Currently reading: Revolutionary Citroen suspension system to launch in 2017
Radical new system will be available on all cars, and prioritise comfort, says Citroen boss

Citroen will launch a revolutionary new suspension system in 2017, with CEO Linda Jackson saying it will prioritise ride comfort without compromising body control.

The new suspension system will replace the hydropneumatic set-up that is utilised on the Citroen C5 at present, and will eventually be rolled out across the entire Citroen range.

“Comfort is a core value of the Citroen brand, and this is ours way to recreate the benefits of the hydropneumatic set-up in a more modern, more appropriate way,” said Jackson.

Although Jackson declined to go in to specifics on how the system will work, she revealed Citroen engineers had been working on it in conjunction with a supplier for some time. Jackson would not be drawn on whether it would utlise an air system, or if it would be self-levelling.

However, despite the boss of Citroen’s upmarket DS brand, Yves Bonnefont, previously saying that his firm was investigating a similar suspension system, Jackson claimed the technology would be available on Citroen cars only.

“I can guarantee it will be unique to Citroen,” she said. “We have the opportunity to pick new technologies for the future and I am sure this one is best suited to Citroen's core values. I believe I can promise you this will be a Citroen-only system."

Jackson also reasserted her intention to reduce the number of Citroen bodystyles on sale by half. At present, she says there are 14 available, plus the Citroen C1, which is co-developed with Peugeot and Toyota. In future, she wants to offer seven body styles, plus the C1. Long-wheelbase vehicles, typically developed specifically for the Chinese market, will also be made in addition to these.

Despite the reduction in Citroen's model range, Jackson hopes to grow sales by 15% by 2020, to around 1.6m cars a year.

 

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

The spacious, comfortable Citroen C5 makes an interesting and off-beat Mondeo rival

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

Join the debate

Comments
17
Add a comment…
275not599 29 November 2015

Citroën never used to have a

Citroën never used to have a problem reconciling a superb ride to excellent roadholding, which is why I owned two examples of the GS. Steering and brakes were also superb. At the limit it was always understeer, but that's OK, it's a family car. So make me a 21st century GS please.
vava1 26 November 2015

Hydragas

I wonder what the Rover group 2017 interpretation of Hydragas suspension would have been like with the electronic controls and microchips now available. The Austin Princess had a very comfortable long travel suspension set-up that made long journeys on poor roads so much more pleasant
androo 26 November 2015

Intriguing

This is an interesting story. When they say they can fit it to all models, it makes it sound like it's retro-fit-able. But I can't imagine that, if it makes such a big difference. I also wonder why it wouldn't be fitted group-wide (Peugeot) if it's so amazing. It's nice to hear about interesting engineering from Citroen because that's what they were always about. Lately they've fallen back on interesting styling, but if it's just styling plonked on a bog standard shared platform... not of much interest.