Citroën could bring back the 2CV

Citroën allegedly wants to give the classic 2CV model a second life. Initial design work for a new electric edition of the 2CV is probably already underway, but the project is still at an early stage. Read: It has not yet been fully decided.

Citroën also seems to be reacting to its competitor Renault, who is making a significant entry into the electric business with retro-designed electric cars. The British specialized magazine Autocar reports this, citing a ‘senior source’.

Renault has already (successfully) launched the electric R5, and the new R4 is coming. There are also talks of a new, fully electric version of the Renault Espace reinterpreting the original look, and Renault recently even showed a concept of a possible electric R17 Coupé.

Citroën is looking into reviving the 2CV more than three decades after it went out of production (1992). The Citroën 2CV is the classic car par excellence in our part of the world. Preliminary work on a retro model that embodies the look and ethos of the French legend is said to have begun.

No official confirmation

Until now, Citroën has always denied wanting to relaunch its famous old model. Citroën’s head of design, Pierre Leclercq, told Autocar at this year’s Brussels Motor Show that the brand is not closing the door to retro designs. However, he did not want to officially confirm any plans for a 2CV revival.

Autocar speculates that a new electric car paying homage to the ‘duck’ could be based on titroën’s parent company Stellantis’s Smart Car platform and positioned between the Ami subcompact electric four-wheeler and the ë-C3 e-compact.

With a typical development cycle of four years, Autocar thinks that it could be 2028. Fittingly, this would be the year that marks the 80th anniversary of the presentation of the original vehicle at the Paris Motor Show in October 1948.

Small, frugal, light

Those were the keywords for the original 2CV, and if  Citroën wants to revive it for the electric era, these are the qualities to focus on. As for the car’s powertrain, it is expected to prioritize efficiency rather than performance, and that will enable the fitment of a small and, therefore, cheaper battery pack.

Citroën CEO Thierry Koskas told us at the BMS that batteries still are the most significant barrier to cutting the price of new electric cars, accounting for around 40% of a vehicle’s overall cost. “We still need to have a breakthrough in battery costs,” said Koskas.

If the 2CV is being revived, it has to be as comfortable as its forefather. “We want to be a popular brand,” says Koskas, “with a focus on simplicity, comfort, sustainability, and that little accent of design courage.”

Last revival attempt

Ever since the disappearance of the 2CV, which was produced from 1948 to 1992, there have been rumors about a successor. The closest anyone came to the idea was Chrysler, now a Citroën partner in the Stellantis Group.

More than twenty-five years ago, in 1997, Chrysler showed us the CCV, the China Concept vehicle, which resembled the original 2CV concept in multiple ways. In our eyes, it is one of the most interesting concepts Chrysler has ever made, but it didn’t materialize for all kinds of reasons.

The CCV from Chrysler, initially meant for the Chinese, later proposed to Africa. It flopped in both cases, unfortunately /Chrysler

It already began with the name: it was a response to a mid-1990s invitation from the Chinese government to create a simple and basic car suitable for the local roads and conditions. It used a lightweight plastic body (made from recycled bottles) and a small 750 cc four-stroke motorcycle engine.

By the time the CCV was introduced in China, the taste of the Chinese consumer had already been corrupted by the recent imports of many German luxury saloons. However, those weren’t the vehicles the Chinese hinterlands needed.

Chrysler changed the name to Composite Concept Vehicle, referring to the fact that the car just used four major plastic body pieces glued together to keep the price as low as possible for suitable markets.

The Americans then tried to sell their idea in Africa. Still, the emerging African customers also preferred 5th-hand western Mercedes and other Peugeots over a glued box on wheels made on purpose for ‘poor countries.’ The CCV died before it came into production.

In 2009, Citroën also made a last suggestion for an electric 2CV with the RevoltE concept, but this car wasn’t essential enough to fit the 2CV philosophy, and it later gave birth to the DS3 range.

The RevoltE Concept would finally be the inspiration for the DS3 line-up at Citroën /Citroën

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