French Motor Show

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29021, 9 October 1959, Page 14

French Motor Show

U’RENCH car manufacturers are busy preparing to unveil their latest products for public view at the forty-sixth French Motor Show to be held this month. The newest products of the designer’s board and the engineer's skill —both French and foreignwill be lined up in the Grand Palace in Paris.

Some foreign manufacturers will take part in the show with an eye on the growing West European market for cars. Along with an expanding market, the pace of competition is warming up. Each car maker is anxious to convince the potential buyer that his model combines the neatest design, smoothest operation, most comfort—and the most economic price. Among the foreign exhibitors, the British Motor Corporation is making a major bid to capture a share of the Continental market with its two new midget cars —the Austin Seven and the Morris Mini-Minor. The two cars will be manufactured in Italy as well as Britain in a step by the British firm to meet the manufacturers of the six West-European Common Mar-

: ket countries on their, own • ground. The State-run Renault firm has fitted a new “aerostable” pneu- • matic suspension to the 1960 Dauphine, which the makers claim will make it more comfortable to ride in and improve road-holding when cornering. For Dauphine fans who like a

turn of speed, a model with an improved Gordini engine and four-speed gearbox has been brought out. It costs 678.000 francs '£49l), compared with 591,000 francs (about £428) for the standard model. It is essentially a two-seater but has two occasional seats at the rear and comes either as a convertible or a hardtop model. It has a finer finish than the standard Dauphine. List prices start at 878,500 francs (about £636). Renault and Simca are reported to be experimenting with a three* horse-power model, but both companies say no model of this capacity will be on show this year. Peugeot, fourth biggest of the French manufacturers, is exhibiting a diesel version of its popular 403—the first such car to be produced in France.