Peugeot mourns design guru

One of France's most renowned designers, Peugeot's Gérard Welter, has died of natural causes at the age of 75.

Welter, who designed cars for Peugeot for 47 years, passed away Wednesday after penning some of the most legendary Peugeots of the last half a century.

His design credits included the 304 and 604, the 305, the 405 and the 406. His last production Peugeot design was the RCZ coupe, with its complex double-bubble glass roof.

He is most famous, though, as the designer of the iconic 205 hatchback. The 205 exploded onto the motoring scene in 1983 and Peugeot built 5.3 million of them in seven countries over a 14-year production run.

It gave birth to the 205 GTi, which was the first hot hatch to best the Volkswagen Golf GTi in performance, if not sales.

He didn't isolate himself with conventional projects, though, and he teamed up with fellow Peugeot designer Michel Meunier to create the WM-Peugeot sports racing car.

Its top speed of 405km/h on the Les Hunaudières section of the Le Sarthe circuit in 1988 remains the speed record ever recorded at Le Mans.

While Roger Dorchy's lap in the WM P88 is widely remembered (the car was parked almost immediately after recording the record speed), Welter's racers competed at Le Mans every year from 1976 until 1989, with part support from his employers.

He also designed the most successful rally car of the Group B era, the Peugeot 205 T16, the Paris Dakar-winning 205 and 405 Coupe and the 405 Coupe that rose to fame in the Climb Dance short film that covered Ari Vatanen's Pikes Peak victory in 1988.