A very rare Peugeot 504 pickup truck, seen in south Beijing in 2012. The truck was unfortunately in a very sad state, covered with dust and dirt, tires deflated, and with all kinds of missing parts and other damage.
The Peugeot 504 pickup truck was manufactured by the Guangzhou-Peugeot joint venture. They four-door double cab variant was especially developed for the Chinese market and was not produced or sold anywhere else. The joint venture also made the two-door variant, but in China the four-door is far more common.
The 京A·U3531 license plate is very old, likely as old as the car.
The joint venture made Peugeot cars in China from 1985 until 1997. Besides the pickup trucks, they also made the 505 sedan and the 505 wagon. A small number of 405’s and 605’s was assembled as well but the joint venture died before it came to official production.
After 1997, Guangzhou Auto continued to build the pickup trucks in various variants until 2000. Other car makers in Guangdong province also constructed their own versions, but the numbers were always very small.
The cargo space was in very bad shape, with a lot of rust in the bed and along the edges. The rack behind the rear window and the wheel covers are factory original.
The Peugeot 504 pickup truck was powered by a 2.0 4-cylinder with 108 hp and 161 Nm, good for a claimed 160km/h top speed and a 0-100 in 14 seconds.
The Guangzhou-Peugeot badge, proving this was a car made by the joint venture and not a later product.
Most of these pickup trucks stayed in Guangdong province in southern China. It is very rare to see them outside their home base, especially all the way up north in the capital.
The rear bench is big enough for 3. Mirror has broken off. Sadly these great old Peugeots are not very well known or loved in China, they are not considered museum-worthy, so when they are no longer useful they are just being dumped somewhere.
I found this one on an out of the way parking lot near a park. The lot no longer exists today and the Peugeot is long gone, likely scrapped for the metal. Hopefully someone salvaged the grille with the beautiful Peugeot lion-logo.
The 504 pickup truck was an odd addition to the line-up of the joint venture. Even in 1997 many Chinese car makers were churning out far cheaper locally designed pickup trucks, with newer engines and design. The 504 never had a chance…
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