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Citroën will showcase its future design and brand direction in December.
New CEO Xavier Chardon will use an event in Paris to outline his vision for Citroën and to address observations that the brand is currently lacking clarity.
Speaking for the first time since rejoining Citroën from the Volkswagen Group in the summer, Chardon accepted there is confusion around the brand but insisted it is still able to innovate.
Separately to the December event, Chardon has continued with the project that seeks to revive a model in the spirit of the 2CV, which Citroën executives have been hinting at this year.
He said the 2CV is “a part of French culture” and he is well read on the history of the model and its original purpose to democratise cars for people with limited buying power. He said it is “my duty to take this brief to 2025, 2026 because it’s super-important to make individual mobility affordable again”.
The “DNA and spirit” of the 2CV is something “we want to inject into our future cars”, he said.
It is too early to speak of the timing for such a car or cars with this ethos, said Chardon, and the project is as much about a mantra and approach to making a new model as a retro-inspired recreation of the original, because the 2CV’s shape came about for functional reasons that may not be relevant today.
“It was the first experience of having access to individual mobility and freedom. This is the kind of freedom we have to reinvent from 2026-2030,” he said.
When asked if these areas will be topics at the December event, Chardon said: “Some of them, yes. Maybe not all of them.” Autocar understands there will not be a 2CV-inspired model this year.
More broadly, Chardon didn’t say how many models Citroën’s range will offer. He cited Tesla as showing you can have success with just two, so instead it is about having “the right shape, the right answer” and ensuring “it’s clear to people”. The brand’s core offerings will, however, remain in the B- and C-segments.
When asked if the new Fiat Grande Panda shows greater character and is bolder in its approach than its Citroën C3 platform twin, Chardon said the two models have different purposes and approaches. The Fiat “has maybe better connection to its DNA” while the Citroën is more focused on space and comfort. He added: “Offering this space is super-important for us.”
He highlighted the Ami as a model that shows Citroën is still a “true innovator”. At the other end of its range, the C5 Aircross has been repositioned as a larger flagship and the fact that Citroën’s flagship is now an SUV rather than a saloon reflects market trends.
The likely introduction of a new ‘E-car’ category – as mooted by the European Commission last month to allow companies to make smaller cars again without such a strict legislative framework pushing prices up – presents a “strong opportunity” for Citroën.
“First of all, it’s an opportunity for Europe to democratise cars,” he said. “If you look at pre- and post-Covid, the only region that hasn’t recovered worldwide is Europe.
“We lost two million cars. Out of those, roughly one million are below €15,000 [£13,000]. This is driven by a lot of regulations, by a lot of pressure to reduce CO2, which is still good, but we strongly believe there is a necessity to reconnect with those people who cannot buy new cars and either stay on the used market or keep their cars for longer.
“That’s why the car parc is ageing and why the CO2 emissions are not moving [down] according to our expectations. And that’s why this E-car is a super proposal.
“We believe that bringing something close to [Japan’s] kei car, being affordable, electric and made in Europe, makes sense. And it makes a lot of sense for Citroën.
“It’s in our footprint. You don’t have to go too far back to find the C1 as a great example.
“I do hope that we can be able to produce those cars again and it is definitely territory for Citroën.”
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