Peugeot Type 163: the modern 10CV of 1919

The Peugeot Type 163 and associated models were produced from 1919 to 1924. The car’s engine placed it in the 10CV class.

Peugeot Type 163 at a glance

based on one short source

History of the Peugeot Type 163

Catching up after the war

After the First World War Peugeot returned to passenger car production slightly less quickly than Renault and Citroën, both of them based in Paris and both quick to enter the 10HP class with new models. Peugeot’s 159 was very much a stopgap, and the Type 163, prepared during the summer of 1919, was a much more modern contender.

The models

The original Type 163 had a wheelbase of 2,520 mm and a 1,437 cc engine. In 1922 Peugeot added the Type 163 BS, a sportier model that was lighter, with an uprated 1,480 cc engine, four-wheel drive and a longer wheelbase of 2,640 mm. In 1923 came the Type 163 BR, which carried over most of the mechanicals of the BS but was heavier and slower.

Production

Total production of the family came to 11,925 cars, a large figure by the standards of the early 1920s and the model that established Peugeot as a serious maker of mid-sized cars again.

Design and features

• 10CV class: a mid-sized car aimed at the same buyers as the Citroën and Renault models.
• 1,437 cc engine: later enlarged to 1,480 cc in the sporty BS.
• Type 163 BS: lighter, faster and with four-wheel drive.
• Long wheelbase: 2,520 mm, extended to 2,640 mm on the BS.
• Nearly 12,000 built: a volume model for post-war Peugeot.

Peugeot Type 163 versions

• Type 163 (1919): 1,437 cc, 2,520 mm wheelbase.
• Type 163 BS (1922): 1,480 cc, four-wheel drive, 2,640 mm wheelbase.
• Type 163 BR (1923): heavier and slower version of the BS.

The 163 followed the Type 146 and was joined by the small Quadrilette, the car that carried Peugeot through the post-war years. More in the Peugeot collection.

Sources

• Peugeot Type 163, English Wikipedia: background, models, engines, production