British media recently announced the return of the Citroën 2CV to the manufacturer's range with the double chevron. An affordable model which would conveniently form the link between the Citroën Ami electric quadricycle and the Citroën C3 versatile city sedan.
A judicious and legitimate choice to fill an important void on the edge of segments A and B of the market. Since this announcement, we have lost count of the illustrations of Citroën 2CV revisited with AI or not, which, like wildfire, immediately spread across the web. But we must know how to maintain reason, in fact let's not get excited.
No neo-retro at Citroën
According to our information, unlike its rival Renault which has, for the most part, made it its hobby horse, the neo retro will not make its entry into the Citroën range. The chevron brand has never looked in the rearview mirror to design a new vehicle. Like its visionary founder named André, the brand's credo has always been audacity and innovation. This is not going to change, we are told internally.
Clearly, if you are expecting a new plump 2CV that will take on the face of the revisited Renault 5 and 4L, you will be disappointed. The era is no longer the Revolte (photo above) thought up in 2009.
At Citroën, this new vehicle will play a completely different role than titillating the nostalgic fiber of a wealthy clientele – which is no longer the one targeted – that of pragmatism and rationality. It will be an electric vehicle going to the essentials, (finally!) for the time that Citroën has promised us without success, notably with the C4 Cactus, this time the test should be transformed.
-The relationship with the 2CV of yesteryear will not be cosmetic but rather philosophical. Forget the very chic 2CV Charleston, a gentrified variant of the “two legs”.
The spirit of the 2CV not its dress
We must go back to the origins, the TPV project thought up in the 1930s with its simple structure, its single headlight and its corrugated sheet metal body more solid than a square surface and its canvas roof with a form dictated by the function.
Obviously, the brand's designers under the leadership of Pierre Leclercq will not return to such a basic structure, the standards and safety devices have been there. However, sobriety and simplicity will be essential. To give you an idea of the direction of the project, you certainly have to look back, but just a little. Go back to 2022 and the Citroën Oli concept car, a small electric SUV going against the tide of ever more.
If you look carefully you can already find small similarities with the 2CV, particularly in terms of the circular wheel arches and the curve of the wings, but nothing more. This future “2 CV” will be a vehicle somewhat in the spirit of the Hyundai Inster in short.
