Last July, what was the main event in the celebrations of the centenary of Citroën took place, the “Meeting of the Century”, in Ferté-Vidame (Eure-et-Loir, France), which brought together around 5000 historic vehicles of the builder. But the surprise, this one, came in the form of a Citroën 2CV.
Not the one we know, whose production of his long career (1948-1990) would end in our Portugal, more precisely in Mangualde.
What was seen in Ferté-Vidame would be a hypothetical successor to the iconic model, a study of style for a Citroen 2CV 2000 — a 2CV for the century. XXI.
The French builder didn't provide much more information about such an intriguing study, but it's not hard to imagine the context. Let's go back to the 90's, where we witness the beginning of a retro or neo-retro movement, which gained momentum in the second half of the decade, and has continued into this century.
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In 1994 Volkswagen kicked off with Concept One, a vision for a new Beetle that would hit the market in 1997; Renault presented the Fiftie concept in 1996, alluding to the 4CV (Joaninha); BMW relaunched the Mini in 2000, not forgetting the Z8 roadster; Fiat's Barchetta would appear in 1995: and on the other side of the Atlantic, in 1999, Ford showed a Thunderbird clearly “glued” to the original from the 50s, having reached production in 2002.
Where's the Citroen retro?
Looking at Citroën's history, and at the different models that have marked it, it would not be difficult to imagine that the builder's ateliers would consider the possibility of recovering some of them for the new century to come. And what better candidate to return than the iconic Citroën 2CV?
This is what we can see in the images published by the French Le Nouvel Automobiliste. It is a study and not a functional model, just a static model for design analysis, not even having an interior worthy of the name.
It was probably conceived in the late 1990s, along with a number of others that would give rise to production models, such as the C3 Lumière Concept from 1998 (it would give rise to the C3) and the C6 Lignage from 1999 (it would give rise to the C6).
However, the Citroën 2CV 2000 had never been released in public — until now. The reasons for not going ahead with this project could be of different order, but that doesn't mean that the 2CV's silhouette was forgotten. Just look at the first Citroën C3…
The Citroën 2CV 2000 doesn't evoke, it sticks much more obviously to the original 2CV — there's no missing the canvas roof! Do you think you could be successful, or was Citroën's option not to follow this path?
What is certain is that the Citroën 2CV continues to cast a huge shadow, influencing not only the brand's designers, even as recently as when we met the Citroën Revolte concept in 2009; like other designers, from other brands, as we can see in the 1997 Chrysler CCV.
Source and Images: Le Nouvel Automobiliste.