The Competition:
The Cars Of France

IF any nation’s car manufacturing industry was well placed to weather the recent fuel crisis, it was that of France. The taxation policy which ever since the war has encouraged the use of small engines; the road network which led to the gearing of cars for economical high-speed cruising; even the relatively high proportion of country-dwelling, agricultural Frenchmen; all had helped produce a range of cars which stood the four major manufacturers in very good stead.
It would be foolish to pretend that there had been tremendous foresight behind it all. Yet in many ways the French have had the foresight to adopt advanced thinking and turn it to advantage. Study for a moment our table of those French cars currently available in Britain. Every single one is equipped with radial-ply tyres as standard - thanks to the lead given so many years ago by Michelin. Two of the four manufacturers produce nothing but front-drive cars, and the other two build them in fair and increasing proportion. It was Citroën, of course, who gave the French their early opportunity to appreciate the advantages of front-drive, at both ends of the market.
The French industry works to its own logical plan – which means its policies rarely parallel those of its German and British neighbours. For instance, the biggest of the four manufacturers, Renault, is a nationalized concern. And only one - Simca - is American-owned. Few international links have been forged. Citroën’s marriage with Fiat proved a fragile and impermanent thing. Renault have remained stoutly independent except for a strong technical link with Peugeot and ultimately with Volvo.
Again unlike the British and the Germans, the French have scant regard for the American export market, and hence for American rules and regulations. In the past, Renault, Citroën and Simca have tried without much success to sell cars in America; now they take the view that the Common Market is big enough to keep them happy, and that room for further expansion is to be found by investing in “third-world” factories and CKD assembly plants.  Evidence of this policy can be found in the massive sales figures of French cars in all the EEC countries including Britain, where Renault is consistently the top imported-car seller, well backed up by Simca, while Citroën and Peugeot have made great strides here in recent years.

RENAULT

IT IS HARD to define the strength and appeal of the Renault range for so many British buyers. The most facile explanation (which may none the less be the right one, and applies even more to Citroën) is that all their cars are visibly different from the mass of conventional saloons. Nobody would mistake a 4, 5, 6, 12 or 16 for anything else. On the other hand, it is far from being the only reason. Renaults are the shapes they are for entirely practical reasons. The 4 and l6 may be said to have pioneered the idea of the versatile saloon-cum-estate car. And one must not forget that following their disastrous post-war start with the Dauphine, Renault have fought back to a reputation for excellent finish and reliability.
Things have been fairly quiet at Renault since the introduction of the 5. The l6TX with its bigger engine and high standard of equipment was recently tested by Autocar; it is almost astonishing to realize that its 1,647 c.c. power unit is still the biggest engine produced by Renault. Until a few months ago, no other major manufacturer would have dreamed of being without a six-cylinder, over-two-litre engine; now some of them must be wondering if Renault were not right after all.
In terms of entirely new cars, it is not altogether surprising that Renault have slowed the pace of their introductions. The 4 is the sort of vehicle that might go on almost for ever, and the cost of developing an all-new replacement would probably not be justified. Those who want something a little more stylish can always opt for the 6, recently face-lifted and available in standard or larger-engined TL form.
The Renault 5 has done very well since it was launched, and now accounts for a fair proportion of the company’s total sales (it has always been a strength of Renault in Britain that most of their models sold equally well, and there was no over-reliance on one particular car). Although the 5L is offered, the vast bulk of sales seem to be of the larger-engined 5TL.
Successful though the 5 has been, it is the l2 which has proved the most successful of all the Renault models, partly because it has been made available in so many different versions. Again, the basic 12L does not do well in Britain, but the l2TL is among the best-selling imported cars and the quicker 12TS and the estate version do well. Yet another recent addition to the range is the l2TR with automatic transmission, while the 15/l7 range of sports coupés is based on 12 running gear. There are other versions of the car, notably the 12 Gordini with the 16TS engine, which are not sold in Britain. The 12 is still less than five years old, and Renault will hardly be contemplating any replacement as yet.

The 15 and 17 coupés, apart from offering a strong challenge in their corner of the market, lent a new aspect to the Renault image when they were launched three years ago, in that they broke away from the almost severely practical design approach which had hitherto been the rule. All four versions were launched at the same time, and there have been no real changes since, though one might expect the l7TL eventually to inherit the 16TX engine.
This leads inevitably to the l6 itself, now over nine years old and condemned to replacement in recent times by many commentators who must now be eating their words. With the addition of the TX, the 16 range is stronger than ever and while a replacement is undoubtedly on the Renault drawing boards, it is unlikely that any decision on a replacement date has yet been made. Meanwhile all versions of the I6 except the TX now have the 1,565 c.c. engine size originally brought in for the 16TS; the TS however, retains its higher state of tune.
It is a more or less open secret that Renault have been working for a long time on a larger car, usually referred to as the Renault 20, to extend the range upwards from the 16. The fuel crisis can hardly have encouraged the firm to hurry the car into production, and one imagines that they will take advantage of any delay to refine the design.

PEUGEOT

THOUGH NOW having a strong technical and research connection with Renault (the two firms share the same safety laboratory, for example), Peugeot continue to produce a different range of cars to their own engineering standards, which in some respects are higher than anyone’s.
Smallest and newest of the range is the 104 with its inclined, transversely mounted front engine. One’s first reaction was that it was expensive, but the price has been held while those around it have gone up, and in any case the size and performance are hardly those of a typical small car. It is, in fact, possible to be misled by the size of the engine, just as it is with the 204, which most Frenchmen regard as a logical rival for the Renault 16 despite its much smaller power unit. Now nine years old, the 204 broke new ground when it was introduced, as Peugeot’s first front-drive car.
Unlike the 104 and 204,'which were both entirely new designs, the 304 was a logical development of the 204 with a larger engine and a longer body shell. In standard form, the 304 is not a great deal quicker than the 204,but there is a higher-powered 304S available. Both the 204 and 304 have neat estate car versions.
Doyen of the Peugeot range is the 404, still listed in standard form 13 years after its introduction, though most of its special versions have been supplanted by 504 equivalents. In its earlier days, the 404 established its reputation with several Safari Rally successes; another claim to fame is its general acceptance as the standard by which road noise suppression is judged.
The 504 was acclaimed Car of the Year after its 1968 introduction, and has since tended to replace the 404 in many ways; there are now estate, coupé and convertible versions. Early in the life of the 504, the engine was enlarged to just short of two litres, but an economy version recently announced in France reverts to the original 1-8-litre power unit.
In some ways, the 504 is as deceptive as the smaller ears in the range, in that its size and performance make it competitive with cars which are frequently assumed to be a class bigger.
Just as Renault are universally assumed to have a bigger car under development, so there have been many references to a Peugeot 604. It has even been suggested, in view of the technical accord-between the companies, that this and the Renault 20 would have the same engine. However, the fuel crisis certainly means that we must wait rather longer to find out if the predictions are accurate.

CITROËN

TO AN EVEN greater extent than Peugeot, Citroën believe in creating a highly advanced design from the ground up, and then putting it into production for many years. Their attitude has softened slightly of late, in that their three basic designs (2CV, GS and DS) have spawned an almost bewildering succession of developed models, though never straying far from the basic engineering concept.
The, 2CV has never been available in Britain in any numbers, but from it sprang the Dyane and Ami models which are an increasingly familiar sight on our roads. The formula is unique, almost the Renault 4 carried to the extreme; roomy body, small engine, excellent cross-country performance.
Latest addition to the Ami range, and taking it somewhat away from the original concept, is the Ami Super with the 1,015 c.c. engine from the GS. With this power unit the performance is dramatically improved, and the car comes much more into the reckoning as a conventional contender in the medium-car stakes.
The GS itself continues to sell well, though it is now accepted that the original version was slightly underpowered for British conditions and the later 1220 is a better bet, not only for performance but often for economy as well. The bare figures suggest disappointing economy for an engine this size, but one must always remember that the car is large indeed, much larger than the average medium-sized car. Like all Citroëns, it takes a lot of getting used to, but in return it offers remarkable handling and ride.
The big D-series cars seem to go on and on. By no means all the versions are available in Britain, but even so there are enough to be confusing. The original DS19, first shown at Paris as long ago as 1955, inherited its engine from the previous traction avant Citroëns.
The ancient power unit sat strangely in such an advanced chassis, and eventually it was replaced by the present series of engines, all based on the 1,985 c.c. unit in the D Special. It is enlarged for fitting in the D Super with its five-speed gearbox; and enlarged yet again for the DS23 and Pallas. In its largest size, it is also available with fuel injection.
Injection is a standard fitting on the SM, the first serious French essay into the prestige car field for a very long time, and one generally acclaimed for its host of advanced features.
There is plenty of evidence in the SM to support any view of Citroën's dogged engineering independence, not least in the use of the seemingly illogical 90 deg V6 engine. The SM continues to be available only in left hand drive form, and Britain has yet to see the automatic-transmission version with its engine enlarged to three litres.

As far as new cars are concerned, Citroën have a glaring gap between the GS and the DS, and one imagines most effort must be concentrated there. The company’s long-range thinking, though, makes any possible introduction date a matter of pure guesswork for those not directly concerned.

SIMCA