Do you think French cars should return to the United States? If so why and if not why?

I think they should come back to America, then I could get a Peugeot 307 ...

I'd like to buy a French car if they were around. I liked the Citroen Xantia or the Peugeot 106 which are no longer made. fgor a new one I'd buy a Peugeot 607.

For Peugeot/Citroën it would be difficult as they do not have any network nor any link with other makes (beeing the only two makes of PSA Group), but Renault could probably do it more easily as they are linked to Nissan: they could make Nissan-Renault dealers/garages where there are currently Nissan ones.
The question is: what would they win in that? Due to the low dollar they would have to produce the cars locally (or in Central/South America, like what they do for those sold there), and most of the Renault model have a Nissan equivalent so there is no much interest of trying to sell these I think.

edit: about PSA, there is the link with Mitsubishi that I forgot cf article posted by Neptune on the site: http://blogs.motortrend.com/6211766/europe/peugeot-sedans-in-america/index.html


You would have to buy a second-hand model then, as it has been replaced by the 308

Would they sell well enough to make it worth it? Citroen, Renault and Peugeot don't make real prestige cars or sports cars or SUVs (damn them to hell), unlike the German makes, but then Saab and Volvo seem to do well enough in the US. Is that true that a lot of Americans just don't think much of ordinary European cars because they are small and weird-looking to them? The French makes seem to have the most unusual designs.

I think selling nowadays Peugeots, Renault etc would not be a succes as i think american people would find them small

You mean this one: http://static.taume.com/image/2008-peugeot-308.jpg

It looks like its slightly bigger in size than the 307 (I see they made the grille bigger also ) Which Ok for me, as I like vehicles with big grilles (but not when they are chromed-out) ...




That’s why I like them; they are out of the ordinary ...

http://www.peugeot.com/produits/modeles/308/en/

Ccf > I think that now some people in US start to search for smaller cars, no? Toyota now sells the Yaris for example. Such cars have a better mpg (and with HDI engines even better), and for North-Americans the gas prices have been increased much more than for us (due to the dollar going down at same speed as petrol going up, petrol price in euros stayed more or less the same since 1-2 years).

Well you might be right yes Antoine, and now i think about it, the Astra is going to be sold right? so then they could succes in it, it would be nice to see Peugeots on american roads

By the way, this has nearly nothing to do (well, it is the opposite), but you remind it by mentioning see Peugeots on American roads : today I followed a "Thomas built" yellow schoolbus, not very common here (and two days ago I saw a US-specs Neon with black-on-yellow plate - I do not know from which state it was)

It would be nice if French cars were sold on the Canadian market, where smaller cars such as the Civic or Corolla are big sellers. Of course, Mercedes already sells the Smart here, but it would be nice to see more compact European cars such as the Megane or the 206.

I wonder if frnch cars sold in south america are US spec or not

All cars sold as new in the US must meet all the US specs. Hence, the rubber bumber MG for example.

For some reason, French cars have never achieved much popularity in the US. I have seen a few but never in significant numbers. Don't know why.

There is a small problem that some anti-French sentiment still exists among a percentage of "Red-Staters" (people more likely to vote for the Republican Party), however if the products to be sold in the US are of equal or better quality to Volvo, Buick, Nissan/Infinity, Toyota/Lexus, Volkswagen, and Audi, then they should do well.

I was not talking about the current political silliness. I recall in the late 1950's and 1960's I would see the occassional peugeot, citroen or renault but they were never very common. Certainly nothing like VW, toyota or honda. After the US enacted various, safety laws, they seemed to disappear except for the occassional renault. Perhaps, they just didn't sell enough of them to make it worthwhile to build to US specs (lights, bumber height, impact bumpers, etc).

As empirical as I tried to sound, I guess you saw through my comment. I'm sorry, but it was an easy shot. To get to your point, that sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Less cars sold in America, less cars produced for US market, repeat. I'm saying that I hope that French automakers can "get in the game," however the weak US Dollar will have an effect on the mass appeal for 5 years or so. I would like to see European imports other than BMW, Daimler-Benz, Audi, Volvo (Ford), Jaguar, VW, Saab (GM). Thanks for keeping me OT.

EDIT: Yes, I forgot that a weak Dollar would help increase the price of petrol.

No attempt at prophecy just an observation based on past history as I remember it. Perhaps the most common french car I remember was the renault dauphine.

As a matter of fact I would like to see more of the small efficient european type cars in the US and perhaps with the weak dollar and high gas prices we will see them - but not until we get over the current SUV and truck craze.

With weak dollar, to make these cars interesting they should be built in USA (or in a country whose money is more linked to USD, South America maybe?).
It would not be possible to import them from Europe: the cheapest Renault Twingo at 8500 EUR becomes 12300 USD without counting travel cost!

For the record, Italian cars faced the same fate in the US as French cars.

Except Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Maseratis.