Cargolex
Vlad's Peugeot
Vlad really wanted to be on Flickr - and he really wanted his Peugeot (which is for sale) on Flickr. Having had two Peugeot 405s, a 1989 S and a 1991 Mi16, I'm very attached to that car, so here they are together.
In 1984, the year that Peugeot sold the largest number of cars in one year in the U.S.A. that it would ever sell, rumors began to circulate that the 205 would be sold in America starting in 1986, perhaps heralding an expanded range of Peugeot cars for stateside consumption.
That did not happen - in part because product planners couldn't agree on what configurations to sell the 205 in here, or consensus that Americans would want a car as small as the 205 at all. In the end, Americans never got the 205 and many enthusiasts pined for the 205 GTi for decades. It was one of many miscalculations on Peugeot's part with regards to the American market.
Peugeot's lineup in America had consisted solely of the 504, 505, and 604 since the early seventies and by 1985 all that was left was the 505 sedan and wagon. Even if the 205 wouldn't come over, the company did realize that additional models had to be provided or the make would never grow beyond the 20,000 annual unit mark.
The 405, upcoming for 1988, proved to be the perfect supplement to the aging 505. Modern, front-drive, good looking, and lower in cost than the bigger, older companion. Again, however, during the product planning phase things got quirky over a seeming lack of willingness to adapt products for North America, such as an argument about power windows. Some at Peugeot France felt that power windows up front and manual windows in back, a configuration common in Europe, didn't need to be changed for North America, where such a thing would be deeply weird to the average consumer. Ultimately American-side product planners had their way on that question.
Regardless of the product planning issues, the 405 was a great car through and through. By the time it bowed in North America in the fall of 1988, Peugeot's American fortunes were on the wane thanks to increased costs (a result of the Plaza Accord), the stock market crash of 1987, and the decline of Diesel popularity in the states, among other reasons.
The 405 launch was a big affair, and the stateside Automotive Press greeted the car with rave reviews ("The best Peugeot ever," said Car & Driver). But the public, who barely knew Peugeot was alive with its tiny dealer network clustered on the coasts, mostly stayed cool on the car.
In part, that was down to the lack of marketing, but the price didn't help either. The base model 405 DL, with it's wind-up windows, cost almost as much as a fully-optioned Honda Accord, and the 150-hp Mi16 was verging on BMW 3-series territory. There was no way a quirky French brand was going to expand with that working against it no matter how good the car was, and the prices only went up throughout the run.
When the recession of 1991 hit, Peugeot called it quits on North America just a month before the planned introduction of the 1992 cars, having sold just about 10,000 405s over three years. For the 1992 model year, the 605 would have bowed, and possibly the 306 following for 1993 or 1994 - those two debuts, and the later 406, might have hugely helped Peugeot's fortunes in America, but it was not to be.
Vlad's car is a 1991 405 DL, with an automatic. Both of my cars were manuals, so I can't entirely vouch for how the Automatic drives, but the 405 was a good handling car that was easily superior to some of the competition when it was a used car and prices were super low. What had once sold for more than a Honda Accord could, in the late 90s, be bought for less than the price of a contemporaneous VW Jetta 8-valve, and the 405 was lots more fun to drive and be seen in.
If you're interested in procuring Vlad's car (located near Seattle), send me a private message and I'll pass it on. It has some issues and it's cheap. When the car's gone, this part of the posting will be deleted.
©2016 A. Kwanten
Vlad's Peugeot
Vlad really wanted to be on Flickr - and he really wanted his Peugeot (which is for sale) on Flickr. Having had two Peugeot 405s, a 1989 S and a 1991 Mi16, I'm very attached to that car, so here they are together.
In 1984, the year that Peugeot sold the largest number of cars in one year in the U.S.A. that it would ever sell, rumors began to circulate that the 205 would be sold in America starting in 1986, perhaps heralding an expanded range of Peugeot cars for stateside consumption.
That did not happen - in part because product planners couldn't agree on what configurations to sell the 205 in here, or consensus that Americans would want a car as small as the 205 at all. In the end, Americans never got the 205 and many enthusiasts pined for the 205 GTi for decades. It was one of many miscalculations on Peugeot's part with regards to the American market.
Peugeot's lineup in America had consisted solely of the 504, 505, and 604 since the early seventies and by 1985 all that was left was the 505 sedan and wagon. Even if the 205 wouldn't come over, the company did realize that additional models had to be provided or the make would never grow beyond the 20,000 annual unit mark.
The 405, upcoming for 1988, proved to be the perfect supplement to the aging 505. Modern, front-drive, good looking, and lower in cost than the bigger, older companion. Again, however, during the product planning phase things got quirky over a seeming lack of willingness to adapt products for North America, such as an argument about power windows. Some at Peugeot France felt that power windows up front and manual windows in back, a configuration common in Europe, didn't need to be changed for North America, where such a thing would be deeply weird to the average consumer. Ultimately American-side product planners had their way on that question.
Regardless of the product planning issues, the 405 was a great car through and through. By the time it bowed in North America in the fall of 1988, Peugeot's American fortunes were on the wane thanks to increased costs (a result of the Plaza Accord), the stock market crash of 1987, and the decline of Diesel popularity in the states, among other reasons.
The 405 launch was a big affair, and the stateside Automotive Press greeted the car with rave reviews ("The best Peugeot ever," said Car & Driver). But the public, who barely knew Peugeot was alive with its tiny dealer network clustered on the coasts, mostly stayed cool on the car.
In part, that was down to the lack of marketing, but the price didn't help either. The base model 405 DL, with it's wind-up windows, cost almost as much as a fully-optioned Honda Accord, and the 150-hp Mi16 was verging on BMW 3-series territory. There was no way a quirky French brand was going to expand with that working against it no matter how good the car was, and the prices only went up throughout the run.
When the recession of 1991 hit, Peugeot called it quits on North America just a month before the planned introduction of the 1992 cars, having sold just about 10,000 405s over three years. For the 1992 model year, the 605 would have bowed, and possibly the 306 following for 1993 or 1994 - those two debuts, and the later 406, might have hugely helped Peugeot's fortunes in America, but it was not to be.
Vlad's car is a 1991 405 DL, with an automatic. Both of my cars were manuals, so I can't entirely vouch for how the Automatic drives, but the 405 was a good handling car that was easily superior to some of the competition when it was a used car and prices were super low. What had once sold for more than a Honda Accord could, in the late 90s, be bought for less than the price of a contemporaneous VW Jetta 8-valve, and the 405 was lots more fun to drive and be seen in.
If you're interested in procuring Vlad's car (located near Seattle), send me a private message and I'll pass it on. It has some issues and it's cheap. When the car's gone, this part of the posting will be deleted.
©2016 A. Kwanten