Panhard’s last stand.
By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
From the VeloceToday Archives, April 2014
The mighty influence of Citroën (minority shareholder but major client) in the running of Panhard became most apparent when the Panhard management in 1959 started to plan a successor of their PL 17. Monsieur Pierre Bercot, Citroën’s boss, made it clear to Jean Panhard that they would not support the Panhard Company to invest in the development of a new mid-sized ‘berline’ (four door sedan). His argument was that Citroën was shortly going to introduce the Ami, an upgraded version on the platform of the 2CV and was already working on a totally new mid-sized model (the GS) to be launched in 1970. It would be a folly to compete with each other in this segment.
However, it was agreed that there was room in the Citroën/Panhard range for a sporting two-door coupé. Thanks to its many victories in rallies and at Le Mans, the name Panhard was associated with successful small high performance cars. They should now cash in on this favorable image. Thus the idea was born to develop the Panhard 24 (the name linked to the famous 24 Hours race at Le Mans).
