The Peugeot 309 was a small family car manufactured between 1985 and 1993 in England and France. It was originally intended to be badged as a Talbot and, as development progressed, to be called the Talbot Arizona. It was the replacement for the Talbot Horizon, which had started life as a Chrysler in Britain and a Simca in France, also being built in several guises for the American market.
In 1985, the PSA Group decided to discontinue the Talbot brand, with the last Talbot passenger vehicle being the Samba, and market the Arizona as the Peugeot 309 instead. The Talbot brand was phased out completely when Talbot Express production stopped in the early 1990s.
The first 309 for the British market rolled off the production line at Ryton in October 1985 and sales began at the beginning of the following year. The 309 was not intended to replace Peugeot's own 305 model, but the out of step model number – the next small family car after the 305 should have been named "306" – was intended to distance it from the 305 in the marketplace and to reflect the car's Simca origins.
The 309 was eventually replaced in 1993 by the Peugeot 306, returning to their normal numbering scheme.
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