![As a GTI, as the car of the Tour, the Peugeot 604 made an impression on Michiel… As a GTI, as the car of the Tour, the Peugeot 604 made an impression on Michiel…](https://assets.autoweek.nl/m/0mcyxt8bh6jm_800.jpg)
Peugeot pulled out all the stops for the Peugeot 604. It was available as a GTI, it was always prominently visible at the Tour de France… This limo made an impression on the little Michiel Willebrands, but not on the general public given the sales figures. That’s why Michiel now presents it as Guilty Pleasure.
For large French cars it seems to apply that the further time progressed, the more hopeless they became. In terms of sales numbers, I mean. Now take Citroen. A Traction Avant, I felt like it drove halfway across Europe. I have the same impression of the DS and the CX could also count on many enthusiastic buyers. But after the The same scenario applies to Renault, after the 25th it never really happened there again.
First limo Peugeot since the 1930s
Peugeot tried to seduce European executives in 1975 with the 604. Peugeot’s first limo since the 1930s and a model after my own heart, because it is nice and square. A cool design from Pininfarina, which looks calmly and confidently into the world with its rectangular viewers. Why has this car always intrigued me so much? Not because he was that successful, anyway. In the ten years that the 604 was on the market, barely 150,000 were sold. Quite a contrast with contemporary Citroen CX, which sold well over a million. I think my admiration for the 604 has to do with the fact that it also had a GTI. That makes an impression on a child. An enormous limousine with double exhaust pipes and those three magical letters on the back, that’s intriguing.
I couldn’t help but have stared admiringly at the lists of technical data and achievements in the yearbooks of the time. In it I read that the GTI had a V6 with 155 hp and 238 Nm and that it could reach 190 km/h. Zero to one hundred in 9.7 seconds. You also had a GTI from the CX, I know. But I somehow think that makes more sense, probably because this model did radiate speed and you can’t say that about the 604. Peugeot tried to promote the sporty image by sending the 604 among the riders of the Tour de France, those images are still clear in my mind.
Commercially a good move, but Peugeot probably didn’t sell any more hubcaps because of it. Or at least little. While the 505 lives on forever in Africa, all 604s seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. And yet the car was very well received by the international car press at the time. The 604 won in several areas, including driving characteristics and build quality, even against BMWs, Mercedes and Jaguars. “With its powerful 6-cylinder injection engine in V-shape, you can handle any traffic situation with flying colors,” the brochure boasted. It has not been able to win over customers.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl