PSA Adoption

[Michel]

No, but the BX only sold 2/3rds the amount the Xsara Pic Mk1 did... in more time.

[Hell Razor5543]

According to the BBC Breakfast News the PSA group is to announce around 400 job losses at the Ellesmere plant.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... stra-falls

[GiveMeABreak]

According to the BBC Breakfast News the PSA group is to announce around 400 job losses at the Ellesmere plant.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... stra-falls

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=58730&start=15#p553308

[NewcastleFalcon]

I enjoyed this little background aside to PSA's current adoption, bit of history from Autocar entitled..

GM and PSA deal: What happened last time Peugeot bought a car company

regards Neil

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

Nice article Neil. The line about the success of the Tagora made me chuckle, goodness only knows how the people that made the similarly boxy Pug 604 and Talbot Solara managed to make the Tagora so ugly!

What is it with these Cars of The Year, in partic the Simca 1100 and less so that Chrysler, later Talbot; Alpine, that they often seem to be largely unsuccessful (I believe) in the UK.

I owned two Alpines, 'T' and 'Y' registered, both in a fetching shade of brown... fashion! Today's grey is its logical successor (to me).

NB: on the subject of Simca's, saw this little rarity in a Parisian suburb while on holiday back in the summer. I observed the elderly owner park & head into a shop.

[Michel]

My dad had a bright yellow Simca 1000 just like that one in the pic back in 1975/6!

[GiveMeABreak]

My boss back in the 80s had a Talbot Solara - absolutely hideous.

The gearstick wobbled around like a joystick and crunched into gear all the time - ghastly car. He had a Volvo 240 Auto before that - much better car - a tank on wheels.

He soon got rid of it as he hated it and bought a black Alfasud:

That was hard as hell and felt so light and tinny - made a noise and was nippy, but rusted to bits.

[NewcastleFalcon]

.... The line about the success of the Tagora made me chuckle, goodness only knows how the people that made the similarly boxy Pug 604 and Talbot Solara managed to make the Tagora so ugly! .....

The relevant line

PSA managed to launch two new models under the Talbot badge, the Samba supermini being a Peugeot 104 reheat notable only for the Cabriolet version, and the Talbot Tagora, an extraordinary executive saloon that made the Austin Ambassador look like a raging success.

Well thats raised my curiosity I need a picture of that Tagora!


Talbot Tagora reg may 1981 2156 cc [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by Charles01 (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

Regards Neil

and my honest opinion

Spoiler: show

Headturner

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

I always found it really strange that the Pug 104 came in two quite different body shapes... what I call
the 'big' 104
and
the 'small' 104 / Talbot Samba / Citroen LNA

Was this perhaps because one was designed by (eg.)Talbot prior to being taken over?

NB: also did the XUD lump debut in the Talbot Horizon?

[CitroJim]

NB: also did the XUD lump debut in the Talbot Horizon?

Yes, it did. Simultaneously with the Pug 305 in 1.9D guise

It was the only decent bit of the Horizon

It also appeared in the Citroen Visa and Pug 205 (as a 1.7D) very early on too...

Early XUDs have square exhaust ports.

[white exec]

Ever fancied a Matra Rancho, Jim?

[CitroJim]

Ever fancied a Matra Rancho, Jim?

Yes! I reckon it would be a perfect bike transporter.. used to lust after them when they were current but now I would think they are vanishingly rare as like all Matra stuff - their missiles excepted perhaps - they could have rusted for France

they always said Matra, being primarily a missile manufacturer, knew nothing of rust-proofing as their main product was a use once only device and thus never needed any rust protection

There may be a bit of truth in that

I lust after a Matra Bagheera too. have since the day they were first released... Love them...

My perfect garage would have one next to my Rover P6

[myglaren]

I hadn't been aware that Matra made the Espace and Avantime for Renault.

[CitroJim]

I hadn't been aware that Matra made the Espace and Avantime for Renault.

Yes, that's why they were so good and went like guided missiles...

Rust was never a problem in the first generation Espace - it was made of plastic... Fantastic cars... The best people carrier ever

[white exec]

IIRC, Matra offered their Espace design to PSA, who thought there wasn't a market for such a thing. Mistake!
So they offered it to Renault.