QOTD: Are You Holding Out for a (French) Hero?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Yesterday, we brought you the latest update on PSA Group’s long-term plan to return to the U.S. market. The company will start producing U.S.-compliant vehicles starting in three years, with the French automaker able to turn on the product taps anytime after that, should buyers (and more importantly, a dealer network) fall into place.

No, there’ll be no Renaults, no slinky Alpine A110 coupe, but there could be Citroëns, Peugeots and DS models available within the decade should PSA’s plans come to fruition. Forget Germany, Japan, Korea and Sweden. Forget Ford. Is there a French car in your future?

To some, the thought of owning a French car — the pinnacle of automotive quirkiness — is a dream only attainable by snapping up something at least 26 years old from the murky depths of eBay or, if you’ve got a few more bucks to rub together, importing something straight from the Tricolor country itself.

While our minds quickly turn to thoughts of the classic Citroën DS and SM, and perhaps the CX, 2CV or Ronin-featured XM (and Peugeot 505, 504, etc.), we’re not here to talk about old French cars. No one’s resurrecting these models, and there’ll never be a no-mile Déesse appearing in a showroom near you. Current lineup only.

Maybe you’ve perused PSA and Renault’s websites. Perhaps a French car currently in production caught your fancy, prompting you to say, “I’d lay down cash for that if it would only make its way across the Atlantic.” They have MPVs, you know.

If so, what is it? What model makes you pine for a Franco-American romance?

[Image: PSA Group]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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6 of 38 comments
  • I_like_stuff I_like_stuff on Sep 19, 2017

    Will the cars go on strike every 6 months?

  • Mandalorian Mandalorian on Sep 19, 2017

    The Citroen C5 and C6 are the only semi-appealing products, the rest are just small, boring, and slow little rental cars.

    • See 1 previous
    • Mandalorian Mandalorian on Sep 19, 2017

      @BobNelson You're right, I also found out the Peugeot RCZ has been discontinued as well, such as shame.

  • Vrtowc Vrtowc on Sep 19, 2017

    As you put forward french quirkiness, why on earth the picture shows a purebred Fiat, rebadged and sold as Peugeot?

  • AKM AKM on Sep 20, 2017

    Must be said that since Carlos Tavares became CEO of PSA, he "cleaned up" the lineup, removing most halo products, chiefly the RCZ. POeugeot has always had a reputation forgood driving dynamics, and as such comptes quite directly with Ford. I personnally do not like te 308 and 3008, but they are very good entries in their respective compact car and compact SUV segments. I drive a 208 regularly for work, and it is decent, or even pretty good. DS is an interesting attempt to move upmarket, but one that I find unlikely to succeed beyond (or even in France), as they are just too many entrants, none of which has truly become competitive against the Germans (Alfa, Volvo,...), except for Lexus. Speaking more about the european market than the american one here, which condemns DS in the US all the more. Overall, the only quirkiness left in peugrot card are the very small sterring wheels... Disclosure: I'm a frenchman, currently living in France after a long spell in the US.

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