The museum was founded by members of the Peugeot family, opening in 1988 across the road from the company's huge industrial site at Sochaux.

Peugeot products with longer pedigrees including bicycles are also represented along with the company's long history as a manufacturer of domestic articles and tools.

In 1984 work started to convert a large workshop on the edge of the company's historic Sochaux site into a museum building to house the collection: this opened to the public in 1988.

The Peugeot business reached its 200th anniversary in May 2010, and to celebrate the museum benefited from a 1,500 m2 extension which increased by 35 to 130 the number of vehicles that can be exhibited at any one time.

Initially the virtual tour involved just eight vehicles, but plans exist to extend it to cover every car in the museum.