Tour De France". These cars where

equipped with a special roll-cage, no top and no doors, and all white. These cars were designated participating teams.

Produced at more than 500 000 units without the commercial versions, the 203 got in 1951

a serious competitor with the Simca Aronde.

In 1955 Peugeot presented the next model: the Peugeot 403.

The 203 were also active in different car international car races

(not taking care about the weight, the top speed….):

Dubois-De Cortanze won the 1950 Liege-Rome - Liege Rally

The rally Monte Carlo was won in the 1.3l class 1953-1954 and the Mille Miglia

(class 1.3lL) in 1953-1954-1957

The yearly production reached only 18 000 in 1959 (76 000 in 1955) and the

last one was produced in February 1960.

The following picture is a sports car on the 202 base , ordered by Peugeot and developed

by Darl'Mat for the Le Mans Race.

Paul Giraud participated in the early 50's at car races with the "Barbier", a rebuild and

modificated 203 by Paul Barbier, a Peugeot dealer. After an accident they modified the front,

shown in the picture above as version 2.