In the 60sthe Citroën design office is in turmoil. It even goes a little in all directions, between the never finished F project, the G-Mini just sketched out, blocks for the DS which will never see the light of day and the rotary motor. Invented by the engineer Felix Wankel, a Nazi at least as fervent as Dr. Mengele of sinister memory, it interested many manufacturers who tested it.
At Fiat, Dante Giacosa, the chief engineer, quickly understands that it's a dead endbut not everyone is so clairvoyant. NSU is the first to offer it in series, but quickly faces challenges colossal reliability concernsjoins forces with Citroën to share development. They created a joint company, Comotor, and the first commercialized application of the double chevron was the M35, in 1969.
In a flash of genius, at Citroën, where finances are already difficult, we decide to completely change our approach. Instead of developing his cars in the most paranoid secrecy, the double chevron decides to communicate thoroughly about the rotary engine and has the idea of making customers pay for part of the development.
In short, we select brand loyalists, we make sure that they will at least go through 30 000 km per year for two years and the car was sold to them from January 1970, offering them a royal guarantee for the time: all mechanical breakdowns will be fully taken care of during these two years (one year for the rest of the car) and a replacement vehicle will be provided free of charge.
At a time when new cars were generally only guaranteed for six months, it was
interesting ! However, tester customers will have to pay approximately 13 500 F (i.e. €17,000 today according to INSEE, knowing that the brand new GS sticks to 11 380 F), and pay for maintenance.
And what is this experimental Citroën? Basically, it's a coupe based on AMI8 but equipped with a 995 cc rotary engine developing 49 hp in place of the 602 cm3 twin-cylinder fitted to the sedan. Called M35, this two-door with a very elusive stern, also has the suspension hydropneumatique maison.
500 copies are plannedwhich will be assembled at Heuliez. When driving, the M35 seduces on many points. In addition to royal comfort, it holds the road very well, emits little noise and provides much better performance than that of a standard AMI8, clocking in at nearly 145 km/h. As fast as a Renault 12, of higher category. Customers are also delighted to be part of an elite group, selected by Citroën.
But they will quickly become disillusioned. Already, the M35 reveals a solid appetite for gasolinehappily consuming 10 l/100 km. In addition, the engine likes to season its fuel with lots of oilbefore breaking prematurely. Citroën stops the experiment when only 267 M35s have been delivered and seeks to crush them.
One might think the Wankel experience is over for the manufacturer. Nay! He did it again in 1974 with the famous GS Birotorand, same causes, same effects. The car turns out to be attractive to drive, but also expensive, greedy and unreliable. And here again, Citroën will seek to destroy the examples manufactured. What Ferrari had the delicacy not to attempt with the FXX and 599XX, which were however not authorized to run on public roads… As for the Wankel engine, only Mazda persists in using it in automobiles with results that are still inconclusive.
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