Peugeot does not build many cars like the Peugeot 203: a 4-door sedan (car) / saloon / 5-door station wagon / estate / 2-door cabriolet (automobile) / cabriolet / 4-door cabriolet (automobile) / cabriolet / 2-door coupé with 1290 cc TM I4, built from 1948 to 1960 in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted.
How it came about
The Peugeot 203 is a small family car which was produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1948 and 1960. The car was exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in 1947, but by then had already been under development for more than five years. Volume manufacturing was initially hampered by strikes and shortages of materials, but production got under way late in 1948, with buyers taking delivery of 203s from early 1949.
The 203 was Peugeot's first new model launched after World War II. During its twelve-year production run nearly 700,000 203s were assembled in Sochaux, France. Between the demise of the 202 in 1949 and the launch of the 403 in 1955, the 203 was the only model produced by Peugeot.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 1290 cc TM I4. Kerb weight is 950 kg. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2580 mm saloon / 2780 mm estate. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Peugeot's history is not in doubt: the Peugeot 202 came before it; the Peugeot 403 / Peugeot 204 followed it; it was built at Sochaux (Stellantis Sochaux Plant. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Citroën 2CV, the Porsche 356, the Chevrolet Bel Air. Its Peugeot stablemates include the Peugeot Onyx and the Peugeot Pars.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Peugeot 203 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.