Does this Volvo look familiar? If it looks familiar, don't be surprised. It was from this study that the Citroën BX was born, one of the most successful models of the French brand. But let's go by parts, because this story is as rocambole as the adventures of Rocambole.
It all started in 1979 when the Swedish brand Volvo, to start preparing the successor of its 343 saloon, requested design services from the prestigious Bertone atelier. The Swedes wanted something innovative and futuristic, a model that would project the brand into modernity.
Unfortunately, the prototype idealized by Bertone, baptized with the name «Tundra» did not please Volvo management. And the Italians had no choice but to put the project in a drawer. This is where Citroën enters history as a protagonist.
The French, markedly more avant-garde than Volvo in the 1980s, saw the Tundra's “rejected” project as an excellent basis for work for what would become the BX. And so it was.
Citroen almost bought “wholesale” the design of one of its best-sellers from the 80s and 90s. A design would even serve as a yardstick for other successes such as, for example, the Citroen Ax. The similarities are plain to see.
