More than 50 years since it was introduced, the Méhari has regained a resurgence in popularity and prices have risen dramatically for used ones. Now, according to the website franceinfo, a garage called Forest Automobile, located in Pinon, France (in the Hauts-de-France region, northwest of Reims) has decided to relaunch the manufacture of a vehicle like the Méhari. Or have they?
The franceinfo video is laced with vintage footage of Citroën’s original Méhari, and the inference is that it is a reincarnation. Marie-Françoise Riquet, manager of Forest Automobile, has commenced production in her workshop, but it is based on a Peugeot drive-train on a welded steel floor pan, the body is fiberglass molded on-site (not ABS plastic) and the front-end looks more like a Jeep. A far cry from Citroën’s original innovation based on the 2CV.
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And it’s not an EV like the E-Méhari that Citroën offered from 2016 to 2019 (1,000 were produced). The Forest car runs gasoline and bioethanol.
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Playing upon the notoriety of the Méhari as much as they have, we wouldn’t be surprised if they hear from Citroën’s lawyers.
Here is the franceinfo website and the video:
And here is their published spec sheet:
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I am still in Paris, not that far from the Aisne department, too bad I didn’t read that sooner, I could have driven there and check it out, but flying back tomorrow. That car has a future I think, not necessarily as a repro of a Mehari but it seems to have merit on its own; the asking price of E18,000 seems ok when you see 2CVs selling upward of 20K. I wish them success.