Citroen

WRC is the closest of all world class motorsport competition to the genuine road environment, though conditions vary considerably across the 13 race, five continent series from last weekend’s first round in Sweden where blizzards and -28ºC temperatures necessitated tungsten-tipped studded Michelin tyres, through to the gravel and rocks and 40ºC temperatures the cars will encounter a fortnight from now in Mexico. New “environmentally aware” regulations were introduced this year based around 1600cc turbocharged, 4WD cars, and Ford's all-new Fiesta RS made a dream debut with a 1-2-3 finish. Snow plough duty on day one and a puncture on day two stopped seven-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb from getting near the podium but Loeb’s new Citroen DS3 challenger proved fast and reliable and recorded more fastest stage times than rally winner Hirvonen. Read More

The recently finalized Double Challenge project required MA students at London’s Royal College of Art to design an ultra-compact electric vehicle for event sponsor Citroën. Not surprisingly from such distilled intelligence, the winning entry is a new type of personal urban commuter positioned between bicycles and cars – light, aerodynamically efficient, cheap to build and economical in its use of energy and hence run. Heikki Juvonen’s “E-3POD Antistatic” is an ultralight, micro segment electric three-wheeler with the driver sitting inside a large hub-less third wheel. Read More

At the crossroads of motoring, fashion and sport, the Citroën Lacoste concept is a “shared vision of boldness, creativity and optimism” between the French brands, according to the pre-Paris press release. At first glance, the Citroën Lacoste concept appears to be a very optimistic car indeed, as it doesn't have a roof to mitigate the inevitability of a bleak French winter. In fact, the Citroën Lacoste has an auto-inflatable hood that deploys along the roof backbone to form a bright yellow soft-top roof in what is apparently quite a spectacular transformation. Sadly, the press kit doesn't have any pics of the roof deployed. Read More

The world’s longest ever WRC rally jump took place during April’s Rally of Turkey, when Sebastien Loeb's Citroen C4 left terra firma for an incredible 85 metres during the ultra-fast Ballica stage. Citroen has now chosen ten of its most spectacular gravity defying jumps ahead of next weekend’s Rally Finland – the home of the big YUMP. A pic of Loeb's world record jump is inside, but look at what he had to beat. Read More

Not so long ago the notion of an eco-friendly vehicle meant small, boxy and decidedly uncool. But the push towards hybrid and electric vehicles in recent times has changed all that - if supercars can be hybrids, why not limousines? Citroën’s international design team has created the Metropolis plug-in hybrid-limousine concept for the Shanghai World Fair. The imposing 5.3m long by 2m wide by 1.4m high vehicle produces impressively low CO2 emissions of just 70g/km via a 2-liter, V6 petrol engine and an electric motor developing 70kW at its peak. Read More

Citroen says it has completely reinterpreted the idea of a small car by producing the Survolt concept – an electric vehicle that fits the size parameters of a small car but not the two-box look of a hatchback. Speaking at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, the company says its supermini is unconventional, aggressive, exciting and vibrant and is what the small car sector has been looking for. Read More

Citroen will take the wraps of the hot version of its new premium model, the DS3 when it reveals the 147 kW Citroen DS3 Racing at the Geneva International Motor Show on March 2. Developed by Citroën Racing - the dominant team behind five World Rally Championship manufacturer’s titles and six driver’s titles for over the past six years - leaves little doubt that the French car maker has the ability to take its already critically lauded DS3 and turn it into a real performance machine. Planned for the second half of 2010, the exclusive DS3 Racing will be limited to just 1000 production units. Read More

Just two years ago, Finn Kimi Raikkonen was the reigning (2007) World Champion in the world’s most prominent television sport, and the number one driver for the world’s most famous racing marque, Ferrari. Forbes rated him the 26th highest paid celebrity in the world, the fifth highest paid sportsperson and the highest paid driver in the world with a weekly pay cheque of US$1,000,000. Late last year he lost his job in the cutthroat game of musical chairs played by the top half dozen drivers in the world and decided to sit out 2010 by driving rally cars. This weekend he starts his new job in a town made famous by none other than Father Christmas – could there be a belated Christmas Gift in the offing? Read More

After building more than 5,500 electric vehicles, Citroen is calling on its experience in the field to deliver a “triple zero” car - zero fuel consumption, zero CO2 emission at the tailpipe and zero engine noise. The C-ZERO (what else could they call it) is a full electric city car powered by a permanent magnet synchronous motor delivering 47kW or 64bhp EEC from 3,000 to 6,000rpm. Citroen says the automatic vehicle will have a top speed of 130kph (80mph), acceleration from 0-100kph (0-62mph) in 15 seconds and 60-90kph (37-56mph) in six seconds. Between charges, the vehicles is expected to achieve a range of around 130km (80 miles). Read More