Citroën seems willing to join the retroelectric bandwagon by bringing back its most famous model.
The French manufacturer is reportedly in the early stages of work on a 21st-century version of the 2CV, perhaps the most iconic French car of all time.
A senior source told Autocar that preliminary design work on a successor to the Deux Chevaux is underway as Citroën looks to join car brands bringing legacy models into the modern era.
It would be a change of course for Citroën: the brand told Top Gear in 2021 that it had no intention of bringing back the 2CV.
Former Citroën boss Vincent Cobée said that while it is a “privilege and an honour” to have a “massive inheritance”, it does not mean thatThat the answers of the past are the right answers for the future.’ And he added: “There is a difference between character and solution.”
A source has told Autocar that the Citroën 2CV will return in electric form to ride the wave of retro electric vehicles…
The brand’s change of heart is likely due to some of its closest competitors resurrecting nameplates and designs to great success.
Renault is the most obvious example of the power of the comeback.
It has recently relaunched not one but two of its icons in electric versions: the Renault 4 and 5.
The new Renault 5, a fantastic subcompact electric vehicle designed for stylish urban living, went on sale late last year.
While the French market is not huge, the new R5 has been hailed by fans and the press across Europe with a retro design that has been a clear hit with buyers.
At the end of November, the new R5 was already the best-selling electric vehicle in France, surpassing the Tesla Model Y (which in 2023 was the best-selling car in the world).
The R5 EV exceeded all expectations, although there was a frenzy of desire from the moment of its introduction, with 3,316 units compared to 3,175 for the Model Y.
The competitive pricing of the new R5 is a big draw, with Renault offering the compact from just £22,995 in the UK.
But it’s pretty safe to say that the way French drivers have unscrupulously embraced the R5 E-Tech, even though the French are sticklers for heritage, shows that if you make a graceful comeback you can capture the market.

The Renault 5 is being launched in an electric version and the sub-£23,000 price is a big reason

The Renault 4 was the mainstay of the French middle class for three decades after its launch in 1961.
The larger Renault 4 E-Tech, which is expected to arrive in the UK in the middle of this year and cost around £28k, is another twist on nostalgia that buyers are eagerly anticipating – and probably another source of income for Renault than Citroën. you will want to compete.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the source has confirmed Citroën’s change of mind towards Autocar.
Speaking to Autocar at this year’s Brussels Motor Show, Citroën design chief Pierre Leclercq did not confirm the new 2CV, but said the brand “does not close the door” on retro designs and that it “believes that philosophy is important.”
It’s fair to assume that any reincarnated 2CV would get into the cheaper side of new EVs and try to corner that emerging market.
In this way it will be able to stand up to Renault, as well as the Dacia Spring and the upcoming Fiat Panda EV and VW ID.2.

Fiat has revealed a new Grande Panda, the first in a new family of cars designed after the much-loved 1980s model.

The production ID2 will cost approximately less than £21,150 (€25,000) and will be larger than the Polo.
The Citroën 2CV: Brief history of a French ‘tin snail’
Legend has it that Citroën Vice President and Citroën Head of Engineering and Design, Pierre-Jules Boulanger, wanted to offer French farmers a better means of transportation than a horse and cart.
It had to be cheap and reliable: a mechanical workhorse.
Boulanger wanted it to meet a very specific and (some strange) set of requirements: carry four passengers, carry a 50kg sack or a full wine barrel (this is France, after all) and, most famously, cross a field plow without breaking an egg basket.
It also needed to manage three liters per kilometer or 95 miles per British gallon, and be good for women to drive too. Maintenance had to be minimal and simple, with economic failures to solve.
This was in 1936.

The Citroën 2CV sold more than five million units: it was the French car that put the world on wheels
Fast forward through setbacks, World War II and Boulanger’s death in a car accident, it was not until 1948 that the public saw a post-war 2CV Type A at the Paris Motor Show.
The workhorse became enormously popular over 25 years: it was the utility vehicle Boulanger envisioned for use by both farmers and French post office workers.
In 1988 the 2CV was withdrawn in France and manufactured elsewhere until 1990.
Up to that point, more than five million had been produced worldwide.
The “tin snail” remains a symbol of France today.

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