colorful highlights, essentially to facilitate the sales of the last Samba series. The Samba was not the only Talbot model to see customer interest waning; as the 1980s progressed, all Talbots began to sell rather poorly and the range was gradually phased out. Peugeot had been working on developing a replacement for the Samba as late as 1984, which would have been based on the forthcoming Citroën AX, but this project was abandoned as Peugeot took the decision to phase out the Talbot brand, and the Peugeot 205 was proving so popular that Peugeot felt little need for a third car of this size within the group. The Citroën AX was launched without a twin in 1986, and the only other Talbot in development, the Arizona family hatchback, was launched instead as the Peugeot 309 at the end of 1985. Production of the Samba ended in May 1986, by which time 270,555 had been made, signalling the beginning of the end of the Talbot brand for passenger cars, the death knell finally sounding the following year when the last Horizon rolled off the production line in Finland, although the brand survived on the Talbot Express, one of the Sevel Sud vans, until 1994. The Talbot Samba is almost extinct on UK roads with only 14 remaining as of 2016. Jeremy Clarkson video In Jeremy Clarkson's 2009 DVD Duel, a 1984 Talbot Samba Cabriolet was destroyed by hurling it from a catapult into a wall, with a speed camera nearby showing that its speed was before it hit the wall and exploded. References External links French site devoted to Talbot Samba 1980s cars Cars introduced in 1981 City cars Convertibles Front-wheel-drive vehicles Hatchbacks Samba Cars discontinued in 1986