Peugeot does not build many cars like the Peugeot 206: a 3/5-door hatchback / 2-door coupé cabriolet (206 CC) / 5-door estate (206 SW) / 4-door saloon (206 SD) with Petrol engine, built from 1998 to 1999 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Its designer of record is Gérard Welter (206) / Murat Günak (206 CC).
The background
The Peugeot 206 is a supermini car (B-segment) designed and produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot from 1998 to 2024 as a replacement to the Peugeot 205. Developed under the codename T1, it was released in September 1998 in hatchback form, which was followed by coupé cabriolet (206 CC) in September 2000, station wagon (206 SW) in September 2001, and a sedan version (206 SD, which is an abbreviation of the Iranian word sandogh-dar, "sedan", made, produced and sold in Iran) in September 2005, before being replaced by the 207 in April 2006. Its facelifted version was initially launched in South America in September 2008, and in China in November 2008, in hatchback, sedan and station wagon body styles, and marketed as the 207 Compact, and as the 207 respectively. This version was subsequently launched in Europe in February 2009, only in hatchback form and marketed as the 206+.
In South America, where it was assembled in Argentina as well as Brazil, it continued to be offered as the 207 Compact until January 2017, and also in China, both under the 207 nameplate and as the Citroën C2. The 206 is the best-selling Peugeot model of all time with 8,358,217 cars sold by 2012. In 2020, the 206 had been counted as the thirtieth most long-lived single generation car by Autocar magazine. In Iran, sales of the Peugeot 206 were discontinued in 2024.
The engineering
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 950 -. The gearbox is a 4-speed ZF AL4 automatic / 5-speed manual / 6-speed manual (motorsport only). The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2442 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Peugeot's history is not in doubt: the Peugeot 205 came before it; the Peugeot 207 followed it; it was built at Mulhouse (PSA Mulhouse Plant. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Lexus IS, the Cadillac Escalade, the Ford Focus. Its Peugeot stablemates include the Peugeot Onyx and the Peugeot Pars.