If the 206 was a movie sequel, it’d be Highlander 2. Just not a patch on the original I reckon. Thunder absolutely stolen by the Renault Clio 172.

Actually, I’m in agreement with you. But compared to the 207 and 208, it was the least terrible of the sequels.
That said, I have yet to actually drive a 208, so my judgement may not be completely accurate. However, from looking at it, my interest is low.

Something that never made sense to me about Peugeot’s decision-making process: despite both manufacturing and selling their cars in RHD countries, RHD requirements were almost always an afterthought for them. The Peugeot 106 / Citroën Saxo couldn’t be had with air-conditioning in RHD, as an example.
I’d forgotten about the pedal positioning in the 206 (it’s been a very long time since I last drove one) until you mentioned it, but compared to the 205s I had owned I do remember it not being as good.

I can’t think of another period in automotive design and styling where French cars have looked as un-French as they have in the last 15 years or so.

Completely agreed. In many ways, it’s not dissimilar to the problems they were facing in (roughly) the mid-’70s to early-’80s, though some of the reasons for today’s issues are admittedly different.
One other thing that I feel may be hurting the French motor industry: with the exceptions noted above, the major manufacturers seem to be locked into a death race to see who can do the best job of being exactly like the competition. Whether that competition is from Europe, Asia, the Americas, or elsewhere doesn’t seem to matter – the mindset is apparently one of, “oh, that manufacturer sells a lot of Car X. We should make our cars in that class the same as Car X, and then we’ll sell a lot of them, too.”
The problem compounding this is that this has led to a wide range of models with nothing to really differentiate them from the competition, which in turn is giving potential customers no real reason to buy something French over something made by any other manufacturer regardless of the country of origin.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens if PSA actually goes ahead with re-entry into the North American market beyond Mexico in the next few years for two reasons: firstly, to see if they’ve learned from their past mistakes on this side of the water; secondly, to see if their cars are capable of competing in this market without becoming the next Sterling, Daihatsu, or Daewoo.
As much as I would like to hope for the best, from what I saw of the DS range while we were in Ireland and the UK a few months ago, they shouldn’t be pinning their hopes on it – and it’s hard to see what the rest of the range has to offer these days that an established manufacturer on this side of the water already doesn’t.

I don’t get where DS is going at all, but it’s early days. One of the weird things is the DS5 has been criticised for poor ride quality. I mean if there’s one defining quality you’d absolutely expect of a car with a DS badge it’s a magic carpet smooth ride.