The Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot (Museum of the Peugeot Adventure) is a historical museum devoted to the
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
automobile business. The museum was founded by members of the Peugeot family, opening in 1988 across the road from the company's huge
industrial site at Sochaux.
The first Peugeot automobiles emerged in 1891.
The museum presents a global view of the evolution of the
Automotive industry
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industry ...
virtually from its beginning. Peugeot products with longer pedigrees including
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
s are also represented along with the company's long history as a manufacturer of domestic articles and tools.
The museum is planning to welcome 85,000 visitors in 2010 ''(2009: 75,000)'' including approximately 25% from outside France. In the longer term the museum is set up to welcome 90,000 – 100,000 visitors annually,
a rate approximately 25% ahead of the 1.6 million visitors recorded in total between 1988 and 2008.
History
In 1982
Pierre Peugeot, who at the time was president of the company's
supervisory board
In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors.
In civil s ...
, established a “l’Aventure Peugeot“ team, with the objective of gathering together items representative of the company's nearly two centuries of history. Old cars would form the core of the collection, but its scope would also extend to some of the family's other industrial activities.
In 1984 work started to convert a large workshop on the edge of the company's historic
Sochaux
Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.
Geography
Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris.
Population
Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''.
Economy
S ...
site into a museum building to house the collection: this opened to the public in 1988. Progressive improvements continued and in 2000 the museum was extended across the area previously taken by the entire former building which tripled the floor-space of the display area.
The Peugeot business reached its 200th anniversary in May 2010, and to celebrate the museum benefited from a 1,500 m² extension which increased by 35 to 130 the number of vehicles that can be exhibited at any one time.
From 2008 visitors have been able to tour the museum using
audio guides, and in 2010 the museum started a cautious roll-out of a “virtual visit” employing the
flashcode proprietary technology, operable with a
mobile telephone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
with the appropriate software installed. Initially the virtual tour involved just eight vehicles, but plans exist to extend it to cover every car in the museum.
Statistics and highlights
* 450 vehicles of which approximately 130 are on display at any one time
* 300 cycles and motorcycles of which approximately 130 are on display at any one time
* 45 000 m² of exhibition space of which 10 000 m² are open to the public
* 5 km of archives
Gallery
File:Musée peugeot 1.jpg, 1904 automobiles exhibited
File:Moulin café Peugeot 03.jpg, Peugeot coffee grinders
File:Peugeot 601 013.jpg, Peugeot 601
File:Peugeot Grand-bi photo 1.JPG, Peugeot bycicle
File:Pompe à essence, Peugeot museum.JPG, Gas pump
File:Place Vendôme à Paris années 1920.jpg, Place Vendome in Paris 1920s
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee de l'Aventure Peugeot
Museums in Vosges (department)
Peugeot
Automobile museums in France