For the class of boring crossovers to transport the president, France had the very cool Peugeot 607 Paladine as its state limo. It almost had an equally cool successor. Almost.
A voluptuous sedan is a body style that only seems to exist for important people to feel important. This of course has to do with the fact that a limousine has been providing transportation to the most important people for years. Also presidents and heads of state who received a chic sedan as a state limo. For example, Wim-Lex can travel with us in an armored Audi A8 that has also been extended by RemetzCar. If you were a dictator in an Eastern Bloc country you would even have a car that was made solely for this purpose, the Mercedes 600 Pullman ‘Großer’ (W100).
French state limos
France is relatively fortunate to have and had the crème de la crème of limousines. If you were Charles de Gaulle, you would simply receive a specially built Citroën DS. But if you had to rank French presidents on how cool their state limo is, yours truly would be Nicolas Sarkozy at number one.
Peugeot 607 Paladine
He had a Peugeot 607 as a state limo. What was already an unusually special car from the somewhat regular Peugeot. The president, Sarkozy, received a special version called Peugeot 607 Paladine. This was built by Heuliez, the RemetzCar of France. Of course it was unique for the president and you sat a little more comfortably in the back.
However, France is known for large parades where the president strolls down the Champs-Elysées in Paris and the roof must be able to open for this. The Peugeot 607 Paladine was therefore a kind of ‘landaulet’. The rear part, where the president sits, has a metal folding roof! Sarkozy could sit with his head in the sun as if it were a Peugeot 307 CC. Why it’s so cool? Because you wouldn’t know it if you saw the Paladine in profile. Convertibles that are just as beautiful with the roof on as off are rare and the Paladine is that.
Successor
The Paladine is officially seen as a concept, but when the Peugeot 607 was facelifted, the Paladine state limo also received this facelift. An equally rare appearance, a facelifted concept. Less well known is the story that a successor was in the starting blocks.
Not only because Nicolas Sarkozy was at the end of his term, but also because the Peugeot 607 followed Sarkozy’s example. The 607 never officially received a successor, but from a marketing perspective it did. Peugeot unveiled the first 508 in 2011 and it was supposed to officially succeed the 407, but also be slightly higher in the market and also serve the 607 buyers. Enough to also take on the role of presidential limo.
Peugeot 508 Paladine
Naturally, the concept of the Peugeot 607 Paladine was transferred to the 508 with a sheet of carbon paper. Heuliez would build the car and therefore extend a Peugeot 508 and provide it with a steel folding roof for the rear part in order to build the coolest state limo for the new generation . There are some sketches and below artist’s impression van, but the concept was completely stillborn and both Peugeot and Heuliez never officially confirmed whether a 508 Paladine had been built.
Hollande and Macron
Moreover, the reality is simple: Sarkozy’s successor, François Hollande, was never allowed to take a seat in a Peugeot 508 Paladine as a state limo. As mentioned, Heuliez had to build it, but they folded in 2010. They even received state aid to restart, but as a parts supplier. Nowadays Heuliez builds buses, which you can even spot in the Netherlands.
If Hollande and his successor and current President Emmanuel Macron had to stroll down the Champs-Elysées, they did so by DS. As a ‘state limo’, Hollande received a Citroën DS5 HYbrid4 and Macron has an arsenal of armored DS 7s at his disposal. Through the openable panoramic roof you can still wave to the French people from the back. Fine, but it is not as cool as the 607 Paladine and the stillborn 508 Paladine, and it is not going to be.
This article The coolest French state limo almost had a successor first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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