'Lions' and other beacons in Saarland

Until 2012, alongside ZF, Ford and numerous suppliers such as Bosch, Nedschroef Michelin and Saargummi, the German import organisation of Peugeot was regarded as an important guarantee of success for Saarland, the 'home of the car'.

Although Saarland had become part of the Federal Republic in 1957, duty-free goods traffic from Saarland's economy to France continued. The arrangements that were made ensured that the two partners had to do business in a balanced way. That meant that the more Peugeots the Saarländer bought, the more coal Saarland could deliver duty-free to France.

In view of the special status of Peugeot in Saarland – stronger than it was in France – the Peugeot works decided to organise their import to the Federal Republic out of Saarbrücken. So it was that Peugeot Deutschland GmbH came into being on 1 January 1967 with its registered office located there. To that end, Peugeot had acquired the premises of KHG, founded in 1936. KHG had imported Peugeot vehicles during the period of autonomy (1947-1957) and had also – when Saarland became a federal state in 1957 – been given market responsibility by Peugeot for Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, parts of Hesse and the Rhineland-Palatinate. As from 1967, Peugeot's business in the Federal Republic – new vehicle sales, replacement parts supply and dealer support – was all managed out of Saarbrücken.