Armand Peugeot was born on 26 March 1849 in Herimoncourt, in eastern France. He was the son of Emile Peugeot and Jean Pierre. . Since 1810, the family had manufactured a wide range of practical goods ranging from corset bones, coffee grinders, spectacle frames, winding mechanisms for clocks, and carts.
After graduating from an engineering school in Paris, Peugeot visited Leeds, then the heart of manufacturing in Britain, and came back convinced that the future of horses as a means of transport was limited. Within the family firm, he first manufactured tricycles and bicycles but in March of 1890 he too delivery of two Daimler engines from Panhard et Levassor. Under the supervision of Louis Rigoulot, who was charge of the Bicycle operation Peugeot built a prototype quadricycle. The first prototype was not a success but Rigoulot continued to make improvements. Automobile were still a sideline compared to the bicycle business but the automobile garnered growing interest if not sales.
