Dow Jones Newswires - French auto maker PSA Peugeot-Citroen (UG.FR) is using the launch of a new automobile as an occasion to simplify the way it names cars it sells under the Peugeot brand.
"Permanently fixing the numbers will simplify the understanding of the range and assist in establishing it," Peugeot said Thursday.
Peugeot gives numeric names to most of its models, assigning three digits to each of them. In the case of the 107 city car or the 206 hatchback, for instance, the first digit represents the size of the model and the last one its generation. The zero in the middle has been a permanent fixture in all the names because it represents a signature of the brand.
With the upcoming launch of a sedan for emerging markets--to be called the 301--Peugeot is putting a halt to the automatic change to the third digit of a model's name whenever a new version comes to market. The successor to the 408 sedan, for example, won't be called the 409, but remain the 408.
Those models whose names carry alphabetic initials after their numeric names or two zeros in the middle of their names will keep the denomination.
Even those that have broken with tradition with names like iOn or Bipper Tepee will preserve their names.
This policy already exists at Citroen, Peugeot's sister brand.
Many of Peugeot's models have names whose third digit has reached the number eight. PSA decided that it is a good number at which to stop, partly because it represents good fortune in China, a spokeswoman said--a sign of the importance of the country's market to auto makers.
Peugeot will introduce the 301 in Turkey in November. It will later bring it to eastern Europe, north Africa and Latin America, the spokeswoman said.
When Peugeot came out with its first car in 1929, it named it the 201.
