automotivebriefs
11:09in productionCh. 1 · Designed and built in Turin/ 11:09 · ceiling 15 min
Saloons & estates · Sports cars

Peugeot 406

Pininfarina · 1997

A family car redesigned as sculpture — and sold like a utility.

The Peugeot 406 Coupé is a front-wheel-drive large family car designed and built by Pininfarina. It shares its platform with the saloon and estate. Davide Arcangeli led its design. 107,633 were made. It succeeded in UK fleet sales, won 1997 What Car? Car of the Year, and set a world fuel-efficiency record in 2002.

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Chapters & takeaways4
  1. 1:04
    Designed and built in Turin

    Pininfarina didn’t just style the 406 coupé — they engineered and built it, under Davide Arcangeli’s direction.

  2. 3:02
    Volume, not vanity

    Over 107,000 coupés were made — and many became UK company cars and taxis.

  3. 4:44
    Award-winning utility

    It set a world fuel-efficiency record and won What Car? Car of the Year — twice as a towcar.

  4. 6:41
    Rejected by Fiat, adopted by Peugeot

    Pininfarina first offered the design to Fiat — and Peugeot, a long-standing client, said yes.

Worth your time?

Yes. Drive the whole thing.

3.5/ 5
What works
  • as a volume-built coupé with strong visual identity
  • as a fuel-efficient long-distance runner
  • as a design-led extension of a mainstream model
What does not
  • rear-wheel drive
  • bespoke chassis
  • low-volume exclusivity
Drive it if
  • fleet buyers
  • practical drivers who value form
  • UK taxi operators
Skip it if
  • track-day drivers
  • collector-spec buyers
  • driving purists
The written brief2 min read

What the car is and where it came from

The Peugeot 406 is a large family car made by Peugeot from 1995 to 2004. The coupé version was designed and built by Pininfarina, launched at the 1996 Paris Motor Show, and credited to designer Davide Arcangeli.

How it works, in terms someone would actually use

The 406 coupé is a two-door, front-engined, front-wheel-drive large family car. It uses conventional petrol or turbodiesel engines — 2.0 L four-cylinder, 3.0 L V6, or 2.2 L HDi — and was built by Pininfarina in Italy. It shares its platform and core engineering with the saloon and estate versions.

What it gets right

The coupé’s proportions are resolved: long bonnet, short overhangs, fast roofline, and taut rear haunches. It delivers real-world efficiency — proven by a world fuel-distance record — and broad usability, from UK taxi fleets to Caravan Club towcar awards.

What it does not

It does not offer rear-wheel drive. It does not have a lightweight aluminium chassis. It does not use a bespoke body structure — the coupé shares its floorpan and suspension layout with the saloon and estate.

What it changed

It showed that a mainstream European manufacturer could outsource a full-bodied variant to an Italian design house — and sell over 107,000 units of it. It shifted expectations for what a family-car coupé could be: not a niche indulgence, but a viable, award-winning, high-volume proposition.

Who it is for, and who it is not

It is for drivers who want a practical, front-wheel-drive family car with sculpted presence — not raw performance or exclusivity. It is not for enthusiasts seeking driver engagement, mechanical novelty, or low-volume rarity.

Is it worth your time

Yes — if you care about how a mass-market car’s shape can be elevated by a design studio without compromising function. Its success in fleet sales, motorsport, and fuel-efficiency records proves it worked as both tool and statement.

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9:40
Peugeot 403Pininfarina · 1955The Peugeot 403 is a mid-size saloon launched by Peugeot in April 1955 and styled by Pininfarina. It used a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and a 4-speed manual transmission. Its 1468 cc pushrod straight-four engine produced 58 hp, later increased to 65 hp. It featured ponton, three-box styling and a metal sunroof on most models. Over 1.2 million were built — the first Peugeot to exceed one million sales. The collaboration with Pininfarina marked the start of a fifty-year design partnership. A diesel estate debuted in autumn 1958.
9:12
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9:52
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