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Citroen revives the 2CV for an electric age

51 points scrlk 1 hour ago 37 comments

forestingfisher 1 hour ago | parent

I'm really digging Citroen's design recently. Along with Renault and Hyundai, they feel like cars from the future instead of the bloated aggressive and angular design we've come to expect

PorciiVorbesc 1 hour ago | parent

>As they face mounting competition from Chinese manufacturers, Citroen and other European brands are exploiting their heritage as a means of selling modern motors

Heritage and vintage looks of the EU car industry, will only take you so far. Working class people still choose best bang/range for the buck car since their car is a tool, not a fashion statement bag.

Those who treat their car as a fashion accessory are few and the fad of such a retro model wears off quickly when too many people end up with them making them uncool again, like the VW did with the new beetle.

skywal_l 1 hour ago | parent

There must be the equivalent for "first as a tragedy then as a comedy" saying for commercial product. "first as a tool then as a totem" or something like that.

YesThatTom2 52 minutes ago | parent

Point taken but I’m pretty sure working class people choose based on initial cost, not bang/range for the buck.

epolanski 45 minutes ago | parent

Citroen is already the Stellantis' equivalent of Skoda niche for Volkswagen.

pjc50 24 minutes ago | parent

Skoda are doing great with the Elroq at #2, just behind the Model Y: https://cleantechnica.com/2026/10/03/europe-ev-sales-report-...

Stellantis do seem to sandbag their EVs a bit with batteries that don't quiiiite have as much range as competitors. When my Abarth 600E eventually arrives I am going to annoy HN with even more EV-posting.

detritus 17 minutes ago | parent

I was thinking about this last night - the European car industry's ripe for disruption by a nimble car company that can make really basic EVs with none of the pointless, excessive cruft that seems endemic in every new car release.

It's only Dacia who seems to understand that there's big market for basic but half-decent cars that don't bill themselves as infotainment fourth spaces, or whatever the hell it is that they're trying to go for [1].

Give me wind up windows, give me an analogue dashboard, give me a basic interface for my phone, etc.

[1] ok, we know what they're going for - the Euros in our wallets... .

PorciiVorbesc 11 minutes ago | parent

>the European car industry's ripe for disruption by a nimble car company that can make really basic EVs with none of the pointless, excessive cruft that seems endemic in every new car release

Thats where China comes in. The EU makers enjoyed decades of protections from disruption and laziness and compliance settled in because they didn't want to get disrupted.

pjc50 11 minutes ago | parent

I'm a bit of a stuck record on this, but quite a lot of the tech is either legally mandated or a EURO NCAP requirement. You can try marketing a barebones car which doesn't have a 5 rating on NCAP and see how that goes.

I do think Renault/Dacia have ""got it"" all of a sudden and started actually trying with EVs. Stellantis less so, although Citroen are a Stellantis company. Even Toyota, whose CEO is an overt petrolhead who feels sorry for the loss of engines, are suddenly doing well despite naming their car bz4x in an effort to make it unmemorable.

The war(s) are only going to accelerate this progress.

spankibalt 6 minutes ago | parent

> Heritage and vintage looks, will only take you so far.

Amen. A, in this case rather ugly, restyling of a wheeled smartphone is not something I have an interest in. That's why you need the people that work on designing and signing-off (on) the thing understand what made the original such an oustanding design in the first place.

sdcfgy 1 hour ago | parent

I rather like this. Apart from the interior. Hopefully a production design will have some of the idealisms from the designer removed and replaced with more practical choices. It is however a near ideal cheaper end car for most European countries.

robotmay 48 minutes ago | parent

If they actually deliver something for their target price of around £13k then I'd be very impressed - that would truly be embracing the 2CV heritage in making something attainable for the people.

And agreed, I quite like this design. It doesn't feel as bulky as many modern "retro" cars, like the Mini variants.

epolanski 44 minutes ago | parent

Point is: those cars differentiate little to nothing among themselves except in design gimmicks.

The latest Grande Panda is an example of that.

thomasfl 1 hour ago | parent

There is nothing wrong with nostalgia. Some property developers makes money from nostalgic architecture. Fashion clothing is often a mix of new and nostalgia.

m000 46 minutes ago | parent

The problem in this case (and many others) is that nostalgia is limited to the form, bordering on fetishism, while the utilitarian and economic aspects of the original are brushed aside.

From TFA: "The car had high wheel arches and soft suspension, letting it travel across a ploughed field or rough roads - as legend would have it, without breaking a tray of duck eggs. Its high roof let drivers wear a hat at the wheel. It was easy to drive and simple to repair."

Which of those qualities have been retained in this 2CV revival?

robotmay 41 minutes ago | parent

Well the suspension is less of an issue these days due to technical advances. Ground clearance is more of an issue than the suspension travel. This looks more like it's targeted towards city use than the countryside use of the original, especially as it looks to have a notably shorter wheelbase. There's a usecase for small city cars that look cute though.

Mashimo 32 minutes ago | parent

Why does it need the same qualities as the old car?

People want cheap and small electric city cars, why not make it in the style of an iconic car? We already have plenty of mid sized cars that look all the same.

sl-1 52 minutes ago | parent

I hope they succeed, but probably will fail with too complex design. Original 2cv is wonderfully simple. If they can keep that simplicity, they will win.

hn_submit 44 minutes ago | parent

I've always been amazed why the 2CV is seen as a styling icon. It's a bare-bones car from the 1930's which didn't get produced until the late 40's due to the war. By the time production ramped up it was hopelessly outdated.

The only thing positive that can be said about the modern iteration is its $15K price. But for that money you're not getting a real car but a city roundabout with very limited range and speed. The Chinese BYD Seagull is a real car for $10,000 which is quite large to boot.

It's positive that European carmakers are finally catering to the wallets of their customers. No one is clamoring for an electric $50K VW Rabbit (VW Golf).

robotmay 36 minutes ago | parent

I think a lot of the popular classics are often because they were unique, not necessarily beautiful, and often the most popular tend to be some of the most ubiquitous models that were designed for the everyman, e.g. the 2CV, VW Beetle, VW Camper etc. I suspect they become stylish by association with the periods in which they were popular and the people who owned them, rather than because their own styling is great.

I always thought the Citroen vans of the era were very cool, I'd love to see a modern van design based on the H, for example.

RugnirViking 16 minutes ago | parent

this is absolutely it. the only recipe to make a car that becomes iconic is make it different/recognisable then sell a lot of it, for cheap (really cheap. No, cheaper. Cheaper than that) to students/artists. nostalgia will do the rest

Mashimo 35 minutes ago | parent

> The Chinese BYD Seagull is a real car for $10,000 which is quite large to boot.

I think the Seagull cost ~20 000 to 22 000 EUR in a lot of European countries. Who knows what the Citroen 2CV will cost in china.

ekr 35 minutes ago | parent

There's no new electric car for less than €17800, in the Netherlands at least. The BYD's start at around €20k. Only the Dacia Spring and the Leapmotor T03 are available under that price point. So if something was to be available for €15k and if it's highway capable, I'm sure it will sell decently well.

hn_submit 3 minutes ago | parent

The BYD Seagull (a.k.a. Dolphin Surf) retails for €10K in Spain. The price difference elsewhere is most likely due to taxes.

fstephany 27 minutes ago | parent

The proposed M1E car category in the EU (more or less the european equivalent to the japanese kei cars) might boost this segment of smaller, cheaper cars.

pjc50 21 minutes ago | parent

Citroen have always been distinctive "love it or hate it" about their looks, but in this case they've seen what Renault are doing (selling 5's as fast as they can make them) and decided to get in on the action by doing a similar retro reference.

> No one is clamoring for an electric $50K VW Rabbit (VW Golf).

https://cleantechnica.com/2026/10/03/europe-ev-sales-report-...

The ID4 is about Golf-sized, costs about 45kE, and is sitting at #6 on the EV sales chart.

(see also: Renault Twingo, Dacia (Renault Romanian subsidiary) Spring)

close04 6 minutes ago | parent

> The ID4 is about Golf-sized

The ID.3 is almost a perfect match for the Golf in exterior size (within a couple of cm in length). The ID.4 is substantially larger, most obvious being 30cm longer. At least in Europe the ID.4 is considered an SUV.

weinzierl 19 minutes ago | parent

"I've always been amazed why the 2CV is seen as a styling icon."

Style icon? Maybe you are thinking of the DS.

The 2CV was commonly considered ugly so much that in Germany it was only known as Ugly Duckling, despite being a popular car there.

spankibalt 2 minutes ago | parent

> Style icon? Maybe you are thinking of the DS.

Yes, style icon.

> The 2CV was commonly considered ugly so much that in Germany it was only known as Ugly Duckling [...].

Rubbish! The Germans, I happen to be one of 'em, call(ed) the 2CV just Ente. That translates to duck.

Arodex 19 minutes ago | parent

>I've always been amazed why the 2CV is seen as a styling icon

Round curves and lights looking like eyes, with proportions close to a human face.

The same design cues that made the VW Beetle and the Mazda Miata (1st gen) popular cars.

And "barebones" can be a quality. Citroen did tons of overcomplicated cars too, and for all the love I have towards the DS, the CX, the SM etc., they all suffered and keep suffering of reliability problems that killed them commercially and to keep them running nowadays.

spankibalt 36 minutes ago | parent

Who in the name of the Twelve Hells did they hire to fuck up one of the greatest utilitarian car designs (especially in its Fourgonnette iteration)?

ginko 32 minutes ago | parent

I wouldn't want to be hit by those headlights as a pedestrian..

phoghed 17 minutes ago | parent

Which are your favorite to be hit by?

Mashimo 9 minutes ago | parent

Miata!

ptidhomme 9 minutes ago | parent

French cars are hopeless (since the 2010s). Stay away from them especially if they're such marketing stunts.