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The Peugeot 307 is a
small family car The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C- ...
produced by the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
automaker
PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive ma ...
, under their
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 then ...
marque, from 2001 to 2008 in Europe, and was the successor to the Peugeot 306, which was discontinued in 2002 after being in production for nine years. Using the PSA PF2 platform, it was awarded the
European Car of the Year The European Car of the Year ("ECOTY") award is an international Car of the Year award established in 1964, by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organising companies of the award are '' Auto'' ( ...
title for 2002, and continued to be offered in China and certain
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
n markets through 2014, despite the September 2007 French launch of the
308 __NOTOC__ Year 308 ( CCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and (Galerius) Maximianus (or, less ...
(its intended successor), which is built on the same platform.


History

The 307 was announced as the 307 Prométhée prototype at the 2000
Mondial de l'Automobile The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
. The production hatchback versions were introduced to the
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
an markets on 26 April 2001, as a successor to the Peugeot 306. The 307 was also sold in Australia,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
,
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
, and (in 1.6 and 2.0 petrol versions)
Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
. In
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the 307 is sold with 1.6 and 2.0 flex (gas/ethanol) engines.


Design and engineering

The 307 makes use of a reworked 306 platform, that can also be found on the Citroën Xsara as well as the 1991 Citroën ZX. However, the car is larger than the 306 in every direction. The 307 continued the company's styling first seen on the Peugeot 206 and Peugeot 607. With upswept front lights and a steeply rising bonnet leading to a highly sloped windscreen (and the upright rear doors first seen on the 206), the 307 departed from the
Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...
designed themes employed on the previous two generations of Peugeots, as introduced with the Peugeot 205, and ending with the (evolutionary) Peugeot 406. Its height is , which is in the middle of the spectrum between
small family car The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C- ...
s (between 1400 and 1450 mm) and compact MPVs (between 1600 and 1650 mm). Some consider the 307 as a low compact MPV rather than a tall small family car, because of its height and profile. One advertisement for the 307, which was released upon its launch in 2001, featured the song, " (Something Inside) So Strong" by British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre.


''Top Gear''

In a report from '' Top Gear Magazine'' in June 2001, the new Peugeot 307 1.6 16v TU5 JP4 went head to head with its competitors, the
Ford Focus The Ford Focus is a compact car ( C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The ...
1.6L I4 Zetec SE and Honda Civic 1.6
VTEC VTEC (Variable Valve Timing & Lift Electronic Control) is a system developed by Honda to improve the volumetric efficiency of a four-stroke internal combustion engine, resulting in higher performance at high RPM, and lower fuel consumption at low ...
. The Peugeot received high praise in all areas of the road test, beating both the Ford and Honda on price, space, handling, running costs and refinement. The 307 won the road test, followed by the Focus and the Civic respectively.


Facelift

In June 2005, the 307 was revised to meet the onslaught of rivals which had been launched since the introduction of the 307 four years earlier in 2001. The front of the car was restyled featuring mildly revised lights, a new bonnet, updated instrument cluster, and the removal of the trademark Peugeot grille between the headlights. With the latter change, along with a new front bumper, the front of the car was now dominated by a larger air intake, as first established on the Peugeot 407, and which was now effectively the company's new grille.


Body styles

The 307 was launched as a three- and five-door
hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...
, though in February 2002, the range of the 307 was expanded with the introduction of two
estates Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representa ...
, the 307 Break and 307 SW. Externally the two estates are almost identical, however, the SW version has silver roof bars and a three/four length panoramic glass roof as standard equipment. Internally though, the 307 Break is a conventional estate, while the SW features an optional third row of removable seats, so it is more flexible due to its MPV-like configuration. The SW exists, because Peugeot did not develop a compact MPV spinoff, as Citroën did with the Xsara Picasso, instead preferring to offer a more flexible version, but maintaining the style and road manners of an estate. Unlike the previous model, there was no saloon version, but one was designed for emerging markets, such as China and the market in Latin America, as saloons were much preferred to hatchbacks. The 307 CC, a cabriolet with a retractable hardtop, was launched in August 2003, to compete against the new European
coupé cabriolet A retractable hardtop — also known as "coupé convertible" or "coupé cabriolet" — is a car with an automatically operated, self-storing hardtop, as opposed to the folding textile-based roof used by traditional convertible cars. The benefits ...
s. A new, four door saloon version of the 307, was launched in China in June 2004. The 307 is produced for the market in China by the Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile, a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
with the
PSA Group The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...
. This model was also built in
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
between May 2006 and November 2010. In 2006, the Argentinian version contained 60% local parts. Production ended in China in 2014.


Engines


Petrol

* 1.4 L (1360 cc) '' TU3'' I4, * 1.4 L (1360 cc) '' ET3'' I4, and * 1.6 L (1587 cc) '' TU5'' I4, and * 2.0 L (1997 cc) '' EW10''
16-valve In automotive engineering a multi-valve or multivalve engine is one where each cylinder has more than two valves. A multi-valve engine has better breathing and may be able to operate at higher revolutions per minute (RPM) than a two-valve engine, ...
I4, and * 2.0 L (1997 cc) '' EW10''
16-valve In automotive engineering a multi-valve or multivalve engine is one where each cylinder has more than two valves. A multi-valve engine has better breathing and may be able to operate at higher revolutions per minute (RPM) than a two-valve engine, ...
I4, and * 2.0 L (1997 cc) '' EW10''
16-valve In automotive engineering a multi-valve or multivalve engine is one where each cylinder has more than two valves. A multi-valve engine has better breathing and may be able to operate at higher revolutions per minute (RPM) than a two-valve engine, ...
I4, and For the 1.6 L setup also available (from 09/2007 onwards) is a version called 1.6 BioFlex, that can as well run on
ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...
E85.


Diesel

* 1.4 L (1398 cc) '' DV4 HDi'' diesel I4 70 PS * 1.6 L (1560 cc) '' DV6 HDi'' diesel I4, 90–110 PS and * 2.0 L (1997 cc) '' DW10 HDi'' diesel I4, and * 2.0 L HDI


Hybrid HDi

In January 2006, Peugeot announced a prototype diesel-electric hybrid engine for the 307 that could achieve , but was not intended for sale until at least 2010, by which time the 307 was replaced by the 308, and the hybrid was still not launched. The
Citroën C4 Hybride HDi Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...
was announced at the same time.


Reliability

According to some sources, the 307 suffers from below-average build quality and reliability, having featured at the bottom of the German Automobile Club breakdown statistics for 3- to 5-year-old small family cars in 2009. However, June 2005 saw a facelift within the model and reliability increased, making it a more popular model. 2006/2007 models were referenced as a lot more reliable and trustworthy.


Motorsport

The Peugeot 307 WRC, a World Rally Car based on the 307 CC, replaced the championship-winning 206 WRC in the
World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. There are separate championships ...
for the season of
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
. The vehicle was plagued by transmission problems throughout its career, and the works team's drivers' driving styles did not suit the car's handling characteristics. In
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, the car took seven podiums and a maiden win in
Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The r ...
, but it was not able to challenge for the championship as Marcus Grönholm finished fifth in the drivers' championship and Peugeot fourth in the manufacturers' championship. The season of
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...
was more successful, and Peugeot was a serious challenger for the manufacturers' championship, leading the championship after round 10, but the challenge faded after
Markko Märtin Markko Märtin (born 10 November 1975 in Tartu) is a retired Rallying, rally driver from Estonia, who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2000 World Rally Championship season, 2000 until 2005 World Rally Championship season, 2005. Caree ...
's retirement from rallying. Peugeot ultimately finished second in the manufacturers' championship, while Grönholm finished third in the drivers' championship, tied on points with second-placed Petter Solberg. Grönholm took victories at
Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The r ...
and
Rally Japan Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roa ...
along with six other podium finishes, while Märtin took four further podiums. The car saw its factory-supported competition life cut short at the end of
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...
by PSA's decision to withdraw the factory teams of both
Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
and Peugeot from top-level rallying. A private undertaking by seasoned Peugeot preparatory firm Bozian Racing, dubbed ''OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team'', largely assumed responsibility for the running of WRC specification 307s for the following season of 2006. Manfred Stohl and Henning Solberg were named as the driving personnel. Stohl impressively placed fourth in the overall drivers' standings, and the 307 WRC took seven podiums by privateer teams that season. Overall, the car has three WRC victories and 26 podiums to its name, Marcus Grönholm having driven it to the top of the podium in the series at the
Rally Finland Rally Finland (formerly known as the Neste Rally Finland, Neste Oil Rally Finland, 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally of the Thousand Lakes; fi, Suomen ralli, sv, Finska rallyt) is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The r ...
in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
and
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...
as well as at the
Rally Japan Rally Japan (ラリージャパン) is a rally competition held in Hokkaidō, Japan. The event made its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship during the 2004 season. From 2004 to 2007, the event was held on the twisty and narrow gravel roa ...
in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...
. The 307 WRC will be remembered for the accident that befell WRC competitors
Markko Märtin Markko Märtin (born 10 November 1975 in Tartu) is a retired Rallying, rally driver from Estonia, who competed in the World Rally Championship from 2000 World Rally Championship season, 2000 until 2005 World Rally Championship season, 2005. Caree ...
and Michael Park on September 18, 2005, which resulted in co-driver Park's death. On stage 15 of Wales Rally GB, Märtin lost control of his 307 WRC and collided with a tree, killing Park instantly. This was the first fatality in a WRC event since Rodger Freeth in
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
. The Peugeot 307 has also been raced in the
World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a s ...
, the
British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...
, Stock Car Brasil, TC2000 and the Danish Touring Car Championship.


WRC Victories

:


Sales


See also

* Peugeot 307 WRC


References


External links


Official international 307 English website
{{Peugeot timeline 1980 to date 307 Cars introduced in 2001 2010s cars Compact cars Hatchbacks Station wagons Sedans Convertibles Hardtop convertibles Euro NCAP small family cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Touring cars