Designated the C2, engineered at Poissy and styled in Whitley, the five-door hatchback that emerged sported a clean and crisp style and contemporary layout.
The sedan’s deck height is awkwardly low, an inch more height would make a lot of difference without making the trunk roomier than that of an Aries/Reliant or Solara (presumably to be avoided).
The photograph of the 1974 C2 concept in profile (right hand side) reminds me very much of the 1983 Peugeot 205. The front wing, front door and rake of the windscreen seem very similar. I would strongly suspect that Peugeot’s in-house styling team had a careful look though the Chrysler archives when they took over in 1978.
I agree. The 205 has a real Whitley look to it. It is cuter but has the same large window, symmetrical neatness as the late 70s Talbot products…and almost nothing in common with the preceding Peugeots
Hmmm, the early pencil sketch looks like the flanks were curvier than the production model, and would probably have been all the better for it- the finished model looked very under-styled and frumpy.
But the worst aspect of the design had to be that horribly rattly engine- I’ve owned an Alpine and I’ve owned an Endura powered Escort which was also notoriously ‘tappety’, but the Simca unit was far, far worse.
The proposed Metro saloon had a similar ‘boot too low’ profile.
The Rover 400 HH-R carried off the saloon well, albeit the Domani base had a similarly styled saloon model.
The VW Jetta based on the mk1 Golf had a profile like this, and as the Horizon was to be Chrysler’s Golf, made sense that they copied the saloon.
The mk2 Golf based Jetta had a higher bootlid, resolved the shape a bit better. It wasn’t until the Bora onwards that the shape was more distinct, aping the Passat.
The sedan’s deck height is awkwardly low, an inch more height would make a lot of difference without making the trunk roomier than that of an Aries/Reliant or Solara (presumably to be avoided).
The photograph of the 1974 C2 concept in profile (right hand side) reminds me very much of the 1983 Peugeot 205. The front wing, front door and rake of the windscreen seem very similar. I would strongly suspect that Peugeot’s in-house styling team had a careful look though the Chrysler archives when they took over in 1978.
I agree. The 205 has a real Whitley look to it. It is cuter but has the same large window, symmetrical neatness as the late 70s Talbot products…and almost nothing in common with the preceding Peugeots
Hmmm, the early pencil sketch looks like the flanks were curvier than the production model, and would probably have been all the better for it- the finished model looked very under-styled and frumpy.
But the worst aspect of the design had to be that horribly rattly engine- I’ve owned an Alpine and I’ve owned an Endura powered Escort which was also notoriously ‘tappety’, but the Simca unit was far, far worse.
@1 Memories of the poorly styled Volvo 340 saloon!
@Paul
The proposed Metro saloon had a similar ‘boot too low’ profile.
The Rover 400 HH-R carried off the saloon well, albeit the Domani base had a similarly styled saloon model.
The VW Jetta based on the mk1 Golf had a profile like this, and as the Horizon was to be Chrysler’s Golf, made sense that they copied the saloon.
The mk2 Golf based Jetta had a higher bootlid, resolved the shape a bit better. It wasn’t until the Bora onwards that the shape was more distinct, aping the Passat.