Can a family sedan like the Peugeot 406 become the star of an action movie with a high content of stunts, chases and adrenaline? Of course, it can. And proof of this is the film saga inaugurated in 1998 with the movie “Taxi.” Appearances are deceiving. Directed by Gérard Pirès and scripted by Luc Besson, who wrote it in just 30 days, “Taxi” chronicles the utterly excessive adventures of a Marseille taxi driver with incredible driving talent and an unbridled passion for speed.
The plot featuring the Peugeot 406
Young Daniel (Samy Nacery), a delivery boy in a French city pizzeria. He decides to exploit his innate flair for sports driving by quitting his old job to become a taxi driver. The vehicle of choice is an apparently ordinary Peugeot 406, but one that has undergone extensive modifications. Daniel’s excellent driving skills, combined with the outstanding performance of his cab, make him extremely popular with customers because of the speed with which he reaches his destination, managing over and over again to evade radar and law enforcement.
Everything runs smoothly until Émilien Coutant Kerbalec, a clumsy police inspector played by Frédéric Diefenthal, accidentally meets the reckless taxi driver: the two meet when Émilien, who is having difficulty getting his license, takes Daniel’s cab to work . Daniel, unaware that his passenger is a police officer, puts his reckless driving on display during the race, committing a long series of traffic violations. At this point, Kerbalec, hopelessly in love with partner Petra and perpetually frustrated by his professional mistakes and failures, is determined to put an end to Daniel’s escapades. The story takes a new and unexpected turn when they both decide to harness the taxi driver’s talents and the performance of his incredible Peugeot 406 to catch an elusive gang of thieves. For Daniel, it is the perfect solution: by helping Émilien finally achieve great professional success, he has a chance not to lose his license and, more importantly, his job.
A surprise ending to the saga with Peugeot
We will not reveal the ending of the story, but a separate discussion deserves the film for the incredible team of professionals who took turns behind the wheel during filming.
It is a chance to see the famous specialist Remy Julienne and many former pilots such as Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Henri Pescarolo or Jean Ragnotti in action.
This fast-paced comedy has been a huge success and has become one of the highest-grossing French film series, grossing more than $200 million worldwide and attracting 23 million viewers in theaters in France alone. Peugeot has launched, on the French market, a series of 1/43 scale collector cars of Daniel’s cab while Ottomobile produces a 1/18 scale version.
But it doesn’t end there: “Taxi” spawns a five-film saga. The first film was followed by “Taxi 2,” from 2000, “Taxi 3,” from 2003, in which the 406 equips caterpillars to travel on snow and ice, followed by “Taxi 4” from 2007 and “Taxi 5” , from 2008, in which the car joins the Peugeot 407. In 2004 came a Hollywood remake with the title “New York Taxi.”