The Lion-Peugeot Type VC and the Lion-Peugeot Type VC1 are early motor cars produced near

Valentigney Valentigney () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Valentigney is best known as the place where Peugeot began operations; several members of the Peugeot family still live in the area. D ...

by the French auto-maker

Lion-Peugeot Lion-Peugeot is a formerly independent French auto-maker. It is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of the established Peugeot car business, began to produce automobiles at Beaulieu near Valentigney. ...

between 1906 and 1910. The cars, which differed very little from one another, were propelled using a single cylinder 1,045 cm³ four stroke engine, mounted ahead of the driver. A maximum of between 8 and 9 hp of power was delivered to the rear wheels. The Types VC and VC1 were in many ways similar to the manufacturer's Type VA which entered production in the same year, but they were slightly longer at 2,950 mm, with a wheel-base of 2,120 mm. A carriage format

Voiturette A voiturette is a miniature automobile. History ''Voiturette'' was first registered by Léon Bollée in 1895 to name his new motor tricycle. The term became so popular in the early years of the motor industry that it was used by many makers t ...

body provided space for two while the covered carriage

Tonneau A tonneau ( or ) is an area of a car or truck open at the top. It can be for passengers or cargo. A tonneau cover in current automotive terminology is a hard or soft cover that spans the back of a pickup truck to protect the load or to improve ...

/ Phaeton format body offered ample space for four.

Lion-Peugeot and Peugeot: the difference

“Lion-Peugeot” is the name under which in 1906 Robert Peugeot and his two brothers, independently of their cousin Armand'sArmand Peugeot and Robert’s father, Eugène Peugeot, were both great grand-sons of Jean-Pierre Peugeot jr (1768 - 1852), who himself was the son of the similarly named company founder Jean-Pierre Peugeot sr 1734 - 1814. Therefore Robert Peugeot and Armand Peugeot were second cousins once removed to one another. "Automobiles Peugeot" company, established a car manufacturing business at Beaulieu near Vallentigny. Ten years earlier the automobile pioneer Armand Peugeot had split away from the family business after a long-standing disagreement over how intensively the company should diversify into larger scale automobile production. An agreement had at that time been entered into between Armand's “Automobiles Peugeot” company and the residual Peugeot business that the residual business should concentrate on its established metal tools and components businesses along with its successful bicycle manufacturing activities, while Armand would have Peugeot branded powered vehicles to himself. During the ensuing ten years Armand's automobile business had grown rapidly, although it appears that the residual Peugeot business had probably not entirely avoided producing powered vehicles. In any event, under a new agreement signed in 1905, the residual Peugeot business made Armand an annual payment in return for which Armand consented to the residual business itself producing motor cars under the “Lion-Peugeot” name. The arrangement continued until 1910 after which (the death of Robert Peugeot's father Eugène having apparently removed a major impediment to the idea) the Lion-Peugeot business and the Peugeot automobiles business were merged into a single company. Nevertheless, some smaller models continued to be branded as “Lion-Peugeots” until 1916.

Sources and further reading

* Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader: ''Die große Automobil-Enzyklopädie'', BLV, München 1986, * Wolfgang Schmarbeck: ''Alle Peugeot Automobile 1890–1990'', Motorbuch-Verlag. Stuttgart 1990. {{Peugeot historic timeline 1910s cars Type VC Cars introduced in 1906 de:Lion-Peugeot VC it:Peugeot Lion VA, VC e VY