More than once in its life, Citroen has needed to be rescued from bankruptcy. The last company which rescued it was Peugeot in the late seventies. Peugeot needed to introduce profitability and increase sales, it did both but by killing design flair and innovation. Peugeot turned Citroen into a value brand; go into Tesco supermarket and look at the bottom shelf along the isle, that’s where you will find the Tesco Basics brand. If Citroen were on the supermarket shelf, it would be on the bottom next to the ‘value’ items. Why Peugeot didn't tackle its quality and reliability issues as a route to increased profitability rather than just cutting its flair and prices? I think they failed to see that poor financial and sales performance were a result of low quality, massive depreciation, reliability and warranty costs rather than quirky and individual design.

There have been glimpses of flair over the years. The BX and XM were innovative with unusual, albeit over-fussy and incoherent, Bertone styling. The Xantia was much better looking and quite successful. I don’t think Bertone had a hand in its the design and it was all the better for it. The rest of the model range since the CX are not even worth mentioning. But now Citroen has rediscovered its flair.

The C1 is cute, very innovative and a Citroen rarity -well built (that’s because its a joint venture with Toyota who build it). C2 and C3 are nice little cars, if slightly fragile. The Plurial is innovative and interesting although hasn’t been fully developed, so doesn’t quite work on an every day basis. Shame because it could have been great; maybe they should have asked Toyota to give it a once over when discussing the C1? The C4 is great looking and a good car. Only the ugly duckling C5 lets the side down. I've left the best until last; the C6.

C6: the new DS?

The C6 is a wonderful design. I'm in love with its rear window, which manages to be both concave and convex. Its full of clever design details, and the overall effect is just sublime. Finally Citroen has come back from the wilderness. The C6 drives every bit as good as it looks with the emphasis on comfort rather than outright sporty handling. Its massive inside to complete the luxurious feel.

Quality and Depreciation.

While the C6 seems to be built to a good standard, its true build quality may not be fully apparent until more time is spent in the car. Citroen doesn’t have a good track record in this department, I hope the C6 lives up to first impressions. Many people perceive depreciation as large French cars’ Achilles heal. Citroen claims to have an answer here, they will restrict supply. Since its built on an extended C5 platform, it didn't cost huge sums to develop and so they can afford to sell fewer numbers to see a return. Therefore they will restrict its sales to maintain exclusivity and demand. Only time will tell if this strategy works. Although, if enough people believe the price of a used car should be allot lower, then I would expect it to fall.

I want an estate

Citroen has a tradition in cavernous estates, so why are they not introducing a C6 estate?. Big estates are always in great demand, I had a CX Safari estate and loved it. I think Citroen should have dropped the petrol engine (will anyone buy the petrol when the twin-turbo diesel is so great?) and spent the money developing a simply massive estate. And found some way to keep that concave-convex rear window.

Will I buy one? Yes. However, I can't afford to take a risk on the depreciation so I will be waiting 3-4 years. I hope to then pick one up for about £5k! In the meantime, I will just get a poster of it (with rear window showing) and salivate.

Return to Amistad Home.

This article is sponsored by Proqul Ozone store who supply the Ozonology Sanitisation service.

If Citroen were on the supermarket shelf, it would be on the bottom shelf next to the ‘value’ items.

Other aarticles you may enjoy.
About Cars:
Honda Accord 2008 is no looker, W124 E-class is still the best Mercedes, Takeover of Land Rover & Jaguar, Jaguar for sale, Mercedes and Chrysler divorce, Ebay addiction, can I make a profit?, My list of most beautiful cars, Volvo's not-so-floating console, Why rare cars or exclusive cars will lose you money, Honda FRV review, Toyota IQ to help Mercedes' profits, Ferrari F599: Motoring Porn, Peugeot enter the SUV market, Honda Jazz report, Eulogy for Rover SD1, BMW 535D is a colossus, Honda Fit in the USA, Ford Focus is the perfect second hand car, The Honda Legend returns, C6: the new DS, Is Audi going RWD?, The smarter Smart, What happened to the promise of active suspension, Honda Civic ishift.

About life:
Climate change is a natural phenomena, Green tax or just plain tax?, Was passing the EU budget good for Britain? I think not.