FiestaST
Honorary Master
A new concept previews the production version due in 2028.
The deux chevaux is back! Welcome to the new Citroen 2CV... yours for £12k+
Citroen takes a trip into its vast museum to bring back a stone-cold icon for 2026
Cometh the hour, cometh the car. The original 2CV arrived into a diminished post-war world. As Citroën notes, it was never intended to become an icon, but accepted that status because of what it made possible. It democratised transport and travel, a car that embodied joie de vivre and other notions that somehow sound better in French. The new one aims to pull off the same trick; it certainly radiates that ineffable, indefinable specialness when you’re up close to it.
Just don’t call it r*t*o. Although the 2CV concept is clearly inspired by the original, it doesn’t replicate the car so much as the spirit that infused it. The silhouette is familiar and cuddly, the execution fastidiously detail-focused. We live in a hellishly noisy world, and economic value is attached to how much attention – or anger – something attracts.
Well, only an irredeemable misanthrope could be angry about the new 2CV. Or its mission statement. Citroën says that it “redefines a sensible set of specifications that focuses on essential needs… [it’s] inspired by the original yet free from nostalgia.”
So, evocative, charming but above all fit for purpose. Keep that last bit in mind.
“Why was the original born? What was the brief, what was the context, and how does this idea make sense in the world of today?” Stellantis design director Gilles Vidal asks TG. “On a project like this, the engineering department was suddenly motivated to make the impossible possible. Everyone is working really hard to achieve that.”
Vidal has form here. Following 24 years at Citroën and Peugeot, he switched sides to Renault in 2020, where he helped steer the 4, 5 and Twingo into critical and commercially acclaimed life. EVs with snap, crackle and pop, they generate fuzziness and fizz even in buyers for whom the originals are just a distant folk memory. Faced with a relentless wave of tech-savvy but charmless Chinese rivals, Vidal is charged with revitalising the group’s visual identity across a sprawling product portfolio. Think differentiation and personality. This is key to the new 2CV.
“We need to be super sharp about what our brands stand for. They are the company’s biggest asset,” he continues. “It’s a matter of finding the sweet spot between shocking in a positive way with an execution that makes you want something the moment you see it.”
At just 3.76m long, the new car is even shorter than the original. Citroën says it’s aiming for a weight figure of 1,000kg, and a modest range target should permit the use of a small-ish battery. We reckon 170 miles or so would do. No word yet on its capacity, configuration or range, but the new 2CV is part of a coming wave of small EVs, developed and engineered in line with the European Commissions E-car proposal.
The deux chevaux is back! Welcome to the new Citroen 2CV... yours for £12k+
Citroen takes a trip into its vast museum to bring back a stone-cold icon for 2026
Cometh the hour, cometh the car. The original 2CV arrived into a diminished post-war world. As Citroën notes, it was never intended to become an icon, but accepted that status because of what it made possible. It democratised transport and travel, a car that embodied joie de vivre and other notions that somehow sound better in French. The new one aims to pull off the same trick; it certainly radiates that ineffable, indefinable specialness when you’re up close to it.
Just don’t call it r*t*o. Although the 2CV concept is clearly inspired by the original, it doesn’t replicate the car so much as the spirit that infused it. The silhouette is familiar and cuddly, the execution fastidiously detail-focused. We live in a hellishly noisy world, and economic value is attached to how much attention – or anger – something attracts.
Well, only an irredeemable misanthrope could be angry about the new 2CV. Or its mission statement. Citroën says that it “redefines a sensible set of specifications that focuses on essential needs… [it’s] inspired by the original yet free from nostalgia.”
So, evocative, charming but above all fit for purpose. Keep that last bit in mind.
“Why was the original born? What was the brief, what was the context, and how does this idea make sense in the world of today?” Stellantis design director Gilles Vidal asks TG. “On a project like this, the engineering department was suddenly motivated to make the impossible possible. Everyone is working really hard to achieve that.”
Vidal has form here. Following 24 years at Citroën and Peugeot, he switched sides to Renault in 2020, where he helped steer the 4, 5 and Twingo into critical and commercially acclaimed life. EVs with snap, crackle and pop, they generate fuzziness and fizz even in buyers for whom the originals are just a distant folk memory. Faced with a relentless wave of tech-savvy but charmless Chinese rivals, Vidal is charged with revitalising the group’s visual identity across a sprawling product portfolio. Think differentiation and personality. This is key to the new 2CV.
“We need to be super sharp about what our brands stand for. They are the company’s biggest asset,” he continues. “It’s a matter of finding the sweet spot between shocking in a positive way with an execution that makes you want something the moment you see it.”
At just 3.76m long, the new car is even shorter than the original. Citroën says it’s aiming for a weight figure of 1,000kg, and a modest range target should permit the use of a small-ish battery. We reckon 170 miles or so would do. No word yet on its capacity, configuration or range, but the new 2CV is part of a coming wave of small EVs, developed and engineered in line with the European Commissions E-car proposal.