Nostalgia is a funny old thing. Difficult to get right, but remarkably potent when it works. The star of the 2026 Paris Motor Show was undoubtedly Citroen’s 2CV – one of several concepts on show on the Stellantis stands. As a group, they’re rather late to the party.
Citroen isn’t the first and won’t be the last to rummage through its back catalogue in search of its future. Look at the now-dead Beetle. Look at the success of the Mini brand. Those are two very different interpretations of the same idea, and both are now over 25 years old.
But the arrival of increasingly capable Chinese manufacturers has added an interesting dimension to all this. European OEMs are facing growing competition on price, equipment and technology, and relying on those qualities alone is becoming a less convincing proposition. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that some are rediscovering the value of their own history. Renault got the message a few years ago, and it appears Stellantis has just got the memo. And that’s brilliant news.
To innovate, it seems, mainstream manufacturers have decided they must first look backwards. It might seem an odd way of going about things at first, but for brands that have had rather fluid identities over the last couple of decades, it’s a reasonable conclusion.
Citroen is by far the most interesting. Why? Well, few other manufacturers have such a remarkable collection of engineering and design achievements to their name. Fewer still have spent quite so long sitting on them.
A Citroen greatest hits album?
I was in Paris last week, and while that familiar outline was immediately recognisable on the stand, the closer I got, the more I realised it’s the less obvious details that make this concept so interesting. It’s clear a lot of thought has gone into it.
Let’s talk about the interior. Yes, there’s a wicker-style basket in the middle of the front seats. Perfect for eggs. Yes, there’s a flap that opens up to let fresh air in. And yes, there’s a funny gear selector sprouting from the dashboard.
For me, though, it’s that revolving drum speedo that stood out. This was far too frivolous a thing to ever be granted entry on the original 2CV, but it did immediately bring to mind the mad dashboards of the GS and CX. It was an elegant, if mad, solution to the apparently straightforward business of telling the driver how quickly they’re travelling.
Having owned a CX, I can attest that such details contribute enormously to its appeal. And while 99% of the captive audience the concept is aiming at won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, it shows that Citroen is thinking long and hard about what made its cars so special in the past.
Then there’s the single-spoke wheel. This feature was associated with half a dozen generations of Citroens. The wheels themselves? Well, Citroen says they draw inspiration from the original 2CV, but I see hints of DS Pallas trims and GSX in there too. That’s the pleasure of having such a varied back catalogue, I guess – different observers will find different things to recognise.
Taken individually, all these things are minor details. Together, however, they suggest an encouraging approach in the Citroen design studio.
Being different was once the whole point. Now, it isn’t.
The difficulty with reviving an old Citroen is deciding precisely what made the original worth remembering. A brand that launched the 2CV and DS just seven years apart was always going to be rather dysfunctional on the brand identity front. Many cars have been heralded as the “new 2CV” – Dyane, Visa, AX, Berlingo, C3. And yes, in terms of providing basic transportation to the masses, they could indeed be considered direct replacements.
But the 2CV itself? That’s an entirely different kettle of fish. The original 2CV wasn’t designed to evoke memories of an earlier age. It was a thoroughly contemporary solution to a very specific problem.
Indeed, one might argue that a truly faithful modern equivalent would bear almost no physical resemblance to it.
We’re now at a point where design, identity and being different are exceptionally important for European OEMs. And with Renault leading the way, you can see why Citroen has finally had a proper go at it. And it’s a very good first stab.
The new 2CV is certainly an exercise in nostalgia. Yet beneath the familiar styling, there are suggestions of a rather more interesting ambition: to produce a small, affordable car that questions some of the assumptions upon which the modern motor industry operates.
If this concept marks the beginning of a renewed interest in the company’s original philosophies and past designs, then its significance may extend well beyond the resurrection of a famous name.
