Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute

Blog      Language, Learning and Culture

Classes in More than 35 Languages return to blog index

Happy Birthday, Peugeot 405

Do you remember the Peugeot 405? When the French automaker quit the American market more than twenty-five years ago, the 405 was its last car standing.

Over in Europe, Peugeot is very proud of the 405; so proud, in fact, that the Peugeot Museum at Sochaux is holding a 30th birthday party for the car tomorrow (Saturday, June 17th).

Peugeot 405 30th birthday | June 17th, 2017
Peugeot 405 30th birthday | June 17th, 2017

Planning a birthday party for a car - particularly, a family car which at first glance might not seem particularly special - would seem like more of an Italian thing to do.

However, there's more to the 405 than meets the eye.

At its launch in 1987, it was a crisp, confident, and confidence-inspiring car which proved that Peugeot could move from its traditional rear-wheel drive format to powering the front wheels in more modern fashion, all without losing its touch.

1962-66 Peugeot 403
1960-64 Peugeot 404
1968-75 Peugeot 504
1975-85 Peugeot 604

Peugeot, you see, had built worthy, if ever so slightly stodgy, rear-drive sedans for decades. The 403, 404, 504, and 604 were hedonistically relaxing vehicles, with a Gallic dignity that dips, potholes, and freeway hop could not upset. More years than not, they tended to smooth rough roads over better than a contemporary Rolls-Royce.

1979-86 Peugeot 505

At the turn of the '80s, the 504 evolved into the 505. It remained a pleasant, vaguely upmarket automobile which four Automobile magazine staffers voted as the one car they'd most willingly drive from New York to Los Angeles. However, it held to rear-wheel drive at a time when fuel prices were pushing manufacturers to front-wheel drive.

1983-90 Peugeot 205
1983-92 Peugeot 2.5 1.6 GTi
1977-82 Peugeot 305
1992 Peugeot 309

Among front-wheel-drive Peugeots in the new decade, there were the 205, 305, and 309. The boxy 305, never imported to the United States, had served the company well, but it was ten years old and hardly fit the new extrovert image projected by the 205 GTi, a pocket rocket "hot hatchback" that is highly regarded by enthusiasts today. The 309 was a Talbot, with European Chrysler roots, that never quite took off.

The 405 was a revelation.

1987-92 Peugeot 405

This was among of the first aerodynamic, affordable sedans in the contemporary mold: a family car with a rounded front end to welcome the air, and a high trunk to calm the flow as it left the body. In a nod to Americans, who as a rule were not particularly fond of French styling, Peugeot had finally abandoned the typically French sloping rears of old. This was also the first Peugeot with a height-adjustable steering column. The French, typically not averse to arrogantly pitching what they thought would work best, were trying a new approach.

The 405 shared its basic platform with the Citroën BX, which had debuted in 1982. It came six years after Ford's Sierra, which was the first "aero" sedan and influenced the American Taurus.

Nevertheless, styled by Italian Pininfarina as were the prettiest Peugeots, the 405 made everything else in its class look dated and plain. The pert shape that, in a famous British ad, "Took our breath away" boasted, in base form, a superb coefficient-of-drag of just 0.28.

1993-95 Peugeot 405 Mi16
1989-91 Peugeot 405 Mi16
1993-96 Peugeot 405 Break
1994-96 Peugeot 405 Quasar Break

America's Automobile magazine, testing the 405 at launch in Paris, wrote that the car was a "smash hit on the home front. In Paris' crowded streets, jaywalking pedestrians smiled appreciatively at the sedate silver SRI.

"And we couldn't miss the extensive marketing effort supporting Peugeot's newcomer. Bright new billboards for the 405 proclaimed 'un talent fou' (literally, 'a crazy talent'). That's not readily translatable into English, but the Japanese, Italian, and German competition had better try to understand it."

No car has ever won the European Car of the Year award by a higher number of votes than did the 405, in 1988. Within two years, Peugeot had sold half a million; within three, they'd hit the magic million.

In its seven-year life, the 405 matched its crosstown Renault 21 rival for sales; perhaps disappointing for those who might consider the Peugeot a better car, but impressive when one considers that, pre 405, the Peugeot had not played in the midsize market for a decade and that Renault had been making front-wheel-drive cars for twenty years.

The 405 also did good business against its Citroën BX sister, Ford's Sierra, Opel's Ascona (Vauxhall Cavalier in Britain), and the Audi 80.

1993-95 Peugeot 405 T16
1993-95 Peugeot 405 Mi16

Particularly impressive was the 405 Mi16, a sixteen-valve performance version of the basic car. Its 158-horsepower engine benefited from Peugeot's experience in rallying, and it came with anti-lock brakes. There was even the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive T16 405, with 220 horsepower.

In typically French fashion, Automobile, at least initially, could not get one to drive. "I regret we cannot give you an Mi16… Our French journalists are waiting a month to drive this car," they were told by Peugeot PR.

"'Ah,' we replied, not unkindly," recalled the magazine's Ken Gross. "But the French already like the 405. It's the Americans you must impress. Perhaps you could reconsider."

Peugeot did – but not that it helped much. Less than five thousand Peugeots were sold in America in 1990. When sales halved the following year, the marque threw in the towel.

Peugeot's problems in America derived from complex, longstanding issues and are not a reflection of the 405's abilities. That the 405, everywhere else in the world, met and exceeded the high expectations placed on it accounts for its instant success, and for the resulting fondness with which it is remembered. Like the best Peugeots, it blurred the lines between mainstream and premium; as CAR magazine put it, "The whole car seems to work with a harmony rare in machines of this price and class."

Even in the United States, where Peugeot has not played for a quarter century, there remain a select group of people, particularly on the West and East coasts, who retain an appreciation for Peugeot's unique blend of ride and handling.

The 405 sedan was discontinued in Europe in 1995, though the wagon would remain available through 1997.

By the mid '90s, the 405 was built in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Chile, Argentina (1999), Zimbabwe (2002), Poland, Taiwan, and Iran. Production in Iran finally ended last year.

1993-95 Peugeot 405 T16
Peugeot mainstream sedans (401 - 407)

The 405 was replaced by the 406 (1996), 407 (2004), and 508 (2011).

Peugeot is one of the world's oldest automakers, and will celebrate its 130th birthday in 2019.

In the meantime - Happy Birthday, 405.

  • Cars
  • Communication
  • Culture
  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Language
  • Travel
Contracts and Cultures

2022-11-27

ABBA are back

2021-09-03

Happy Dragon Boat Festival

2020-06-25

I Look Up As I Walk

2020-01-31

The Values of Volvo

2020-01-27

German on Both Sides of The Wall

2020-01-24

Today is Macaron Day

2019-03-20

What Can Language Not Do?

2018-12-10

A Star is Born

2018-11-06

Time for a Saab Story

2018-10-23

Andalucia, en Ocho Joyas

2018-08-22

Idioms from Around the World

2018-01-23

Who Misses Skeuomorphism?

2018-01-22

The Wrong Way to Learn a Language

2017-12-05

The Hungarian Language

2017-12-01

Uh-Oh The Glottal Stop

2017-11-16

The Languages of Doctors

2017-10-23

How to Establish a Brand

2017-10-11

The Luxury Experience

2017-09-27

Learning Language is Child's Play

2017-09-20

Language as Jazz

2017-08-25

It's All Polish To Me

2017-08-24

Farsi is Sugar

2017-08-18

76 Common Verbs for Dutch Learners

2017-08-10

So You Want to Learn Hindi?

2017-08-08

Ingrid Bergman on Language

2017-08-07

The Secret to Reading Japanese

2017-08-03

Losing the War One Slide at a Time

2017-08-02

Blowin' in the Wind

2017-07-31

Getting Around

2017-07-28

Alpha, Bravo, Charlie

2017-07-27

Choosing a Language to Learn

2017-07-26

The First Volvo

2017-07-24

Improve Your Public Speaking

2017-07-21

Where Did I Come From?

2017-07-20

Happy Emoji Day

2017-07-17

Czech Out the First Robots

2017-07-14

Mind Your Grammar

2017-07-12

Is this a BMW?

2017-07-10

How Many German Words Do You Know?

2017-06-23

Como agua para chocolate

2017-06-21

Traveling Tips

2017-06-20

I Love Daddy

2017-06-15

We'll Bring the Coffee

2017-06-08

The Challenges of Learning Arabic

2017-06-01

Tulipmania

2017-05-30

Saving Hebrew

2017-05-29

Keeper of the Bridge

2017-05-25

Bewitchingly Flawed

2017-05-18

Japan's Caprice

2017-05-16

The First Martians

2017-05-15

Dolma or Tolma?

2017-05-12

Dutch in Paradise

2017-05-08

How Does the Bilingual Brain Work?

2015-08-19

Reasons to Learn Italian

2015-03-24

Reasons to Learn French

2015-02-27

Truth in Advertising

2014-07-10

Top Quality Spanish Teachers

2013-12-23

A Better Way to Learn Italian

2013-12-23

High Quality Spanish Courses

2013-12-23

Italian School

2013-12-23

Top Quality French Teachers

2013-12-23

Finding the Best Language School

2013-12-23

Italian Tutors

2013-12-23

New Year's Resolution

2012-12-12