Retro is not a buzzword inside French brand Citroën, and while it's always healthy to study the past, the company doesn't plan to repeat it. Even if the past brought about enormous success.
We're talking about the famed Citroën 2CV, perhaps the French equivalent of the Ford Model T, or the Volkswagen Beetle. Top Gear reported Thursday that the brand's CEO, Linda Jackson, has zero desire to reincarnate the 2CV in a modern way. To her, the past is just that: the past.
While Citroën evolves its designs based on the past, she said the company shouldn't "produce retro." Understandably, Jackson added the 2CV was right for the time (1948 all the way to 1990), but today it's about finding the next car that fits customers' wants and needs. The 2CV was largely credited with motorizing rural France in the mid-1950s. It arrived with a 9-horsepower air-cooled engine, a long-travel suspension to handle drives in the fields, and thrifty fuel consumption. The 2CV got farmers and other French natives to trade in their horses.
Jackson underscored that the company believes customers want "newness" and aren't clamoring for a return to yesterday with relation to designs. A modern 2CV would be something to admire with its open-umbrella looks and cutesy overall appeal. The original car's 43-year productions run was plenty long, though.
Buyers will have to hop into a C1 if they want to somewhat recapture the magic that was the 2CV. The C1 is dimensionally equivalent to the Fiat 500, though it certainly lacks the outright charm of the "deux chevaux."