For most of our readers, when an unfamiliar car enters our field of vision, our brains lock onto it and flood our systems with whatthefuckisthatatonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for making us wonder, long and hard, about what unidentifiable cars are. In this case, the car is a peculiar but sleek yellow four-door spotted in Paris.
A reader named Guillain sent in these pictures, and it’s a truly baffling one. At first glance, it seems a bit like a Dodge Avenger, strangely? The profile and that prominent rear haunch seem sort of like it, but not exactly.
What is very distinctive is that strangely tiny rear side window, and those thick door frames, especially on that fat rear chunk, all of which make this feel like a kind of low-volume, small manufacturer’s car. The panel gaps and shut lines look pretty, um, roomy, too, so that fits this theory as well.
Also fitting the low-volume argument are those side mirrors, that look like an afterthought, ovoid round units that don’t really fit the overall design vocabulary of the car, and seem like maybe they were pulled from a bin.
Those taillights look pretty refined—are they from something else? They seem kind of familiar. The badge is pretty illegible, but those yellow-spoke wheels seem distinctive.
So what the hell is this thing? I’ve checked the big French carmakers, and it doesn’t seem to be one of them, doesn’t seem to be a Ligier, it’s not some weirdo quadracycle thing—so far, we’re baffled.
I bet at least one of you weirdo car savants won’t be baffled, though, and I want to know what the hell this is so I can sleep again. Have at it!
(thanks, Guillain!)
UPDATE: Thanks to a number of clever readers, we know what this is! And it’s nice and weird: it’s an MPM PS160, a French version of the former Russian Tagaz Aquila.
It’s a very interesting sporty sedan with a 138 HP Mitsubishi engine, and it looks like it was selling for an amazing €9,500!
That’s dirt cheap. That’s like sub-Spark/Mirage level here. These things would have sold like crazy at this price in the U.S., wouldn’t you think? That Ferrari-face and the cheap price? I love it.
We’ll have to look into this more. Until then, thanks, smarties!