The Méhari is back — well, sort of…
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.
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.
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:
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.