Citroen News

Quentin Renaud and Tristan Villemain's beaten up but much-loved Citroen 2CV arrived in Melbourne last week after a 4000km drive from Perth via Alice Springs.

The self-confessed Citroen enthusiast - he's never owned anything else - counts the SM as one of the company's most outstanding cars.  "It was way ahead of its time," Gladman says.  Even today fellow motorists mistake it for a brand new Citroen."I've had people come up to me and ask if it's a late model Citroen," he says.  "They don't realise it's 40 years old."Powered by a Maserati V6 engine, the SM was one of the fastest front-wheel drive cars of its day with a top speed of more than 220km/h.  It had several pioneering features, a new type of variable assistance power-steering that was ultra-light at low speeds but became more meaty at higher speeds.  Like modern-day Citroens, it also had hydro-pneumatic suspension with automatic height adjustment.The six headlights too had automatic levelling.  Apart from the SM, Gladman has a 1985 CX25 and 1998 XM in his Melbourne garage.  But the SM is his favourite."When I got it 30 years ago it was a bit rough," he says.  The right-hand drive conversion was a disaster and the engine was in a bad way.But Gladman has rectified those problems and his $13,000 purchase is now a sort-after classic.  "I don't drive it as much as I should be when I do it feels like a modern car," he says."It is a beautiful touring machine."  SM prices reflect their rarity as only 12,900 were built between 1970 and 1975.  Many sell for more than $40,000 today.Gladman believes there are only 45 SMs in Australia and very few right-hand drive examples.  Contrary to popular belief the SM is not a complicated machine if you know what you are doing."Modern cars are far more complicated," Gladman says.  "Because the SM is mostly hydraulic with mechanical linkages, it is relatively easy to work on."The chassis and gearbox are virtually bulletproof."Only the Maserati V6 is a bit complex."  The SM was originally unveiled to rave reviews at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show.Apart from Hollywood stars, French Presidents from Georges Pompidou to Jacques Chirac used two specially modified four-door convertible "presidentielle" models, created by coach builder Henri Chapron.

Europe is back in business, celebrating the end of the global financial crisis that rocked the car world and drove the biggest of them all - General Motors - into bankruptcy.There were green shoots of happiness at the Frankfurt Motor Show in late 2009, but this week's Geneva Motor Show shows the same sort of excitement and promise of an early spring morning in Europe.Every carmaker has something new in Geneva, from full-blown production models to quirky concepts. The Swiss show is often dismissed as a sideshow but this time, with 25 new models as diverse as the Nissan Micra and Porsche Cayenne, there is serious action on every front.Carmakers are predictably focussed on green solutions to meet the challenges of fuel economy and CO2 emissions - with Fiat even showing a tiny two-cylinder engine for its funkoid 500 - but there is also room for fun.  How else do you describe a Honda city concept that looks like a 20th-century take on the unicycles used by Circe du Soleil acrobats?But even the green machines have turned mean as Ferrari shows its 599 Vettura Labratorio hybrid, although BYD from China balanced things with its fully-electric E6 hatch.Porsche also has its 918 supercar concept and both it and the Ferrari tap Formula One technology with KERS hybrid packs - that's Kinetic Energy Recovery System - to store energy for a quick, explosive boost of extra power.Porsche plans to put the 918 into production but, as yet, Ferrari is only using the super-special 599 - painted symbolically in green instead of the Italian brand's signature red - as a rolling labratory.  "We want to understand how to use this technology. We are not yet at the point to see it in a road going Ferrari," says Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari's CEO.The upbeat mood at Geneva is captured by the top man at Bentley, Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen, who says the reaction to his company's Mulsanne and Supersports models has filled him with confidence after a shocking 2009.  "There is a feeling that it is behind us," Paefgen says as super-wealthy Bentley buyers emerge from their GFC-proof bunkers.Walking the stands at Geneva I see green machines that are more than just concepts and plenty of choices for small-car buyers, from budget hatches to baby prestige cars like the Audi A1.  The little Audi gets a rousing reception, Volvo wins praise for the safety and styling of the new S60 sedan and the Alfa Giulietta - replacement for the 147 - raises more questions about the often-promised renaissance for the brand.Lexus shows a compact new CT200h hybrid that brings petrol-electric power to a new group of buyers, Mini has the Countryman with extra ground clearance and the basics for a World Rally Championship challenge in 2011, and the Mitsubishi ASX crossover - test driven this week by Peter Lyon near Tokyo - heads the Japanese contingent.For Alfa fans, the Giulietta is pitched at the Volkswagen Golf with a range of 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol and diesel engines.  BMW’s new 5 Series and a 4-litre six-cylinder X5 diesel creates a predictable buzz among SUV fans.Kia’s head of design, Peter Schreyer, lifts the wraps off the stylish new Sportage, which is due in Australia later this year, with the promise of both turbodiesel and petrol engines, as well as front and all-wheel drive.  The Sportage could be major hit for the Korean brand, matching the impact of the Hyundai ix35, when it goes on sale with an opener in the sub-$30,000 bracket.Ford leverages the first European appearance of its new Focus hatch in Geneva by unveiling the Focus wagon, which at this stage is a Europe-only car. Europeans are big wagon buyers and the wagon is expected to account for one-third of all Focus sales there.But the Focus wagon is only the halfway point - the fifth of 10 proposed models - using the same basic building blocks and the future includes a Focus electric car. Currently, the wagon, hatch, sedan and C-Max and Grand C-Max all share the same underpinnings.“We are now using our global resources to develop cars for all countries, including Australia,” says Ford's technical chief, Derrick Kuzak.  He also reveals the current Europe-only Kuga compact SUV and North American Escape will be replaced by a single global car, which could head to Australia, and hints that a hot performance Focus with a more-powerful version of Ford’s 2.0-litre Ecoboost turbo engine will also be available in Australia.Lexus uses Geneva to showcase its critically important CT 200h hybrid, which it hopes to become a volume player.  But the CT 200h is not the only car to push the green theme at the affordable end.Hyundai has the stylish turbocharged 1.7-litre i-flow concept sedan, which uses a lithium-ion battery pack with six-speed dual-clutch transmission, and it is joined by the ix35 FCEV hydrogen fuel-cell car and Opel’s Flextreme GT-E.Apart from Ferrari, Porsche shows off its GT3 R Hybrid - also with KERS - and 918 Spyder, both exploring the outer limits of hybrid drivetrains for race and road cars.  The Cayenne, along with the VW Touareg, share their hybrid debuts as Audi uses the first appearance of its baby A1 to reveal a full-electric E-tron concept that joins earlier R8-based plug-in supercars.Apart from the conventional petrol and diesel A1, Audi also adds the RS5 coupe to its A5 lineup and a hybrid A8 sedan. The RS5 gets a powerful 335kW/430Nm 4.2-litre V8, quattro all-wheel drive and seven-speed S-tronic dual clutch gearbox.Like the BMW-built Mini, Audi has several distinctly styled A1s on its stand. It says owners will have access to so much customisation that no two A1s will be exactly the same.Audi has the Mini firmly in its sights with an expected starting price around $33,000 for the A1, with a three-door car to kick of sales with a five-door and cabrio expected. The range-topper is expected to be an S version with a performance-tuned turbo four cylinder engine.Citroen springs one of the few real surprises of the show with its hot-pink Survolt sportscar while Giugiaro teams up with Proton to deliver a stylish hybrid city car.  The Survolt is a pure design fantasy with no likely production expected. The showcar did not even have an engine and Citroen says it has been designed to go electric.Apart from the sleek Citroen, two Italian styling houses - Pininfarina and Bertone - have show cars based on Alfa Romeo mechanical parts. Bertone returns to Geneva for the first time in two years with the Pandion 2+2 concept coupe and Pininfarina shows the two-seater 2uettottanta.Apart from the twin concepts, Citroen has the DS3 Racing as well as its DS High Rider three door, a pointer to the next-generation C4, which is due to be launched next year as a five-door.  The company will only build 1000 versions of the DS3 racing and the head of local importer Ateco Automotive, Neville Crichton, says he would like to bring a few to Australia but will initially focus on launching the DS range.“It certainly is a good looking thing,” Crichton says.  Mercedes-Benz continues to create a buzz at Geneva with its SLS Gullwing supercar but the F800 Style, a pointer to the next-generation CLS minus its cantilever rear doors, dominates the Mercedes stand and shares the limelight with the E-Class cabriolet.Fitting in the quirky category in Geneva is Aston Martin’s Cygnet hatch, a remake of Toyota’s iQ city car. The $50,000 makeover model will only be sold to existing Aston Martin customers.  Aston Martin boldly has the Cygnet right next to its four-door flagship sports car, the Rapide.

BROOKE Tatnell has done it again, claiming his eight World Series Sprintcar championship in Perth last weekend. It is his fourth with   the Perth-based Krikke Motorsport team and comes after the second - generation racer, who is still looking for his big breakthrough on the   World of Outlaws circuit in the USA, led the summer sprintcar season from the start.JAMES Moffat is a factory-backed Ford racer and will compete in this year's Fujitsu Championship series driving a Falcon under the Ford Rising Stars banner. The son of four-time Bathurst winner Allan Moffat was a regular Fujitsu race winner in 2009 but is aiming for this year's championship to springboard him into the main game in 2011.MARCOS Ambrose qualified 14th for the start of this year's Nascar season in the Daytona 500 in Florida. He qualified comfortably for the   biggest race of the season, although his exact spot for the big one will not decided until a pair of qualifying races is run.SEBASTIAN Loeb begins his hunt for another World Rally Championship in Sweden this weekend with Citroen. The six-time champion is expecting   tough opposition on the snow from last year's runner-up Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus, as well as former world champion Marcus Gronholm and F1 refugee Kimi Raikkonen, who is having his WRC start in a Citroen C4.V8 Supercar safety has been boosted with new regulations that require a new upright stiffening beam to the rollcage inside the driver's   door, as well as extra gusseting around the A and B-pillars in all cars. The change is compulsory from the Phillip Island 500 in September and comes after Todd Kelly's big side-impact crash last year in Perth.JOHN Bowe is back to his favourite number, 18, for this year's Touring Car Masters Series. The Bathurst and touring car championship winner  has snagged the number, which he wore for 11 years as Dick Johnson's team mate in the touring car series, for the Ford Mustang hewill own and race in this year's booming historic racing championship.FORMER Formula Ford champion Tim Blanchard is moving into V8 Supercars after a failed attempt to move up the motorsport ladder in Europe.  After competing in the 2008 British Formula Ford series, and scoring lots of wins, he spent 2009 rebuilding at home and has now signed with Sonic Motor Racing Services - which ran his Formula Ford in Australia - for the Fujitsu Series races this year, partnered with Rod Jane.

A widely varied field from the soft-roader Audi Q5 to the baby Volkswagen Polo is competing for the biggest prize in world motoring

If it looks familiar that is because the all-electric C-Zero is based on the micro-electric Mitsubishi i-MIEV as well as sister company Peugeot's iOn.  It goes on sale in Europe later this year and is destined for Australia in mid-2011. A spokesman for Citroen importer, Ateco Automotive Ltd, Edward Rowe, says the pioneering homologation work that Mitsubishi Australia went through for the i-MIEV could mean a relatively easy path to launch for the Citroen.  "The small car market here is obviously very fluid," Rowe says. "Because of the joint-venture with Mitsubishi, the C-Zero has some obvious appeal for us and it's something we will keep an eye on."  Rowe is not talking price but he is confident the car will attract strong interest.Mitsubishi has already flagged a $60,000 pricepoint for its micro car but Rowe does not believe a high price is a hurdle. "I expect that early adopters, who are less price-sensitive, will look at the C-Zero," Rowe says.  "It will attract people who want to make a definitive statement about the environment." Citroen already has a lot of experience with electric vehicles in Europe.  It already builds commercial electric-powered Berlingos for France and the UK and has built more than 10,000 electric vehicles since 1995.  "Electric vehicles also make a lot of sense in France because most of the power generation is nuclear or hydro electric," Rowe says. Rowe says the C-Zero will also appeal to the Citroen heartland.  "Most of our sales are in the metro areas, which makes it ideal for that market," he says.  "A our traditional customer base is also concerned about the environment and aware of new technology." Citroen and Peugeot pioneered diesel-engined passenger cars in Australia long before they became fashionable.  Like the i-MIEV, the C-Zero's permanent magnet synchronous motor is powered by a latest-generation lithium-ion batteries. The electric motor delivers 47kW and 180Nm, giving the car a top speed of 130km/h and range of more than 130km.  The batteries can be charged by plugging into a conventional household power outlet or via a fast-charging system that gives the car an 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes. The C-Zero made its global debut at this week's Brussels motor show, along with 25 other new Citroens.

The successor to the Xsara is best know as the unbeaten World Rally Championship mount for fantastically fast Frenchman Sebastian Loeb, although most C4 deliveries in Australia are nothing like his $1.2 million hand-built turbo coupe.Now the C4 is heading for a complete re-make, although it's hard to see anything at all in these Carparazzi scoop pictures from rural France.  The bodywork is completely covered in black-plastic drapery to disguise any sign of the C4's shape, even though it is expected to be an evolution of the current chic look.The headlamps, at least, are partly visible and so is the general look. The car will continue as a four or five-door hatch, but there is a surprise in the C4's future ...Just like the latest development of the baby C3, the funky DS model, there will be a design driven DS4 sidekick for the regular C4.The DS4 is likely to be shown as early as the Geneva Motor Show in March, giving enough space before the official preview of the C4 on the Citroen stand at the Paris auto show in September ahead of sales in 2011. Then again, Citroen could easily delay the DS4 so it does not take too much attention away from the C4.Apart from the bodywork, Carparazzi in Europe reports the upcoming C4 could be fitted with the diesel-electric hybrid power pack which is expected to be fitted to the company's leading-edge RCZ performance coupe.

Somewhere under all this black plastic is the next C4, and while Citroen has tried to make sure there’s little to see under the camouflage, it’s easy to identify the car from its signature sharply raked windscreen and rounded rear.But this test car, caught out and about by spy-snappers Carparazzi, also shows new tail-light clusters and changes to the headlight components – although it’s unlikely Citroen will do away completely with the cluster’s current claw-like shape.The next Citroen C4, tipped to debut at the Paris motor show in September next year and be  launched at the end of 2010, will be lighter and more efficient than the current car, the company’s product boss Vincent Besson has revealed. Speaking at the recent Frankfurt motor show, Besson also said that the new hatchback is likely to be offered with three cylinder engines and, possibly, petrol-electric hybrid power during its lifetime, although not from launch. Besson also laid out the company’s strategy for hybrid and electric vehicles, saying that petrol-electric power is not necessary or economically viable in small city cars, and only for high-end versions of the next C4.  The smaller cars are likely to be developed from a model based on the Mitsubishi i-Miev.However, he expects that ‘a large part of a future C5 range’ will have hybrid power.

"It goes back to when we were kids," says Phoon, now the proud owner of a pair of the sleek French cars. "There was a family friend who had them and when we went out to dinner or somewhere else when it came time to leave we all used to want to go home in their car."To be honest, I think it was just that they were so different. They were like nothing we had ever seen before."There was to be a considerable hiatus between Phoon's childhood infatuation with the DS and actually getting one into his garage, but when push came to shove there was really only one car fate was going to send the way of the 43-year-old accountant."It was really quite a strange thing. In 2005 I decided I needed a hobby and I actually started looking for a Mini as that is what I learned to drive in. While cruising the net the Citroens started popping up ... that was that. I never actually went to look at a Mini."The car Phoon settled on was a 1974 DS23 non-Pallas automatic with airconditioning. "It is pretty asthmatic, to say the least, especially when you put the air-conditioning on, but the really funny thing is that if I had been buying it in 1974 it is probably exactly the specification I would have wanted."Phoon says that after finding the car it became a full-on obsession. "Within six months of getting the first car I had just gone completely nuts," Phoon says. "I went to Paris with a load of other Australian Citroen owners, joined the 50th birthday celebrations (for the DS in 2005), took part in the rally ... it was just fantastic."Having paid $15,000 for the car and spent, by his own estimation, a further $25,000 on lavishing anything on it that it needed, there came a point when there was nothing left to improve."I had done everything I could on the Blue car ... everything it needed it got. There was nothing left to fiddle with and I needed a project. That is when I got the second car in May."This time it was a 1972 DS21 Pallas fuel injected 5-speed manual.The DS was the result of an 18-year development program that culminated with the unveiling of the DS19 at the 1955 Paris Motor Show. On the first day more than 12,000 orders were taken and the DS's place in automotive folklore was assured.What really set the DS apart in its day and for some considerable time after was a raft of innovative safety and comfort features such as the hydropneumatic suspension, directional (swiveling) headlights, the single-spoke steering wheel, front disc brakes and differing front and rear track widths.At its peak, the Citroen DS was made in France, Britain, Australia, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. A total of almost 1.5 million cars were made during its 20-year life with a peak of 103,633 sales in 1970."They are fascinating cars. Aesthetically, you can just sit and stare at them for hours and technically they have as much to give as you are willing to explore and then some," Phoon says. "They are really a car that rewards somebody who wants to put a lot into it."While there are only about 1000 registered Citroen DS left in Australia, Phoon says restoring and maintaining one is not a difficult task. "That is actually very easy. The Dutch are the biggest enthusiasts in the world and they have factories that reproduce just about anything you could want."It is also a huge advantage to be a member of the Citroen club. That is where you learn things and on the tech days there is always somebody leaning over your shoulder ready to offer advice."Citroen DS Years made: 1955-1975Number made: 1,455,746Price when new: approx $8000 (1974 DS23) Price now: $20-25,000 (concourse) 

But Citroen intends it to signify modern activism, which is apparently symbolised by a plush velvet sofa curving around from front passenger seat to rear row area, lurid colours and finishes intentionally mimicking make-up. The little city-car also has a practical side, with the three-seater layout allowing a rear-facing child seat, the bonnet covered in photovoltaic cells that power airconditioning and other creature comforts. And the bank of batteries that tie in with its small-capacity petrol engine are hidden under that expanse of red velvet couching, which is itself accessed by rear-hinged doors. Both are able to drive the car, although being a concept there are no real figures available on outputs or range. Citroen refers to the Revolte as being inspired by the iconic little 2CV, but ‘adopting a heretic stance’. It’s clearly just intended to attract show attention, but it does highlight the French carmaker’s move into the electric arena, with an electric city car in the starting blocks for 2010 – and one of the first modern diesel-electric hybrids to follow some time later using the C5.