Originally Posted by Ian Wegg
Originally Posted by JohnHarris
The car manufacturing world is a very strange one, when just simple things like the Porsche 901 became the 911 because Peugeot objected to Porsche using any three digit number where the middle number was 0, asserting ownership of the naming rights in key markets, and having already sold many models with that scheme. We can try and rationalise what real benefit Peugeot gained till the cows come home but at some point they would reach the end of the range X09 (eg 209, 309) ...

Actually, Peugeot has already had a 309 in the late 80s - the rebadged Talbot built at Ryton. Peugeot stopped the numerical progression in 2013 so all models are now X08s.

Did Peugeot ever object to Ferrari's use of 308?


Originally Posted by Goodwood
The story goes that Porsche presented its new 901 at the IAA Frankfurt motor show in September 1963 as the successor to its inaugural 356 model range. Series production of the 901 began in September 1964, but when Porsche presented the model at the Paris Motor Show in October of that year, French car manufacturer Peugeot objected to the new Porsche’s 901 model designation. The reason? Way back in 1929, Peugeot had globally patented a three-digit model designation code with a ‘zero’ in the middle (e.g. 104, 206, 308, etc.). Porsche was therefore compelled to expensively rename its 901 as the 911, with just 82 examples of the 901 produced before the enforced name change. As an interesting aside however, Peugeot didn’t object to the Bristol (e.g. 401, 402, 406, etc.) and Ferrari (208, 308) marques using its patented three-digit model designation system, with Bristol even sourcing the model badges for its 403 directly from Peugeot!

"Y mae dafad ddu ym mhob praidd"
1972 4/4, 1981 MGBGT, 1984 FLHT1340, 1980 XLH1000, 1990 ZX10