Talbot (make of car)

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Talbot was a French car brand of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group that existed from 1979 to 1993 in the tradition of Automobiles Talbot, which existed until 1959 .

origin

Simca took over Automobiles Talbot and the brand name Talbot in 1959 . Simca was later taken over by Chrysler , which became Chrysler Europe .

Talbot (PSA)

From the takeover of the majority of Citroën by Peugeot in 1974, the PSA group was created in 1976 . Even more far-reaching for Peugeot's growth path was the takeover of Chrysler Europe in the summer of 1978, making PSA the largest automobile group in Europe. In the summer of 1979, the Chrysler branches were named Talbot. The developed under Chrysler car models were after the acquisition by PSA under the name Talbot and Talbot Simca continued to be built (until early 1980), Matra models under the brand name Talbot-Matra and developed by Chrysler Sunbeam under the model name Talbot Sunbeam continued . At that time, three French car brands with a great history were united under the umbrella of the PSA Group.

Meanwhile, PSA's takeover of Chrysler's European plants in France , Spain and the UK turned into a tough economic test. In 1980 the company posted a loss of 1.5 billion francs, after which production of the Sunbeam and Avenger models, built in Great Britain , was discontinued in April 1981 .

In the fall of 1980, Peugeot took over the Talbot organization and both companies decided to merge with retroactive effect from January 1, 1980.

Peugeot had other economic problems to deal with. For 1982, for example, Peugeot posted a loss of over two billion francs. PSA sold its shares in Matra to Renault. The production of the Matra Rancho and Murena models was discontinued until the beginning of 1984, in order to produce the Renault Espace I instead .

In order not to be made liable for the bankruptcy of Talbot, PSA spun off the Talbot company in 1984. PSA decided to permanently discontinue the Talbot brand in favor of the development of new Peugeot models, which meant the end of the Talbot brand. From the parts inventories already produced, Talbot vehicles were produced and sold in the works until the beginning of 1987.

Talbot sales in both Germany and France ended in June 1986. In Great Britain, however , the Talbot Express - a light commercial vehicle - built by Sevel (joint venture between PSA and Fiat ) was resold from the beginning of 1984 until the end of 1993. On the mainland, this vehicle was known as the Peugeot J5 and Citroën C25 or Fiat Ducato .

The last vehicle developed by Talbot itself, which was developed as the successor to the Horizon, was the Peugeot 309 presented in October 1985 , whose market launch was originally planned under the name Talbot Arizona .

At the end of the 1980s, Peugeot checked whether the minivan developed jointly with Fiat under the project name Eurovan should not be sold as a Talbot. The car finally came onto the market in mid-1994 as the Peugeot 806 or Citroën Evasion.

At the end of 1993, the Talbot signs were removed from all branches and authorized dealers.

In the late 2000s, PSA considered reintroducing the Talbot brand name for a range of low-cost models that would compete with Renault's Dacia Logan . In fact, these were then realized under the names Citroen C-Elysée and Peugeot 301 .

Motorsport

Shortly after the brand was revived, Talbot was involved in motorsport at the factory for advertising reasons. The manager in charge was Jochen Neerpasch , who had worked for the Bavarian BMW M GmbH since 1972 . Neerpasch has been appointed Directeur Général Competitive at Talbot . He organized a successful rally involvement at short notice and planned a participation in Formula 1 , which did not come about to the desired extent.

rally

1980 and 1981 maintained Talbot a work team with the built in Britain Talbot Sunbeam Lotus at the World Rally Championship took part. Henri Toivonen , Guy Fréquelin and Stig Blomqvist won individual events and in 1981 won the brand classification for Talbot.

formula 1

Talbot in Formula 1

From the beginning, Talbot planned to participate in the Formula 1 World Championship. PSA wanted to compete in this area with Renault , which had been successfully involved in Grand Prix racing with a works team since 1977 . Neerpasch was explicitly committed to this goal. His former employer BMW, under the direction of Paul Rosche , developed a four-cylinder turbo engine in the late 1970s that was suitable for use in Formula 1. When BMW decided against Formula 1 involvement in 1979, Neerpasch considered taking the fully constructed engine to PSA and starting it up as a Talbot engine. Initially, the BMW managers showed their approval of this step; however, at the intervention of Paul Rosche, they refused technology transfer in 1980. The engine was finally used as a BMW12 from the 1982 Formula 1 season at Brabham .

Talbot's Formula 1 involvement took place in collaboration with the French racing team Équipe Ligier, founded in 1976. In 1981 and 1982 the team started under the name Equipe Talbot Gitanes . The cars were called Talbot Ligier. They drove with a twelve-cylinder naturally aspirated Matra engine , which was based on a design from 1968 and which PSA had taken over together with Chrysler France. The connection was not successful; it ended after two years.

Models

  • Simca 1100 (1967-1981)

  • Simca 1307 (1975-1980)

  • Talbot-Simca Horizon (1978–1986)

  • Talbot Tagora (1980-1983)

  • Talbot Solara (1980–1986)

  • Talbot Samba (1981-1986)

  • Matra-Simca Bagheera (1973–1980)

  • Talbot-Matra Rancho (1977-1983)

  • Talbot-Matra Murena (1980-1984)

Timeline

Timeline of the Clement Talbot / Automobiles Talbot / Talbot (PSA) / Chrysler Europe / Simca / Rootes / Matra models from 1945 to 1986
Type SIMCA until 1957 ,
Rootes Group independent until 1967		 Entry of Chrysler , formation of Chrysler Europe Part of PSA (Peugeot) from the end of 1978
40s 50s 60s 70s 80s
5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9
Small car Imp / Imp Californian / Husky 4 Sunbeam 5 Sunbeam 5
Chamois 4
Stiletto 4
... 5/6 1000/900/1005/1006 Samba 8
Compact class Avenger 5 Avenger 5 Avenger 5
... 8 / 8/1200 1100 7 1100 7
Horizon 7 Horizon 7 Horizon 7 Arizona
Middle class ... Minx (Mk I-Mk VII) / Husky Mk I Minx / Husky (SI-SIII) 1 Minx / Super Minx / Husky 2 New Minx / Hunter 3 Hunter 3 Hunter 3
SM 1500 Hunter Gazelle 1 Gazelle / Vogue 2 New Gazelle / Vogue 3
... Ten / 2L 80 / 90 (MkI) 90 (MkII) Mk III Rapier (SI – V) 1 New Rapier / Rapier H120 3
Scepter I + II 2 New Scepter 3 Solara 6 Solara (GB: Minx / Rapier) 6
Hawk (Mk I-III) Hawk (Mk IV – VI) Hawk (SI-IV) Alpine 6 Alpine 6 Minx / Rapier 6
9 Aronde Aronde Aronde (P60) 1300/1500 1301/1501 1301/1501 1307/1308 6 1510 6 1510 6
upper middle class ... Snipe / Super Snipe (I-III) Super Snipe (VI) Super Snipe (SI – V)
infant Ariane 160/180 160/180 / 2L 1610 / 2L 1610 / 2L Tagora 9
Upper class Pullman / Imperial (Mk I IV) Imperial
Record Vedette
Coupé / convertible Imp Sport 4
1000 coupe 1200 p
Alpine MkI / III Alpine SI – IV / Tiger New Alpine 3
Comète America
Sports car T26 Grand Sport / Saoutchik Sports Djet jet 530 Bagheera Bagheera Murena
SUV Rancho Rancho
Box van 1100 VF2 / VF3 City truck City truck
Talbot-Lago , sold to Simca in 1959 SIMCA: Fiat production under license SIMCA: 1954 by Ford France SA hinzugekauft SIMCA: partially developed on the basis of Fiat or Ford Chrysler-Simca Humber, a brand of the Rootes group, is discontinued in 1976 Sunbeam Talbot, a brand of the Rootes Group until 1953 Sunbeam, a brand of the Rootes Group from 1953, is discontinued in 1976 Singer, a brand of the Rootes Group since 1956, is discontinued in 1970 Hillman, brand of the Rootes group Chrysler Automobiles René Bonnet sports car Matra Matra-Simca Talbot Matra Talbot- Simca Talbot, brand discontinued in 1986

1 common platform of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Minx 1956
2 common platform Audax of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Super Minx
3 common platform Arrow of the Rootes group
4 common platform of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Imp
5 common platform - Chrysler Avenger, Project 424
6 shared platform - Chrysler Project C6
7 shared platform - Chrysler Project C2
8 shared PSA platform with Peugeot 104 and Citroën LN
9 Chrysler Project C9, technology largely from Peugeot 504/505/604

literature

  • Jacques Borgé, Nicolas Viasnoff: Talbot automobiles. History of a great European brand. Schrader, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-922617-02-6 .

Web links

Commons : Talbot (PSA)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Talbot makes a comeback? | Autocar. Accessed June 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Dirk Ramackers: How almost everything would have turned out differently ... (Oldtimer Markt, issue 7/2013, p. 71.)