MATRA

Bagheera

The MATRA Bagheera was launched in April 1973 as a joint venture between MATRA and Simca, then part of Chrysler Europe, and it quickly became the most commercially successful road car MATRA ever made. Internally codenamed Project M550, the MATRA Bagheera was a mid-engined two-door coupé built around one of its most distinctive features: a flat floor and a single bench allowing three passengers to sit side-by-side, three-abreast, a layout almost unique in its class. The MATRA Bagheera used a lightweight glass-reinforced plastic (GRP / fibreglass) body mounted on a steel chassis, keeping weight low while giving the car its sleek wedge profile. Power came from Simca-sourced inline-four engines, initially a 1,294 cc unit producing around 82-84 bhp, mounted transversely behind the cabin. In 1975 the MATRA Bagheera S arrived with a larger 1,442 cc engine of roughly 88-90 bhp, alongside the limited-edition MATRA Bagheera Courrèges, an all-white special trimmed by fashion designer André Courrèges. MATRA also experimented with a fascinating twin-engine prototype, the MATRA Bagheera U8, which mated two four-cylinder units into a single V8-like powerplant, though it never reached production and only a handful of examples were ever built. A Series 2 MATRA Bagheera appeared with revised styling and detail improvements, and the model continued until April 1980, when it was replaced by its successor, the galvanised-chassis Matra Murena, another mid-engined three-seater. Every MATRA Bagheera was built at MATRA's Romorantin-Lanthenay factory in France.