Peugeot 604
Encyclopedia
The Peugeot 604 is an executive car
Executive car
Executive car is a British term that refers to a car's size and is used to describe an automobile larger than a large family car. In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organisation founded to test car safety.- History :...
produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
from 1975 to 1985. 153,252 examples of the 604 were sold during its 10-year production life. It was made in France and also by Kia
Kia Motors
Kia Motors , headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010...
in Korea.
The Pininfarina
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder in Cambiano, Italy.Founded as Società anonima Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 by automobile designer and builder Battista "Pinin" Farina, Pininfarina has been employed by a wide variety of high-end automobile manufacturers,...
-designed 604 was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1975 and drew praise for its formal, handsome styling. Sales began in September of that year. Based on the chassis of the Peugeot 504
Peugeot 504
The Peugeot 504 is a large family car manufactured by French automaker Peugeot between 1968 and 1983, with licensed production continuing until 2006.-1968 — introduction:...
, using its doors, and mostly powered by the then-new 145 hp 2.7-litre V6
V6 engine
A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft...
PRV engine
PRV engine
The PRV engine is an automobile petrol V6 engine that was developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo Cars – and sold from 1974 to 1998. It was gradually replaced after 1994 by another joint PSA-Renault design, known as the ES engine at PSA and the L engine at Renault.-Corporate history:The...
, developed in conjunction with Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
and Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, the car was Peugeot's first entry into the large luxury saloon market for 40 years (the last being the short-lived Peugeot 601
Peugeot 601
The Peugeot 601 was a range-topping car produced between 1934 and 1935 by Peugeot. The car was equipped with a six cylinder 2148 cc engine developing 60 hp at 3500 rpm. With limited power and relatively high weight the car could reach top speed of only...
of 1934).
In the marketplace
The 604 was effectively Peugeot's first entry into the executive class market segmentMarket segment
Market segmentation is a concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function...
. This meant that the car was required to steal customers from the more established brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
s - usually best done by being remarkable
Remarkable
Remarkable is a UK company that makes stationery products out of recycled products. Its most famous was the recycled pencil, each made from one recycled vending machine cup. The cups are collected from the Save a Cup Recycling Company. The invention became a Millennium product, which was sold as...
in some tangible respect. The 604 did have several noteworthy attributes, namely its damped and supple ride, equal to a contemporary Jaguar XJ6. Additionally the chassis and monocoque body, by now a well proven and sturdy design, borrowed from the 504, was immensely strong with a remarkably high torsional rigidity. The 604 was intended to be a competitor to the more established makes and models such as the Mercedes-Benz 280E
Mercedes-Benz W123
W123 is the internal chassis-designation Mercedes-Benz used for their executive line of cars, manufactured between 1976 and 1985.The W123 models surpassed their predecessor, the W114 and W115 models, as the most successful Mercedes, selling 2.7 million cars before replacement by the W124 after 1985...
, BMW 5-series
BMW 5 Series (E12)
The BMW E12 BMW 5-Series was made between 1972 and 1981. The E12 was the first series to bear the 5 Series name: the '5' denoting BMW's fifth 'New Class' platform. Designed as a replacement for the popular BMW New Class mid-size sedan, the E12 5-Series models were smaller than the large BMW E3...
, Volvo 264GL
Volvo 200 series
The Volvo 200 series is a range of large family cars , produced by Volvo from 1974 to 1993, with more than 2.8 million units sold worldwide. The 200 series was essentially an updated version of the 140; both were designed by Jan Wilsgaard. It shared the same body, but included a number of...
and Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XJ is the designation that has been used for a series of luxury saloon cars sold under the British Jaguar marque. The first XJ was launched in 1968 and the designation has been used for successive Jaguar flagship models since then. The original model was the last Jaguar saloon to have had...
6,
but also competed with the Ford Granada
Ford Granada (Europe)
The March 1972 released Granada succeeded the British Ford Zephyr, and the German P7-series as Ford's European executive car offering. At first, lower models in the range were called the Ford Consul, but from 1975 on they were all called Granadas. The car soon became popular for taxi, fleet and...
, Opel Commodore
Opel Commodore
The Opel Commodore is an executive car produced by Opel. It is the six-cylinder variant of the Rekord with styling differences. The Commodore nameplate was used by Opel from 1967 to 1982. However, its lineage continues with the Australian Holden Commodore...
, Fiat 130
Fiat 130
The Fiat 130 is a large executive car manufactured by the Italian automaker Fiat, which was available as a saloon or coupé.The saloon was launched at the 39th Geneva Motor Show in March 1969, replacing the previous largest and most exclusive Fiat saloon, the Fiat 2300...
, and Audi 100
Audi 100
The restyled C2 Audi 100 was launched in 1976, with an in-line five-cylinder engine...
. Price at launch was US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
10,990. The 604 had unusually wide opening doors which made entry and egress very easy for users. This was especially appropriate for the car in its role as a limousine.
The 604 was considered a commercial failure. The production totaled 155,000 units, compared to the similarly priced Rover 3500
Rover SD1
Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of large executive cars made by British Leyland or BL through its Specialist, Rover Triumph and Austin Rover divisions from 1976 until 1986....
whose production total was approximately double that of the 604's. While over 36,000 cars were built in the first full year of production (1976), after that production gradually slowed down to a mere trickle. However Peugeot actually made a profit on each car made, primarily because of the shared tooling and engineering with the 504. Contemporary journalists attributed this relative failure to a variety of reasons, such as the unambitious styling, the lack of technical innovation, modest performance, and a reputation for problems with rust
Rust
Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture...
. Others pointed out that the recent energy crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
made this an inauspicious time for Peugeot (along with Renault, whose own six cylinder saloon went on sale a few months earlier) to be moving into the market for six cylinder saloons. However, by the time the oil shock hit the western economies Peugeot, along with joint venture partners Renault and Volvo, presumably believed they had invested too much in the design and development of production facilities for the new shared engine that would power the 604, to abandon the venture.
During the late 1970s, Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
and stablemate Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
provided two ways to address the executive car segment - understated and classical (604), or distinctive and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
design (CX
Citroën CX
The Citroën CX is an automobile produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1974 to 1991. Citroën sold nearly 1.2 million CXs during its 16 years of production. The CX was voted European Car of the Year in 1975....
). PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
then decided to create a whole new brand, the Talbot
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque that existed from 1903 to 1986, with a hiatus from 1960 to 1978, under a number of different owners, latterly under Peugeot...
out of the Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
Europe assets, and in 1980 introduced a direct competitor to the 604 and CX: the Talbot Tagora
Talbot Tagora
The Talbot Tagora is an executive car that was developed by Chrysler Europe and produced by Peugeot Société Anonyme . The Tagora was marketed under the Talbot marque after PSA took over Chrysler's European operations in 1979. PSA presented the first production vehicle in 1980 and launched it...
. Both the car and the brand were viewed as a sales and financial disaster, with the Tagora selling only 20% of the units achieved by the 604 and 2% of CX sales.
The German manufacturers did not hesitate to exploit this confusion in France, with cars like the 1974 BMW 5-Series (which also entered a segment new for the manufacturer) that had relatively good build quality. German cars created an unassailable position in the executive class auto market during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Germans were not challenged again until Japan addressed this segment 15 years later.
France has had not much success internationally in the executive segment
Executive car
Executive car is a British term that refers to a car's size and is used to describe an automobile larger than a large family car. In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organisation founded to test car safety.- History :...
after the Citroën DS
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative...
's successor, the Citroën CX
Citroën CX
The Citroën CX is an automobile produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1974 to 1991. Citroën sold nearly 1.2 million CXs during its 16 years of production. The CX was voted European Car of the Year in 1975....
. The 604-era was perhaps the last point at which PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
could theoretically have focused resources on becoming a viable long term competitor in this lucrative market segment. This is similar to the situation encountered in the US by the Lincoln Town Car
Lincoln Town Car
The Lincoln Town Car is a full-size luxury sedan that was sold by the upscale Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company; it was produced from 1981 to the 2011 model years...
.
The 604 was introduced during the recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
caused by the 1973 energy crisis, which created a marketplace that was even more unfriendly to large-engined cars in France. Peugeot did launch some detuned economy versions of the 604, but they did not do much to increase the car's overall sales.
Sales, which were never particularly strong, dipped further in 1980 following the launch of the 505
Peugeot 505
The Peugeot 505 is a large family car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot from 1979 to 1992 in Sochaux, France. The 505 was Peugeot's last rear-wheel drive car...
, and the last 604 trickled off the production line in 1985 with sales continuing into 1986. Peugeot's next major executive car, the 605, was launched in 1989.
Today the 604 is a rare automobile in United Kingdom - there are only 25 that are road-legal as of 2011, following a peak of 29 on the road in 2009.
Development
The 604 was launched in March 1975, at the Geneva Motor Show. It was originally available in a single specification, as the 604 SL. In 1977, the 604 was launched in the US in V6 SL trim, with twin rectangular headlights and larger bumpers. In September, the somewhat quicker 604 TI model with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injectionFuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
and a five-speed manual transmission was added. In late 1978, for the 1979 model year, the 80 horsepower 604 D turbo turbodiesel
Turbodiesel
Turbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines...
model was introduced; it entered production in February 1979. The six-cylinder 604's received modified gearbox ratios.
In 1979 there were some minor changes, including the change of the petrol filler cap from round to square. The US 604s receives a larger 2,849 cc engine, although with no change in power. In 1980 the 604 underwent a minor facelift, featuring a new rear-view mirror, while the bonnet badge was removed, the indicators were changed to orange, and there was also a new plastic dashboard and gearstick. The limited edition luxury "Grand Comfort" model with power windows and locks, a sunroof, tinted windows, and other amenities was also made available this year. US sales "faded away" during 1980.
In 1981 the 604 STi, with Michelin TRX tyres and alloy wheels, was introduced. From January 1981, the automatic gearboxes used in the 604 were no longer sourced from General Motors' factory in Alsace, but rather from German ZF
ZF Friedrichshafen
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....
. The existing diesel model was replaced with two different specifications, GRDT and SRDT. Total body immersion anti-corrosion treatment was also introduced across the entire range. The turbo diesel was now exported to US, where it replaced the already absent V6 entirely. In 1982, the carburetted base 604 SL was discontinued and in 1983 the TI and GRD Turbo versions were removed from the lineup; this left only the STi and SRD Turbo.
In 1984, the 604 GTi with a 2.8 litre engine was introduced, replacing the 2.7-litre STi. Also, the new GTDT diesel model was introduced. US sales were discontinued after 1984. In November of the next year (1985), the production of the 604 came to an end. As a partial replacement, a V6 version of the 505 appeared before soon, and in 1989 the front-wheel drive Peugeot 605
Peugeot 605
The Peugeot 605 is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot between 1989 and 1999, with a facelift in 1995.-History:The 605 was a saloon/sedan built on the same platform as the Citroën XM, and was successor to the unsuccessful Peugeot 604 which went out of production 4 years...
arrived to fill the empty slot left by the 604.
Turbodiesel
The 604 did get its name into the history books in 1978 as the first production turbodieselTurbodiesel
Turbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines...
car ("604 D turbo"), using the 80 PS 2,304 cc Indénor Diesel engine with a turbo fitted - designation XD2S. This was a reliable engine, overshadowed by one major problem. Like many diesel engines of the time they were hard to start in the cold weather, the 604 was one of the worst with this problem, it was a very difficult car to start and some ensured it was parked on a hill to avoid this problem. However despite this problem it was merely an issue of some minor tweaks to the glow plugs and compression that solved this problem and made the car easier to start.
The tall inline-four diesel engine was slanted at 20 degrees to fit underneath the low bonnet of the 604. Sometime in 1983, this was upgraded to a 2.5-liter version (XD3S), originally producing 90 PS at 4,150 rpm. This version could reach 165 km/h (103 mph) when fitted with the manual transmission. Soon thereafter the engine was upgraded to electronic rather than mechanic fuel injection (XD3T), and then produced 95 PS at the same engine speed. US market turbodiesels only came with a three-speed ZF automatic gearbox, which was optional elsewhere. Thus equipped, top speed dropped to 158 km/h (98 mph).
Engines
- 2.3 L (2,304 cc) XD2S DieselDiesel engineA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
I4 - 2.5 L (2,498 cc) XD3S/XD3T DieselDiesel engineA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
I4 - 2.7 L (2,664 cc) PRVPRV engineThe PRV engine is an automobile petrol V6 engine that was developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo Cars – and sold from 1974 to 1998. It was gradually replaced after 1994 by another joint PSA-Renault design, known as the ES engine at PSA and the L engine at Renault.-Corporate history:The...
V6V6 engineA V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft... - 2.8 L (2,849 cc) PRVPRV engineThe PRV engine is an automobile petrol V6 engine that was developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo Cars – and sold from 1974 to 1998. It was gradually replaced after 1994 by another joint PSA-Renault design, known as the ES engine at PSA and the L engine at Renault.-Corporate history:The...
V6