Am I the first one?

[AtlantaGTP]

What do you think of the 607?

[Stefanel1]

Which Pontiac ?

The 607, I do like it ! I'm thinking to replace my bmw 530d by a 607 HDI or an Alfa 166 JTD. It's quite big, but I like the design. I had already problems with my 156 to park in Paris, now with the bmw 5, it's worse, I don't even think to park a 607

For the 407 have a look there : http://www.407.peugeot.fr/home.html and click also on "les spots tv", good advertisings for the 407.
and there : http://www.automobile.lycos.fr/galer...Peugeot%20407/

Best regards

[AtlantaGTP]

It's a Grand Prix GTP...

I had two 505s, a 405 Mi-16 (and a 164S which might as well have been a Peugeot) and my mother had a 505 as well. I have only driven the 406 in France, but never owned one since Peugeot hasn't sold any cars here since the 1992 model year.

The 607 is beautiful and yet lacking something...

The 407 looks attractive from the photos in the links, but it's hard to say since there is no good profile view. Still, I hope it's a big success.

Any news on when Peugeot may come back to the US?

Merci!

[Stefanel1]

The 407 is surprising on the photos, you've to see it on the road.
The 407's sales figures are excellent in Europe. Peugeot can barely follow the demand.

As an American, why did you buy a Peugeot and an Alfa ? And what was exactly, in your opinion, the image of these makes in the USA when it was exported (1980-1990) ?

FOr the return of Peugeot, no year is announced, for Alfa, I heard say before 2010, and for Renault, between 2010 and 2015 (the dealer network of Nissan/Infiniti could help Renault to export their cars).

[AtlantaGTP]

Why did I buy Peugeots? I'm an American who is half-French, so part of it was to just enjoy something that was a piece of France and reminded me of my grandparents and family. The car that first got me really interested was the 405 Mi16. The ones here were much better than the ones there. They had a "prix interessant" (about $21,000 for a FULLY LOADED Mi-16 with leather, AC, seat warmers, moonroof, etc. vs. about $30,000 for the same thing in France. In fact, they only came fully loaded in the US.

Other than the poor reliability, the car handled very well, had great features, looked beautiful, and had good horsepower for those days. But reliability killed Peugeot over here.

[Stefanel1]

Ok ! so you're half French ! The big problem with Peugeot was the dealer network very poor and the after sale service which was also quite bad.
But I didn't know that the 405 had reliability problems. I knew that for Renault (LeCar especially) but that's all.
THough, today, Peugeots are reliable, as well as Volkswagen (sometimes better : look at the Tdi !) but PSA doesn't want to invest in the USA, they rather prefer invest in China (where the 307 sedan has just been launched) and Eastern Europe (Peugeot/Toyota links).

[AtlantaGTP]

Yes, poor network and poor after-sale service. But also real problems on electronic things…. Power seats stopped working, motorized belts would zoom up and down, little trim bits were glued on! And could be peeled off easily, coolant problems, moon-roofs that would have problems, etc. It’s a real shame. Also the parts were very expensive.

Also I loved the stick, but American buyers buy 90% automatics. 90% of Corvettes, “America’s sports car”, are automatics. That also hurt the Mi-16. So did very uninspired advertising. The brochures were good, however, and got my interest. I really loved the car when it was working. It was a dream then…

I have mixed feelings about Peugeot coming back. The smaller cars aren’t really competitive in the US market, even if they do work. So that leaves really only the 4 and 6 series. The minivans could come too, but they are horrendous looking (which is astounding considering how beautiful many of the Peugeots are). So it’s hard to sell cars with only two cars in the lineup.

So I agree with you that China is a better bet.

I do hope that a few Renaults get sold here as badged Nissans. To me the new Maxima is almost the embodiment of Renault’s design from the show cars of about seven years ago. I forget the name off hand, but it was to be the big Safrane replacement.

[Stefanel1]

The Safrane replacer is the Vel Satis. This car is wonderful inside, but awful outside.

In the USA, I think some models could really work.
Look at Volkswagen, they sell well in North America. And what are they selling ? The Golf, equivalent of the Peugeot 307 and Citroën C4 (with an equipment better than on a Mercedes C Class), the Jetta (Bora in Europe), equivalent of the Mégane Sedan, the Passat : Peugeot 407, Citroën C5 and Renault Laguna, the Phaeton : 607 and Vel Satis are almost as big, the future Citroën C6 will be as big as the Phaeton.
Plus, the Renualt Espace is a minivan equivalent to the Town & Country, but better build and with an excellent handling and modularity. The Peugeot 807 and Citroën C8 are also available.
I think, by Peugeot, the models which could work well are :
the 307 : especially the SW (with the glass roof) and the CC (convertible with electric hard roof)
the 407 : sedan, Coupé and SW.
the 607 : competitor of E Class, A6, S type, etc.
the 807 : mini van
And why not the 206 in CC !
Finally, the brand new 1007 is very small, but (I'm not sure of that) MCC Smart sells Smarts in New York and San Francisco !

The big problem of French auto makers today is the fact that they don't sell SUVs. Renault is going to sell one for 2006, but for Europe, a mini SUV big as a Toyota Rav 4. It works very well over here (4x4 in big towns, it's very "in" ...!) but in the US, it would be too little.