Reading through the Mirrors? motoring section the other day, revealed that the old Clio II won't be killed off entirely, but be sold for 'several' years to come. It will make up the bottom of the entire range, undercutting the new models' price by some considerable margin, with prices starting at £7895 (as opposed to the new ones £8895). However, it will only be available in two door form and will be known as the 'Campus', sound familiar?
What gets me is, this isn't an unusual thing from a French manufacturer. They seem to be the only people that continue to sell an 'old' model for long after its successor has been released. Looking back there are a fair few:
- Peugeot 205: sold until 1996, with its replacement, the 106, being introduced some 4 years prior.
- Citroen AX: Sold for about 1 year after the Saxo was introduced
- Renault 5: sold for 5 years after the Clios introduction
- Peugeot 505: Ceased production in 1992, even though the production of 405s and 605 started in 1988 and 1989 respectively.
There may be more which I?ve missed, feel free to add them.
Personally, I can't think of any other country that does this. Whenever Ford, VW, Vauxhall etc, release a new model, the old one is quickly axed. Is it just the French and if so, why?
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Not uniquely French:
I give you.... the Fiesta Classic, sold alongside the one with the big mouth for a year or two in the mid 90's, and also the Escort, still sold alongside the Focus until X reg.
Maybe Ford were a bit cautious about the new design regime and kept the older models on for their more conservative buyers.
And also Vauxhall kept selling the Chevette until 1983, a good three years after the Astra was launched.
And of course the Maestro and Montego stayed in production until BMW finally gave them the chop.
Can't think of any VW examples, except of course the obvious one - the original Beetle was still in production until year 2000. And you could still buy them in the UK some years after the Polo and Golf had been launched.
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Mare - the Escort was kept on purely to keep Halewood going until Ford could tool up for the Jaguar X-Type.
I imagine that the same may apply to production capacity that was earmarked for the Ka and/or Puma from late 1996 and rather than shut it down temporarily (same platform don't forget) they kept the lines going with the old car.
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Mare - the Escort was kept on purely to keep Halewood going until Ford could tool up for the Jaguar X-Type.
The things companies do to keep factories going eh?
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I give you.... the Fiesta Classic, sold alongside the one with the big mouth for a year or two in the mid 90's
Were they still making them, or were they just selling off old stock?
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It's rumoured that the current Citroen Picasso will be sold alongside the C4-based replacement.
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The mirror is telling porkies or renault will have a problem.
1/ The rumour is that twingo will come to the UK. This will be playing in "campus" area.
2/ The New Clio is too expensive. At entry level it will have to be sold in "campus" area.
3/ Given that you aint gonna sell many "campus" vehicles at 7895 unless you slice the price.
4/ This drops it into the area where Renault are rumoured to be putting the new Dacia.
5/ and where does the slow selling Modus then fit into this lot.
This is very messy marketing Renault.
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I notice news reports from the Middle East very often show glimpses of things like Renault 12s and even Hillman Hunters scuttling around! Are these still being built under licence or are they simply very old motors that don't rust because of the climate??
My mum used to have a Renault 12 - (and a Hillman Hunter before that!) She still maintains the R12 was the best car she's ever had.
The Hunter was a nice enough motor too - reliable, comfortable and good enough performance in 1725 guise, but bodywork was desperately light - very tail happy in wintry conditions. They also rusted like crazy (lovely ledge above the headlights for mud to accumulate and 'poultice' the front wing!
R12 (panels) were also prone to rust but could be readily unbolted for cleaning and re-coating. The 'chassis' on the R12 on the other hand was built like a tank - always reminded me of a Land Rover underneath!
Happy days!
Graeme
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Renault 12's were made in Romania under the Dacia name. i think that the Renault Logan (the ultra cheap simple tech car) is made at the same plant.
Rootes or Chrylser licenced the Iranians to build Hunters as the Paykan, it was made until last year, the replacement being the Peugeot 405, which is logical in a family tree sort of way.
In footage of Iraq, i see lots of first model Passats, so presumably VW did a deal with Saddam in the 70's.
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Thanks Mare - fascinating!
Graeme
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I would question whether or not the Peugeot 106 was ever a replacement for the 205. Whilst bigger than the 205, the 206 was its logical replacement.
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I would question whether or not the Peugeot 106 was ever a replacement for the 205. Whilst bigger than the 205, the 206 was its logical replacement.
You're sort of right. The 205 was replaced by the 106 (cheap little runabout) and the 306 replaced the bigger models. Which left a gap somewhere in the middle.
Another bit of trivia: The 306 directly replaced the 309, which was not intended to be a Peugeot. It was the replacement for the Talbot Horizon, and ws going to be called the Arizona. However the Talbot name suffered more and more, so Peugeot badged it as their own car. Arguably the number 309 was deliberately chosen to differiate it from the rest of the range.
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Another bit of trivia: The 306 directly replaced the 309, which was not intended to be a Peugeot. It was the replacement for the Talbot Horizon, and ws going to be called the Arizona. However the Talbot name suffered more and more, so Peugeot badged it as their own car. Arguably the number 309 was deliberately chosen to differiate it from the rest of the range.
Nice bit of trivia there mare. Its all documented here:
www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/car-development/dev-hori...l
(near the bottom)
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Agreed.
I would assume the 206 replaced the 205 much as the 307 replaced the 306, the 407 the 406, the 405 etc...
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Ignore me. I read Machika's note and in my haste to sound like I knew what I was on about completely skipped mare's.
Sorry!
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In footage of Iraq, i see lots of first model Passats, so presumably VW did a deal with Saddam in the 70's.
Indeed, they did, oil hungry Brazil did an oil for cars deal with cash hungry Iraq. You might occasionally see the old Hong Kong double decker buses in Baghdad
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I think FIAT are planning to keep base spec current Puntos on sale when the new Grande Punto arrives
Ben
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