1981 Talbot Tagora

Yes, that is odd. It´s as unlikely as a Mancunian band calling itself Buick LeSabre. I wonder what inspired them to choose that name. It could be a bad move though. The name sounds a bit ungainly.

It might surprise you but for some reason there is a large crop of 309s in my area. They must be getting on for 15-18 years old now. I hadn´t really noticed this car for a long time and then one parked in front of my home. I must admit I quite like it; they did a nice job of adding that tailgate and the car has a purposeful look about it. It would be fairly considered a good alternative to a Golf GTi and certainly a cheaper alternative to the 205 GTi with which it shared so much. The -09 ending was devised by Peugeot to signal that it was out of series with their other numbers. I don´t know why they thought that was necessary. I suppose they disliked its Talbot origins.

The Tagora project was started by Chrysler Europe (which had bought the Rootes group) as a replacement for their unsuccesful 180 or 200 saloons (vehicles as anonymous as a potato chip). Peugeot bought Chrysler and thus inherited the project. Since Chrysler´s name had no brand value, Peugeot decided to revive the Talbot marque. This was considered to be a prestigious name to append to what was supposed to be a smart executive car. The Tagora was launched at the tail end of the executive car boom, so the market was crowded. Not only that but it was launched in a recessionary period (as was the Peugeot 604). That the car was late to market, that the market was saturated and that the car had nearly no class-leading attributes (a huge boot?) and that it had little visual character meant it stood little chance of success. I believe Talbot didn´t exactly push the car much by way of marketing. I suppose PSA realised the Tagora was a no-hoper, that it would steal sales from the 604 and that the Talbot brand was moribund anyway.  So, that was the Tagora. Wikipedia has more on the topic including period reviews which some idiot posted there after having spent his own money buying magazines from eBay.

 So B&N  ......enlighten me if you will .... what was the Talbot Tagora .... who was it aimed at .... what was it built on ... and why is it significant ... seeing as how Talbot never made it to our shores ( which is a crying shame when one considers what a blast the RWD Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was in comparison to its Dodge FWD kissing cousin )