Peugeot History: Armand Peugeot started by building bicycles and the first Peugeot was a three-wheeled, steam powered car that he made in 1889. Peugeot was the first to use rubber tires and a Peugeot won the Indianapolis 500 in 1913, 1916 and 1919. Peugeot switched to produce weapons for France during World War I and was taken over by Germany to produce weapons during World War II. In 1974 Peugeot acquired 30% of Citroën and by 1975 had controlling interest, becoming the PSA (Peugeot Societe Anonyme) group. In 1978 the PSA group took over the European division of Chrysler, which proved to be a financial disaster. The success of the 1983 Peugeot 205 turned things around but U.S. competition proved too much and they pulled out of the American market in 1991.