Braybuddy wrote:But there is no "R" in the prononuciation of Peugeot in French. There will always be variations in the pronunciation of foreign words, but I can't understand why English speakers would insert a letter when there is none.
But there is no "R" in the pronunciation of Peugeot in English either.
So I don't understand your problem.
Alright, so maybe I do a bit.
There are two extreme versions of the word Peugeot, one with the letter "R", and one with a glottal-stop instead.
FYI a glottal stop is what you get if you say "war'er" instead of "water". The glottal stop is that uncomfortable break in the middle of the word water where the letter "t" should exist. Glottal stops can also act as a substitute for other letters, or for nothing at all if a particular dialect demands it. I'm sure you have heard the term Ba'athist Iraq.
(and now I'll have the NSA monitoring my e-mails..... )
Likewise, we can break the word Peugeot into two halves as follows; Peu'geot or maybe the even more brutal P'geot.
Except if go to that extreme, we need to distinguish between P = "pee", and P = "purr", but without the "rr"
However the degree of hesitation caused by the glottal stop, and indeed it's existence at all, will vary from region to region even within France, such that many will approach the "English" version where we smooth out the word, eliminating the clumsy break point, and say Purr-jho, as a single entity.
The letter "R" does not exist as a clear spoken element, even though I have doubled it in my example (Purr). It is simply a barely noticeable device to smoothly link between the two halves of the word (at least as I pronounce it), and as direct alternative to the glottal stop. Both French and English people find this version more agreeable.
If you can find an English speaker who emphasizes the "R" and makes a feature of it, for instance by rolling it, then I am happy to agree with you.
If you doubt any of the above; don't rely exclusively on the so-called experts on youtube; listen to a sales presentation by Peugeot themselves, in French, to a French audience!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXHJX-xzvF8
I recommend listening closely at 5m15s and 5m20s.
*(please note correct spelling of pronunciation, which I got wrong my own last post LOL)