Currently reading: Citroen's 2CV-inspired sub-brand
Citroen plans to launch a new sub-brand, aimed at the 'iPod generation'

Citroen plans to broaden the reach and appeal of its cars by launching a new product family for the ‘iPod generation’.

It would be the fourth Citroen product family sitting alongside DS, the regular Citroën brand and the Picasso MPV family.

See pics of the Citroen C-Cactus, which could be launched under the sub-brand

PSA Peugeot-Citroën design boss Jean-Pierre Ploué has told Autocar that the firm — flush with a successful DS launch that has encouraged it to raise sales projections for the DS3 — will use this autumn’s Paris motor show to introduce the new sub-brand.

Industry watchers have predicted that Citroën is preparing to launch a budget model line, but Ploué denied the suggestion.

“This is a brand defined not by price, but by simplicity and ingenuity of design,” said Ploué. “It’s our family of cars for those who value design purity above all else: for the iPod generation.

“I cannot reveal its name yet,” Ploué continued, “but this brand will cause a lot of shock and surprise at Paris, I promise you. It’s a real departure for us – a break from tradition.”

Ploué references Citroën’s iconic 2CV as the inspiration for its new model family, “not for the appearance of the car, but for its innovative spirit”.

But the real inspiration for the new brand is the C-Cactus concept from the 2007 Frankfurt show.

A 4.2m-long compact family hatch memorable for its unconventional cabin design, innovative packaging and simplified features, the C-Cactus was deemed “too challenging” to be put into production as a Citroën earlier this year. But as a member of this all-new sub-brand, it seems, it could make the showroom.

“The C3 Picasso would also be a model for the new sub-brand, if we were making it today,” Ploué said. “It’s a youthful, innovative, efficient and simple design.”

Ploué also defined this new sub-brand as a contrast to Citroën’s DS brand. “DS is all about ‘Frenchness’, sculpture and sophistication, while the new brand is the antithesis of that,” he said. “It appeals through its stark, pared-down simplicity, to a different, younger customer than DS.”

One of the first models to be brought out under Citroën’s new brand is likely to be a compact supermini, partly to fill the void left by the deletion of the C2.

“We’re not planning on replacing the C2 as a Citroën, but under the new brand we could use the opportunity to do something much more interesting,” Ploué said.

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feckin maso 20 July 2010

Re: Citroen's 2CV-inspired sub-brand

Mini1 wrote:
if you read it, that the new range won't borrow the 2CV's looks - just the simplicity

theres some chance of that, theres no way they would sell something so basic, the C Cactus is about as far from the simplicity of the 2cv et al as they could get, all superfluous design and excessively complicated engineering

Tata are closest in spirit to the 2cv simplicity and clarity of purpose with their Nano, its about satisfying a need rather than a niche

kdwilcox 19 July 2010

Re: Citroen's 2CV-inspired sub-brand

Beachland2 it may well be that with this visibility technology there

will be no blind spots,however i still think we do not need it.

Part of driving is judgement,space time and so on this would

be another toy that costs extra and adds extra weight,ok,may be not much

but extra weight all the same.

Also what happens when it packs up,new technology seems to do that

often,i know have another loan on the house to pay for it to be replaced,

they would not fix it,that is some thing they don't do these days..

Mini1 19 July 2010

Re: Citroen's 2CV-inspired sub-brand

Wingroad wrote:
Oh Dear, I suppose this means we will have modern interpretations of the 2CV,Dyane,Ami and Mehari, like the dreadful DS 345 range.. ie they will look vaguely like them but without the intelligence of great thought behind them.
But it says in the article, if you read it, that the new range won't borrow the 2CV's looks - just the simplicity.