1970 Citroen Mehari on 2040-cars

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PSA aims to sell Chinese on French quality by giving them wine

China is the house that every robber baron is trying to break into. PSA Peugeot Citroën has been in-country since the early eighties, getting there with Volkswagen, but the French brand largely spent its time sniffing the plum blossoms while the German brand grabbed the dragon and tamed it. No more: PSA expects China to be its largest market by 2015, and it has spent more than a year rearranging its affairs to make a cohesive push for Chinese hearts and minds and renminbi.
After rationalizing its business operations there, Peugeot will move its wares upmarket to put space between it and Citroën, the Citroën DS line will be a standalone brand - the only place in the world where that will be the case - and according to a report in Businessweek both brands will heavily promote their association with French luxury by giving away wine and perfume to those who visit dealerships.
France, as the number one destination for Chinese tourists, does have a strong pull for the locals. But those visitors are interested in France mainly because of brands like Louboutin and Louis Vuitton, so it will take time and serious investment to find out if "premium mainstream" and "near-premium" brands can truly form a consumer bond with some of the definitive marques for sybarites.

Citroen Oli concept is electric and made from cardboard (sort of)

The wee-little pug-nosed beastie you see here is the brand-new Citroen Oli concept, and it's not like other cars. You see, most vehicles are made from stampings of steel and aluminum. A few, like the Chevy Corvette, have bodies formed out of fiberglass, the DeLorean was famously stamped from stainless steel and the former East German Trabant was fashioned out of something called Duroplast, which is sort of like Formica. The Citroen Oli is "made from recycled corrugated cardboard formed into a honeycomb sandwich structure between fiberglass reinforcing panels." We know what you're thinking, because it's the first thing we thought too. How can cardboard stand up to the weather, impacts and stresses that cars will undoubtedly have to contend with? The quirky French automaker has answers. Citroen partnered with BASF to design the material, and it's coated in a kind of resin, then covered in a protective layer of a "tough, textured" product called Elastocoat that's often used in parking garage construction, and finally painted. Bumpers are formed from polypropylene plastic containing 50% recycled materials, and the wheel arches are recyclable plastic, too. Why go to such trouble to use this material instead of just relying on time-tested metals? Citroen says the panels are strong enough for an adult to stand on them, 50% lighter than steel and fully recyclable (to be fair, steel and aluminum are also commonly recycled). The emphasis on weight savings continues throughout the Oli's design. The body panels are all either perfectly horizontal or vertical, simplifying construction and reducing weight. Even the windshield is perfectly vertical, which again reduces weight and cost. That all maximizes interior space, too — there's a reason boxes are square, after all. Speaking of the interior, you'll notice there aren't any screens. With all this talk of unique construction methods and design, we've not yet talked about propulsion. As you'd expect, the Oli is electric, but we don't know much past that. With its comparatively small 40kWh battery pack, it can travel up to 248 miles, though we're not sure on what testing regimen. Its top speed is capped at 68 miles per hour, which is a clear indicator that this machine is designed primarily for urban and small-town rural use, not long stretches of highway. Citroen claims a charge from 20% to 80% takes just 23 minutes, though the actual charging specifications aren't known.

Citroen bringing customized C1 Urban Ride concept to Paris

With the alternating main European auto show landing in Paris this year, French automakers won't miss the opportunity to unveil lots of new metal on their home turf, and that includes Citroën. So far, we know that the Chevron marque is rolling in to Versailles this year with the C4 Cactus Airflow 2L, a pair of specials done with fashion designer Ines de la Fressange, and the Divine DS concept from its newly emancipated luxury division. But that's not all - it's also lined up the little concept you see here.
The C1 Urban Ride concept is based on its new C1 hatchback, the compact city car that's now in its second generation - but with a more rugged approach. It rides on a suspension that's jacked up by 0.6 inches and the track has been increased by 0.4 inches. To drive home that extra ruggedness, the Urban Ride's appearance has been augmented with reinforced bumpers and wheel arches - all to show the customization potential of the city car in both fixed-roof/five-door and fabric-roofed Airscape bodystyles.