Peugeot 309

The Peugeot 309 is a compact automobile designed and manufactured by Peugeot between 1986 and 1993.

The 309 was a car designed to do many tasks. First and foremost it had to replace the 305 and Talbot Horizon, as well as continuing the momentum in changing the company's image that had been started by the smaller 205. Originally, Peugeot had intended to sell the car as the Talbot Arizona. But Peugeot was gradually discarding the Talbot marque in favour of its own, and within a year of the 309's launch the Talbot badge was no longer used on passenger cars.

Despite using a new 205-based bodyshell, most of the 309's mechanicals were carried over from the Horizon, including the Simca-designed engines and chassis. These decade-old mechanicals were later replaced by Peugeot's own TU and XU series of engines, and the Peugeot 309 proved to be one of the best handling small family cars in Europe.

One of the major achievements of the 309 was that it was the first British-built Peugeot, being made in the former Rootes factory in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England although production also took place in the Simca plant near Poissy, in France.

Peugeot 309 production ceased in the spring of 1993, when it was replaced by the all-new Peugeot 306.