Build on
Equipped with a 207 nose, the Peugeot 206 was allowed to continue as a 206+ in the Netherlands until 2012, but the real 206 has not been sold here since 2009. Elsewhere in the world, the 206 is still alive as a kind of automobile Frankenstein. We descend to Tunisia, where Wallyscar – who doesn’t know it – introduces the Wallys 719.
In a nutshell: what is Wallyscar now? Wallyscar is a company founded in Tunisia in 2006 that started its sales adventure with an off-roader called Izis. That Izis was followed up in 2017 by the almost eponymous Iris, which Wallyscar still sells. That is also an off-roader with strong design influences from the Jeep Wrangler and therefore from its ancestor of Willys. Undoubtedly, the brand name Wallyscar is also inspired by this. But! Wallyscar also sold other cars! For example, it also assembled the 111 of the Iranian Saipa in Tunisia. That Saipa 111 – another facelifted version of the Mazda 121/Kia Pride/Ford Festiva – was called Wallys 216, but Saipa doesn’t supply CKD kits (complete knockdown) of the 111 more. So time for a successor!
This 121/Pride based Wallys 619 is no more…
For the successor to the Wallys 216, Wallyscar turned to another Iranian manufacturer, Iran Khodro (IKCO). Iran Khodro produces, among other things, various Peugeot models in Iran, but also sells them with its own badges with a modified body. Wallyscar and Iran Khodro shake hands and now the Tunisian company has the Wallys 719 in its range. The Wallys 719 is in fact an IKCO Runna, which in turn is a Peugeot 206 Sedan with a now modified interior and exterior.
The 206 Sedan on which the IKCO Runna and Wallys 719 are based.
The Wallys 719 has its own badges and a different grille, but otherwise resembles the Iranian IKCO Runna like two drops of water. This means that the buttocks of the Wallys 719 are also somewhat reminiscent of those of the first-generation Peugeot 508. The 206 interior has also evolved over the years. Under the hood is a 115 hp 1.6, a Peugeot-derived machine that is linked to a six-speed manual gearbox. In Tunisia, the Wallys 719 will cost about €14,000.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl