FRENCH FARINA: THE PEUGEOT 404

BMC’S Farina range was built across the globe, from Australia to Argentina, but was never a true ‘World Car’ in the manner of the Peugeot 404. The French car was a near contemporary and of a comparable size, and also had a body styled by Farina. But when the 404’s 15-year production run ended in 1975, it had achieved more than 1.8m sales in France alone, yet competition and BMC’S focus on the 1800 limited the British model to as few as 30,000 per annum in the mid-’60s.

Peugeot had a far simpler line-up, a less chaotic industrial base and greater quality control, while badge-engineering was commonly a substitute for true development on the other side of the Channel. The 404 was available with fuel injection and in chic Coupé and Convertible forms, plus the eight-seater Familiale sold across Africa and South America. Had BMC possessed a sense of focus, the Farina family might have been similarly expanded – but ‘might have been’ is all too often associated with the BMC/BL saga.