With all the uncertainty the global car industry’s faced over the past few months, it feels like we could use a bit of good news. Right on cue, as if like magic, here’s some now. A new report from Autocar claims that French carmaker Citroen is reviving the 2CV, its postwar people’s car that helped put France on four wheels and became a style icon.
If you aren’t terribly familiar with the original 2CV, it was a gloriously and unrepentantly weird car in a manner only Citroën seemed to be able to achieve at the time. Early ones had a canvas sunroof that ran all the way from the windshield header to the rear bumper, a corrugated hood, and an air-cooled flat-two engine making all of nine horsepower. The front and rear suspension was tied together on each side of the car in such a way that loading the car up with weight lengthened its wheelbase, the front brakes on early models were inboard drums, and the windshield wipers were originally driven off the speedometer cable, providing a very rudimentary form of variable speed.
Oh, and if all of this seems a bit strange, you should see the TPV prototypes that set the stage for the 2CV. On those things, the seats were hammocks hung from the roof, and many featured just one headlight as two weren’t legally required in France at the time. It all sounds like a bit of a strange stop-gap idea, yet the 2CV became far more than just a transitional car for France. If you combine every 2CV variant together including the ones built in England, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, Chile, Portugal, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, and Iran, production ran from 1948 to 1990, totaling nine and a quarter million cars.
So why did the 2CV last longer than the Iron Curtain given the pace of Western car development in the latter half of the 20th century? Well, it was comfortable, it was spacious for its footprint, it was simple, it was relatively cheap, it was durable, and it was distinctive. The 2CV might’ve looked and gone like a tin snail, but that was a feature, not a bug. From Western Europe to South America to the Middle East, the 2CV was and still is loved, which means a revived model has awfully big shoes to fill.
Still, that doesn’t seem to be stopping Citroën from trying. While Citroën may not have been interested in reviving the 2CV in the past, it seems like plans may have changed. As Autocar reports:
Preliminary design work on a successor to the car that is widely credited with mobilising post-war France is under way, a senior source has confirmed, although the project is currently at an early stage.
The possibility of another cute car being born into this world sounds great, but if Citroën’s serious about a new 2CV, it’s going to be a tricky thing to get right. The 2CV was more than just stylish, it was unapologetically cheap. In an electrified landscape, that’s going to require some serious cost cutting without compromising on soul.
Can it be done? Quite possibly. Stellantis already has its Smart Car Platform, no relation to the Mercedes-Benz subsidiary Smart. Designed for electrification and sized for entry-level cars, it can accept battery packs as small as 29.2 kWh, which will be critical in driving costs down. It already comes underneath the €23,300 ë-C3, although cleaving a few grand off of that price tag to make an affordable electric 2CV would be no mean feat.
Still, it’s not out of the question, although we’ll still be waiting a few years at a minimum to see where this report goes. As Autocar posits, “There is no indication when a new 2CV might arrive, but a typical four-year development cycle would put it on track to be launched in 2028.” Hey, that’s when the original 2CV turns 80. Considering Citroën hasn’t had a U.S. presence in decades, it’s unlikely a 2CV possible revival will cross the Atlantic. However, that won’t stop us from dreaming.
(Photo credits: Citroën)
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The original was arguably an original CUV, as it was very compact, and so utilitarian that it was basically farm equipment. Not sure if the market would accept anything new that was as de-contented as even the later 2CVs, but I’d be on board for it. Some things they couldn’t duplicate due to regs, e.g. the lawn chair seating and air-cooled, but as far as I know there are no regs that prohibit rubber floor mats or exposed interior sheetmetal.
Those cowards at Stellantis need to bring this stateside. Of course, they don’t sell Citroëns here, so they’ll have to plaster a dodge pimp sticker on there. I mean the dodge lineup is pretty thin these days anyways, so they need all the models that they can get at this point since big Daddy Stella hasn’t given them much love lately.
I hope they don’t repeat what VW did with the new Beetle or what BMW did with the new Mini, and make a true car of the people, cheap and simple, but i don’t think they’ll do it, it’ll be another fashion statement.
I’m assuming this is the launch of a sub-brand like the bland soulless crap they sell as DS, but cheaper.
But I’m just basing this on everything Citroen have done since my beloved, weird and brilliant AX GT.
Yes, because if there’s one thing Stellantis doesn’t have enough of, it’s brands. Hey, maybe Wagoneer could be split off from Jeep?
It’ll just be another egg-shaped cabover awd van-cuv crossover with a rugged and adaptable interior on jacked-up 3-bolt Citroën wheels
They’ll have covers to look like three bolt wheels, but will actually be 4 bolt.
2 tons of fun*
*fun highly optional
Without a flat-twin and the ability to carry eggs over an unplowed field, I am not interested.
Did you know something calling itself “Bell Labs” still exists?
Same for “Citroën”.
It will be a nostalgia grab that will disappoint the hell out of anyone who is expecting to find the spirit of the 2CV in it. The automotive landscape has simply evolved too far beyond what the original car existed in. If Ford launched a new Model T it couldn’t be anything close to the original car, in function or in spirit.
You might get close to the mark if you eschew the notion of the 2CV as a car and instead build an enclosed motorcycle. That allows minimalism in that it wouldn’t have to meet all of the requirements for a car. Otherwise I think the closest they could get would basically be an EV Mirage or Versa. At that point you’ve made a modern 2CV in price only, and even then it won’t really be “cheap” unless you are comparing it to the price of other EVs.
Ford did launch a new Model T in 2003 called the T-100, albeit with a quite modest production run. It’s a very close duplicate of the 1914 model but, alas, was intended only for museums:
https://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/T-100.pdf
Very cool, I didn’t know they did that. I assume Ford deviated a bit from history and didn’t send the cars out with Grandpa Henry’s anti-Semitic journals.
Ford had considered a somewhat larger production run, but scaled down due to the regulatory issues
I just hope they keep the original dimensions and requirements… ( 2 farmers, a freshly plowed field and a basket of eggs in the car, crossing the field with no broken eggs )
And don’t supersize it like the modern:
They are all ugly due to their sze compared to the originals…. ( and for having driven the first two, and been in the originals, with less room inside than the originals )
Yeah I think you’re wrong on the size comparison for the 500. The shoulder room in the new version is nearly the overall width of the old one. I think you’re being a bit hyperbolic, here. The 2CV is bound to be bigger for the same reasons all the others are. People don’t want cramped interiors, and safe construction requires a certain amount of thickness in the doors. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I thing the Mini and 500 are hits. More the latter than the former, which is why I daily one.
I have one for sale if anyone is looking for a 2CV. Hit ya boy SWG up on the socials, son!
I’m not in the market for one, my cousin still has the one I had as my first car.
They are way more fun than they have any right to be, and you pretty much have to drive them flat out everywhere.
My cousin drove my old one to Africa, then across the Sahara, then back. So rugged and charming. Also slow, but that gives you more time to enjoy it.
Maybe it will be a success? Maybe this is just the car to make us realize that many people don’t really need 350 miles of range from an EV. I can dream can’t I?
There are already short-range EVs that don’t sell, which kills your assumptions. But you can always dream.
Yeah, most people aren’t going to take out a loan to buy a new car that can barely get them to the office and back and nothing else. People don’t want to treat cars like shoes and have to to own multiple ones for multiple different purposes when they can just buy one that does everything they need it to
I mean, if you sold something as cheap as a $4000 Yugo, maybe people would be OK with it, but there’s no way that’s happening
The spirit of the 2CV is to be a “people’s car”, so not $4000 but maybe $20000? And no, it wouldn’t work as your only car but most households already have two, at least where I live
Of course I don’t believe it will happen, what I expect is for it to be bloated and expensive, but this is the dreaming part
Well, if you go by the Yugo, $4k when it came out inflation adjusts to $11k or $12k now, I guess that would be the modern price floor for a true 21st century people’s car
A new 2CV was about $6500 in 1990, which works out to a bit over $16,000 today, though it’s maybe a bit tougher to convert, since you’re doing francs to dollars, and it’s euros now, and they build taxes into the MSRP, but I think that’s about right
Sadly it will end up an over-priced, fluffy, boring, nondescript crossover.
At least the original was already a four door with jacked up suspension.
Just make a better looking i3 that doesn’t use $20k worth of carbon fiber and it’ll hit the mark close enough
How much do you want to bet it will:
1.) Lack soft suspension
2.) Lack simplicity
3.) Lack durability
4.) Lack lightness
5.) Lack air cooling
6.) Lack affordability
7.) Lack a column shifter
Probably will be just a rebadged Fiat
Well, technically, a 2CV has an odd push-pull-twist dashboard-mounted shifter.
Which absolutely must be emulated in a modern EV or automatic-equipped car or it will completely fail in the key area of French oddness.
Easy, swipe up and tap twice, and so on.
Rank of European post-war recovery cars-
4.Citroen 2CV
3.Fiat 500
2.VW Beetle
1.Austin Mini
I think your timeline is off.
VW Beetle (Type1) is pre-war (1938)
Fiat 500 wasn’t until mid/late ’50s
The Mini was late ’50s
The 2CV, being 1948, would default winner being last car standing.
These details are all correct. However, all 4 cars were specified in the Marshall Plan as the vehicle each nation would produce. Each car was very common in it’s home nation (respectively) during the 1950’s.
Technically the 2CV is also a pre-war car… some of the prototypes where hidden in the cellar of a barn [and stayed hidden there for decades] : https://actu.fr/centre-val-de-loire/la-ferte-vidame_28149/les-prototypes-2-cv-oublies-grenier-centre-citroen-ferte-vidame_22968708.html
There was a prewar Fiat 500 also, they’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of the name
Front engine/RWD
500 Mk1: 1936-1949
500 Mk1.5: 1949-1955
Rear engine/RWD
500 Mk2: 1957-1975
Front engine/FWD
500 Mk3: 1991-1998
500 Mk4: 2007-present
Front motor/FWD (electric only)
500 Mk5: 2020-present
Shit like this leads me to believe the greatest concentration of necrophiliacs outside of morticians is legacy automakers, they just love digging up and screwing beloved dead automobiles.
Winning comment!
I agree that’s definitely a winner.
I think it’s a nice idea, but it would be hard for it to not be a disappointment in the end, for two reasons. First, it has such an enormous legacy the live up to, and second it’s hard to build a truly cheap car around all the modern safety requirements. The most likely outcome is something like a competitive but unremarkable, cuter version of a Nissan Note.
I agree. I don’t mean to be a downer. I really hate that my brain works this way sometimes. But recent history, even within Citroen, would suggest this to be entirely a marketing ploy. Almost anything new that a major established company comes out with these days is meant to find new ways of monetization rather than be an actual good product. I don’t expect this to be any different.
You could make another 2CV and mass produce it. Quite easily infact, even with modern safety equipment. But not with the financial incentives that currently drive giant multinational corporations.
Oh crap you made me look. So now I’m aware that there’s a pretty red/black 1964 2CV on Craigslist for $13,750 and I’m having a hard time resisting its Gallic charms.
If it’s like of a 4-5 seat Ami I think it’ll do just fine.
Somebody at Stellantis must have found a Chrysler CCV in a warehouse somewhere
Hah! I was just typing something about this, and the irony that Chrysler and Citroen are now owned by the same company.
Citroen did also have a retro 2CV concept in the early 2000s, but I think Chrysler’s version was much closer to the original 2CV in spirit and intent
And also got closer to actual production
Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will come here as the 2031 Chrysler Airflowette.
2CV CrossSportMegaRallye
It’ll be a midsize 3-row crossover with a 1.2tdi serving as a range extender for its 18kWh battery and 127bhp combined output. 120km of all-electric range. Starting at EUR58.000
What the World
Needs now
Is a Deux
Chevaux
Its a driver’s thing
Yet it’s just
A little car
(Apologies to Burt and Dionne)
Username checks out.
I was trying to match that to the Cracker song for way too long… I think maybe one hour of sleep last night was not enough.
To be with you, bro
It’s like being low
Deux, deux, deux, a deux chevaux
I was thinking a deeper cut called “Teen Angst” where one of the best lines is “I don’t know what the world may need, but a V8 engine’s a good start for me, I think I’ll drive and find a place to be surly.”
Do you wanna gear down with me
Like some discount Deux Cheaveux
A million miles within that seat
A million million miles, a million miles
There has got to be a sweet spot between Battery weight and ICE motor weight that makes a case for a Battery car with a range extender. I know, the i3? I mean maybe, but if that is the case then benchmark and improve enough to use something simple and easy to maintain including battery packs.
I still say it would be hard to make the 2CV as inexpensive and reliable as it needs to be though. I think the safety feature requirements are still somewhat required in the markets mentioned and they rarely scale down in cost based upon car size.
you’re making me thinking…
Put some battery in the orginal 2CV chassis between the two weird shock absorbers, put a modernized 2 cylinder ICE in place of the original ( but keep it aircooled ), add more battery around that ( there’s plenty of space under that hood ), remove the transmission, the ICE is only here to refll the battery so it runs at the optimal speed.
Sell it below 15K€ ( maybe even as low as 10K€ ) and you will have an instant hit in Europe.
And to hell if it gets no star at Euro NCAP because the whole thing doesn’t have the tons of stuff supposed to protect people ( yeah, the Takata scandal finally reached France and Europe ), the 2CV was never built to be a race car and reaching 110km/h should be enough speed. ( so that it doesn’t become too much of a moving roadblock on motorways, anyway, it’s going to be an urban cars and most urban motorways are 90Km/h or less (glares at the 50Km/h of the Périphérque)
It will be like the New Beetle and ID.Buzz – interesting, unique, and totally lacking in the best qualities of the original.
Don’t forget hideously expensive!
Hopefully it spurs its own product lineup of lower-spec/cost vehicles, to compete against Dacia.