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The Peugeot 604 is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot 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 assembled by Kia in South Korea. The Pininfarina-designed 604 was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1975 and drew praise for its formal, handsome styling. Denmark´s "Bilrevyen 1976" ("The Car Review 1976"), for example, described the styling as possessing a "calm elegance". Sales began in September 1975.〔 Based "on the principles of the Peugeot 504",〔''Autocar'', November 1977, p. 17〕 using its bulkhead,〔''Motor'', 6 December 1975, p. 2〕 doors, and part of the 504 floorpan, and usually powered by the then-new 2.7-litre V6 PRV engine, developed in conjunction with Renault and Volvo,〔 the car was Peugeot's first entry into the large luxury saloon market for 40 years - the most recent being the short-lived Peugeot 601 of 1934.〔 ==In the marketplace== The 604 represented Peugeot's first entry into a the market segment for executive cars since the 1930s.〔http://www.lecaav.com/601.htm〕 It augmented the Peugeot range.〔 The drive to enter a product in this class came from the increased affluence of the French market which Peugeot felt could accommodate a car more expensive than the 504.〔 Price at launch was US$10,990.〔http://www.nadaguides.com〕 In the UK the car was sold for ₤4,785 (compared to ₤4,399 for a BMW 520, ₤4,361 for a Citroën CX Pallas, and ₤3,485 for a Ford Granada 3000 GL).〔''Autocar'', 22 November 1975, p. 19〕 〔http://www.citroenet.org.uk/miscellaneous/1976-cx/autocar.html〕 The 604 had several noteworthy attributes. From the 504, it inherited a damped and supple ride,〔CAR Magazine, November 1980, page 116〕〔Motor, 6 December 1975, page 2〕〔Nicols, M (1975) Luxury, Peugeot style. Car magazine. August 1975, page 27〕 equal to a contemporary Jaguar XJ6, its "good handling",〔''Autocar'', 7 May 1977, p. 66〕 its spacious passenger compartment〔〔''Motor'', 6 December 1975, p. 4〕〔''Car Magazine'', November 1977, p. 83〕〔''Car Magazine'', December 1983, p. 95〕 and highly rated steering described as "a model of its kind",〔 "highly accurate" 〔Car, August 1978, page 53.〕 and "one of the finest yet produced".〔 The 604 had unusually wide opening doors which made entry and egress very easy for users.〔''Motor'', 6 December 1975, p. 5〕 This was especially appropriate for the car in its role as a limousine.〔Pagneux, p. 84〕 Despite critical success, the 604 was a commercial failure.〔Buckley, ''Classic & Sportscar'' (January 2007), p. 149〕 The production of 153,252 units was half that of the V8 engine Rover 3500 and an eighth of its stablemate, the CX. Peugeot made a profit on each car made, primarily because of the shared tooling and engineering with the 504, but the car ceased production without an immediate successor. France's car manufacturers have had not much success internationally in the executive segment after the Citroën DS's successor, the underpowered Citroën CX. The 604-era was perhaps the last point at which PSA Peugeot Citroën could theoretically have focused resources on becoming a viable long term competitor in this lucrative market segment. PSA Peugeot Citroën actually went in the opposite direction, creating a third competitor, the Talbot Tagora. 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.〔Motor, 6 December 1975, page 7〕 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. 〔http://articles.latimes.com/1989-10-21/business/fi-338_1_european-luxury-car〕 Like the situation in the US with the Lincoln Town Car, French luxury cars are now primarily used in fleets. The 604 was introduced during the recession caused by the 1973 energy crisis, which created a marketplace that was even more unfriendly to large-engined cars in France. Contemporary journalists attributed this relative failure to a variety of reasons, such as the conservative styling, the lack of technical innovation, modest performance, and a reputation for problems with rust. Others pointed out that the recent energy crisis 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.〔 Over 36,000 cars were built in the first full year of production (1976). The launch of the similarly sized but cheaper Peugeot 505 in 1979 along with another oil crisis, halved sales of the V6-engined 604. By 1981 7,000 examples were produced. Peugeot did launch some detuned economy versions of the 604, but they did not do much to increase the car's overall sales. Peugeot initially tried to convince buyers of the upper-middle class that the 604 had "The engineering of the Mercedes-Benz 280E, the handling of the BMW 5 Series and the elegance of the Jaguar XJ6" but did not convince enough buyers of this proposition. Sales, which were only strong for a few years after launch, dipped further in 1980 following the launch of the 505, and the last 604 rolled off the production line in 1985〔 A mere 581 examples were produced 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 17 that are road-legal as of the second quarter of 2014. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Peugeot 604」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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