Peugeot Official Partner of the Rugby World Cup 2007

Peugeot’s partnership agreement with the International Rugby Board for the Rugby World Cup 2007 hosted by France from 7th September to 20th October gives the company the status of Official partner of the competition with the honour of supplying all the official cars for the tournament. Two hundred and eighty vehicles flying the event colours have been provided to the committee to be used to transport the teams, officials and VIPs during the tournament, around the 12 host sites in France, Scotland and Wales.

Peugeot has already supported this prestigious event in the past, in Australia in 2003. Bringing together the 20 biggest rugby-playing nations who will battle it out to succeed England - winners in 2003 - the competition is now a major world event. Since its creation in 1987, the Rugby World Cup has become a flagship event for the sport and more than two-million spectators and three-billion television viewers are expected to be thrilled by the 48 matches this time around.

The competition is held in nine French cities (Bordeaux, Lens, Lyons, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris, Saint Etienne and Toulouse) as well as in Cardiff and Edinburgh.

When signing this partnership agreement, the Chairman of the IRB Dr Syd Millar said, “We are delighted that Peugeot has become the second of our global partners for the Rugby World Cup 2007. The Rugby World Cup is one of the premier sports events in the world and it is very pleasing that a multi-national company like Peugeot has endorsed the commercial programme of the 2007 tournament by signing as a global partner.”

Peugeot and sport: real teamwork
Peugeot’s commitment to sport has taken numerous forms over the years other than the various automobile races in which it has excelled since its first participation - Paris-Bordeaux in 1896 or Indianapolis in 1912 for example. Not only has it enjoyed a long partnership with cycles and the Tour de France, it has also been closely involved in the development of the multiple cup-winning French football club Sochaux since the 1930s. However, it was in the 1980s that Peugeot decided to expand its strategy of sports sponsorship internationally around tennis, golf and rugby, three disciplines whose values are seen as being in line with the Peugeot brand.

For each of these three sports, it has established a sponsorship strategy adapted to all levels. Firstly, at the amateur level, it has developed recreational and friendly competitions for players around the globe. Then, at the intermediate level, it supports a variety of sporting bodies (federations, teams, clubs, etc.) or national competitions. Finally, at the professional level, it has got involved in major sports events with a wide international audience: Roland Garros since 1984, the Peugeot French Open for 14 years then the Lancôme Trophy until 2003.

Peugeot’s involvement in rugby is a natural choice given that the sport's values are compatible with those of Peugeot: reliability, aesthetics, dynamism and innovation. In 1996, the Brand decided to embark on the rugby adventure, becoming the official partner of the Stade Toulousain. Mirroring its commitments in France, Peugeot also supports rugby through some of its foreign subsidiaries. This is especially true in the UK with Coventry Rugby Club, in Argentina with the country’s national team, the Pumas, as well as in Chile and Uruguay. For its part, Uruguay organised for the third time this year the Peugeot Kids Cup, a competition for young rugby players launched in France in 2002 with the Stade Toulousain.

Peugeot first got involved in the Rugby World Cup tournament in 2003. In 2007, underlining and extending its previous commitments, Peugeot's ambition is to play a greater role in promoting rugby throughout the world.

William Webb Ellis
Further underlining its commitment to Rugby, Peugeot UK has recently funded the manufacture of a replica statue of the founder of Rugby, William Webb Ellis. This replica is a copy of the statue that stands proud outside Rugby school in Warwickshire and was recently presented to the town of Menton on the French Riviera to stand close to the final resting place of William Webb Ellis.