Citroen 2CV will return as a retro city car to embarrass the Renault 5
Work has started on a back-to-basics model embodying the look and ethos of the French icon.
Citroën is considering reviving the legendary 2CV more than three decades after the no-frills classic went out of production, Autocar can exclusively reveal.
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 news signals a change of heart from Citroën, which has previously denied any plans to bring this famous model back.
The firm’s rethink is understood to have been prompted by the retro-inspired Renault 5 – and its low starting price of 25,000 euros (£22,995 in the UK).
The hatchback has been an immediate hit in France, with 9973 examples having left showrooms last month. That’s 1721 more units than Citroën sold of the new ë-C3.
In November 2024 – the 5’s first full month on sale – the new hatchback played a key role in boosting Renault’s share of France’s electric car market from 16.3% (for January to October) to 23.2%.
Unlike the 5, which was designed by envisaging how the original would have evolved had it remained in continuous production, the 2CV is understood to more closely mirror the design of its classic counterpart.
Citroën has already hinted at its appetite for more distinctly retro-flavoured models with the new Ami, which was unveiled at the 2024 Paris motor show. It borrows several design cues from the original 2CV, including boggle-eyed headlights, vent-like indentations across its wings and the historic Citroën logo.
Speaking to Autocar at this year's Brussels motor show, Citroën design boss Pierre Leclercq would not be drawn into publicly confirming the new 2CV, but he said the brand is “not closing the door” on retro designs.
He said: “The things you remember from Citroën is not especially that you want to redo the shape of the vehicles that have been good. But we’re not closing the door. But I think the philosophy is important.”
As implied by Leclercq’s comment about the significance of the underlying ethos, simplicity and affordability will surely be key considerations during the development of the new 2CV. The original was billed as the minimum viable product required to bring mobility to the wider population in rural, post-war France.
That brief has some parallels with today’s society, because the transition to EVs – as well as other issues such as the rising cost of energy and materials – has caused new car prices to balloon and pushed EVs beyond the reach of many working-class and middle-class buyers.
With affordability in mind, a new 2CV would be most likely to use Citroën parent Stellantis’s cost-cutting Smart Car platform, which underpins cars including the new C3, Fiat Grande Panda and Opel/Vauxhall Frontera. However, it is possible that it could be simplified further reduce costs. Even the C3, the most affordable of the cars to use the platform so far, receives luxuries such as hydraulic bump stops.
As for the car’s powertrain, it is expected to prioritise efficiency rather than performance and that will enable the fitment of a small and therefore cheaper battery pack.
Citroën CEO Thierry Koskas recently told Autocar that batteries are the biggest barrier to cutting the price of new electric cars, accounting for around 40% of a vehicle’s overall cost. “We still need to have a breakthrough in terms of battery costs,” said Koskas.
For reference, the similarly conceived Dacia Spring packs a 26.8kWh lithium ion pack, which gives a range of 225km (140 miles) and is key to it hitting a starting price of 16,900 euros (or £14,995).
Although the Smart Car architecture can also support petrol and mild-hybrid powertrains, it is possible that the 2CV’s design could restrict it to a more compact electric set-up. The largest engine that Citroën ever fitted to the original car was a 602cc flat-twin petrol unit, abnormally small by modern standards and, with just 32hp, much too impotent as well.
Indeed, Renault’s designers have said on many occasions that the new 5 could only have been an electric car. Fitting it with a petrol engine would have required a longer bonnet, compromising its snub-nosed proportions.
Either way, the new 2CV is expected to bridge the gap between the Ami and the C3, which are priced from 8900 euros (£7695) and 15,240 euros (£17,990) respectively. That would thrust it into direct competition with the value-focused Spring and the Leapmotor T03 (17,900 euros or £15,955) at the low end, but a new 2CV might also be a larger car than those rivals, undercutting the Renault 5.
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. Coincidentally, that year marks the 80th anniversary of the original car’s unveiling at the Paris motor show, as well as being the next staging of the biennial show after its return in 2026.
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