After a 2021 edition canceled due to the pandemic, the Rétromobile show is returning to Paris in 2022. The Citroën and DS brands have made the trip, not officially, but through clubs and the Peugeot Adventure -Citroen-DS. Here’s what to see.
Citroën is not present directly at the Retromobile show which is held in Paris at the Porte de Versailles until Sunday March 20, 2022. Nevertheless, the Peugeot-Citroën-DS Adventure has brought together the clubs of fans of the double chevron brand.
TO READ. Retromobile 2022. Practical information to prepare for your visit
40 years of the BX
Star of Rétromobile 2022, the Citroën BX is celebrating its 40th birthday. The one that was presented on September 23, 1982 under the Eiffel Tower just before putting down its wheels, the following week on the carpet of the brand’s stand at the Porte de Versailles car show, is returning to it this year. The circle is complete.
“In 12 years of career, the Citroën BX has conquered 2.3 million buyers“
Its rough cut lines signed Marcello Gandini for Bertone surprised at the time. Despite its broken line, the BX hit the mark. In her 12-year career, she has won over 2.3 million buyers. Sedan, station wagon, without forgetting the GTI and 4TC versions, the family was multi-card.
Citroën CX, a non-conformist and colorful touring car
Let’s move on to the Citroën Traction Avant 15/6, which was the ultimate model with its 6-cylinder engine. In addition to its front-wheel drive, the car inaugurates, on the 15/6 H, the hydropneumatic suspension on the rear wheels, a guarantee of first-rate comfort. Which allowed her to acquire the nickname of queen of the road, which is not usurped. And to end this saga of seasoned tourers, a sublime Rosalie. This model which was launched in 1932 and embodied, at the time, the holy grail of the high-end sedan. Rear doors with antagonistic opening, step to get into the car and high stature to travel with his hat on his head, are the reflection of a time when elegance and presence were in order.
Third part of the exhibition at Citroën with a more exotic reference to the brand’s leisure vehicles with the Méhari, in American version. By his side, the 2CV Sahara. This exclusive version has two motors – the second is in the trunk -, two gearboxes providing the car with all-wheel drive. To ensure the hyphen between the past and the future, the latest Citroën Am concept cari Buggy is in the game. We had detailed it for you in the video.
TO READ. Citroën Ami Buggy (2021). The electric quadricycle in adventurer mode
Prestige at DS
On the side of DS, a brand in its own right now and which claims this status loud and clear, we find a Citroën. This is the DS 23 ie, a powerful 141 hp model which, at the time, was equipped with electronic fuel injection. The example here also has an automatic gearbox. A veritable ministerial vehicle which also transported the greats of this world during their stay in France, the Citroën DS 23 was the symbol of French audacity and innovation.
Second emblematic vehicle on display: the Citroën SM Opéra, of which only seven units were produced by coachbuilder Henri Chapron. This SM extended by 29 cm at the level of the wheelbase, receives a pair of additional doors, which makes it a four-door coupe well before the time of the Mercedes CLS, Audi A7 Sportback or even BMW Series 6, then Series 8 , contemporary Gran Coupé.
It was an ultra-exclusive vehicle, the precursor of a genre that was popular today but which, at the time, for lack of a prohibitive selling price (165,000 francs in 1974, i.e. three times that of the SM which served base) and the oil crisis which is not very compatible with the appetite of its Maserati V6 engine, has not found its audience. A missed date. Today, the SM Opera is back in fashion, she was employed in a very chic advertisement for a perfume by Jean-Paul Gaultier. In 2018, a copy sold for €400,000 at auction.
C5 X and DS9 too “new” for Retromobile
At Rétromobile 2022, Citroën (and DS) not only came with its glorious past but also with a topicality combined with the present. To accompany the commercial launch of the C5 X, the grand tourer from China which has just arrived in the dealership, Citroën is exhibiting it among the old ones. A slightly off-topic choice which is however justified by the absence of the Geneva Motor Show which traditionally takes place in the spring. The manufacturer therefore took advantage of the Retromobile 2022 show to offer its first walkabout to the sedan, with undoubtedly less visibility. At DS, right next door, the new DS9 does the same.
Black car on a black background, it is not ideal to present a novelty. Too bad for the strong 360 hp DS9 E-Tense 4X4 rechargeable hybrid which is taking its first crowd bath.
But the premium brand of Stellantis had the absurd idea of exposing a lacquered car with an all-over black paint on a thick, equally dark carpet. This luxury sedan, manufactured, like the C5 X, in China, is here in a plug-in hybrid version, with four-wheel drive with a combined power of 360 hp. Both are part of a long line of great touring cars that have legitimized them since the Citroën Rosalie of 1932!
TO READ. The saga of Citroën’s large sedans: from the DS to the C5 X
