Citroen
November 14th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Michael Schumacher no longer has more motorsport world titles than any other driver with French rally driver Sébastien Loeb securing his eighth World Rally Championship title over the weekend. Loeb’s latest title was confirmed part way through the final 
round of 2011 World Rally Championship in the UK following the retirement of the only other contender for the 2011 drivers’ title.
Sébastien Loeb has not only won eight World titles to Schumacher’s seven titles, the Citroen driver’s titles are all consecutive and Loeb’s name and that of the Citroen rally cars he has piloted sit alongside just about every record in the WRC.
Having already won Citroen its seventh manufacturers’ world title in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, Loeb went into the final round, Rally GB, the weekend (11-13 November 2011) with his rival, Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen just a handful of points behind him in the Championship title race, knowing he not only had to finish in first or second place to take the title, he also had to win the final ‘Power Stage’ which also provides points for title chase.
For the first seven stages the two drivers were neck and neck, swapping the event lead, with Loeb further under threat when the defensive shield of his team mate, Sébastien Ogier, crashed out. Meanwhile, Hirvonen’s team mate, Jari-Matti Latvala, joined Hirvonen in pouring on the pressure on Loeb and his Citroen DS3.
But on Stage Seven it all went wrong for Hirvonen when he went off the road and damaged his radiator. Ford later confirmed that the damage to his car was terminal and he was completely out of the event, handing Loeb his eighth World title. Read the rest of this entry »
November 4th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Well it worked out for Fiat with its new 500/Bambina so Citroën is looking seriously at jumping on the retro-sytle bandwagon and bringing back its 2CV.
According to recent reports the French carmaker is making plans to design and develop a modern version of the iconic 2CV. It isn’t expected until 2013 at the earliest and at this stage it is a top secret project. What is known is that the 3CV will inherit the spirit of its ancestor and offer plenty of space and a comfortable ride.
If the 3CV goes ahead it will likely be built on the same PF1 platform that supports the Peugeot 207 and Citroëns DS3 and C3. But it will be smaller than the C3.
More will be revealed next year.
September 5th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Readers of passing bumper stickers would of seen the classic “If the wagons rocking don’t come a knocking” label 
affixed to the occasional van and now Citroen has brought the shagging wagon into the 21st century with its latest concept. The French carmaker has just revealed official images of its new concept van named the Tubik which is set for an official debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show.
The French did more for romance than just invent pashing a.k.a French kissing, so it’s not surprising that they came up with two of the first shagging wagons – the 1939 Tub van and its replacement, the 1948 Type H that was produced up until the beginning of the 1980s. The Tubik concept pays homage to these historic machines and adds a range of modern conveniences.
The Tubik isn’t just about the horizontal action and can serve as both a commercial van and a people carrier with very usable dimensions; 4.8 metres long, 2.08m wide and 2.05m tall. The space age carrier can seat up to nine passengers in three lounge-style seats, with the driver operating in a separated compartment. As for windows – who really needs them? Read the rest of this entry »
July 26th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
A massive record-breaking global gathering of Citroën 2CVs is set to take place this weekend in France at the 19th International ‘Amis de la 2CV’. The special event expected to attract over 6,000 examples of the iconic Citroën model.
Held once every two years, the meeting attracts participants from all over the world who come together to celebrate one of Citroën’s longest-running success stories. The 2011 event, involving many of Europe’s 2CV owner’s clubs, is expected to be the largest to date. The meeting will take place in a 60-hectare site near Salbris in Central France. Special displays will include four pre-war prototype 2CVs and the contemporary Citroën REVOLTe concept car.
Originally developed in the 1930s, most of the 250 prototype 2CVs were destroyed before war – with the exception of three, which were hidden to stop them falling into enemy hands. The fourth was stored by Michelin. The 2CV was finally unveiled at the 1948 Paris Motor Show, before going on to enjoy a fantastic career with 5,114,940 units sold between 1948 and 1990. Read the rest of this entry »
May 10th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Three days straight of being the first car out and sweeping the road in Italy over the weekend (5-8 May 2011) still wasn’t enough to stop Citroen’s Sébastien Loeb. He gave the new Citroen DS3 WRC its fourth win in its debut season when he dominated the fifth round of the World Rally Championship and extended both his own and Citroen’s lead in the 
championship title chases.
As the front runner in the Italian WRC round, Loeb had the dubious honour of being the first on the road, which meant his car swept the surface of each stage of loose dust and dirt to leave a cleaner, quicker surface for his following rivals who usually can set faster times.
But this didn’t slow the Frenchman down. He ended the first loop on day one a scant 2.7 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, but by the end of the day he had pulled the lead out to 33 seconds, which was the good news, the bad news being that he would be, as the leader of day one, the road sweeper for day two.
Day two saw Loeb hold his rivals at bay, while sweeping the road, but his lead was cut back 23.7 seconds, as the other drivers fought relentlessly to catch the head road sweeper and to settle the fight for the positions behind the number one spot. Read the rest of this entry »
August 16th, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
The biggest question next weekend (19-22 August 2010) at the World Rally Championship is if the French ever be beaten in Germany and, in particular, one certain Frenchman.
The Rally of Germany joined the WRC in 2002 and, for the past eight years, only one person has climbed to top step of the podium — Citroën’s Sebastien Loeb. Indeed, since the Spanish round in 2005 no other driver and no other car brand has won any tarmac round of the World Rally Championship.
With Loeb and his trusty Citroën C4 WRC on the podium in every round this season, including four wins, it is no surprise that that Loeb and Citroën arrive in Germany at the head of their respective championships and Loeb’s views on this event are positive.
“I’ve always felt good in this rally and things have always gone well for me here. My aim in Germany is obviously an eighth victory,” says Loeb who will be racing only a few dozen kilometres away from his native Alsace. “But three other good drivers also have C4 WRCs, the best car of the moment. That means that I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to stay in front of them. It’s an interesting challenge as the three legs are all different. The stages among the Mosel vines have nothing in common with those in the Baumholder military camp. There are some very fast sections, some extremely difficult passages, now narrow then wide asphalt roads. And the pavement on all of them varies as well. There is hardly one metre the same as the one before. It’s an absolute challenge. As is often the case, the weather can play a very important role in the outcome of the event, so it looks like it‘s going to be an exciting and unpredictable race.”
Read the rest of this entry »
August 2nd, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
A Finish double podium finish has just extended Citroën’s lead in the World Rally Championship at the weekend (30-31 July 2010) but despite Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala taking the top step of the podium and Loeb taking the third step behind team mate Sebastien Ogier, Loeb remains more than 60 points ahead of the Finish driver in the battle for the drivers’ world title.
Compressed into two days rather than the normal three day format, the WRC’s trip to Finland turned into a sprint for the finish on what is already traditionally the WRC’s fastest event and this lead to mistakes by the front runners. After Citroën privateer Petter Solberg surrendered his early lead to Mikko Hirvonen there were signs that this was going to be a Ford/Scandinavian driver dominated event. But on stage four Hirvonen spectacularly went out of the event in a multiple barrel roll after a high speed jump. The crew were uninjured but the Ford Focus was well beyond repair.
Next to suffer was Loeb. A small off, which in any other event would not have caused a problem, became a critical issue in the high speed Finland event. The loss of a part of the bumper seriously disturbed the car’s aerodynamics, causing the car to fly and land unevenly and unpredictably and was so damaging to the airflow over the car that it caused the car to understeer badly on high speed corners. Backing off until it could be repaired dropped Loeb down the running order and put Ogier in place to make the challenge on the remaining Ford.
After a short night, the crews left the Jyväskylä service park in pouring rain. Around 100 kms from there, the stages of the first of the three loops were also soaking wet. Sebastien Ogier was on the pace straight away in the rally setting the fastest time in Kolonkulma (SS12). In Väärinmaja, the longest stage of the event, it was Sebastien Loeb’s turn to stun the onlookers. By setting the second-best time, Ogier took second place from Petter Solberg and got to within 15s of the leader, Jari-Matti Latvala.
The latter fought back in the following stage, but the C4 WRC drivers were more than pleased at the end of the first three stages.
“I’m trying to keep up the pace while leaving myself a small safety margin. My aim’s not to go after Jari-Matti, but to see the finish in the best possible position,” underlined Ogier.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 26th, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
To help build excitement for the upcoming WRC Rally of Finland, Citroen has released ten photos of its cars getting some of the biggest air in rally history. Taken at various stages since 2001 the ten images feature driver Sebastien Loeb and others pushing their cars to staggering limits.
The most impressive jump belongs to Loeb whose 85-meter leap in Turkey defied belief. “It was an incredible sensation as we were up in the air for several seconds. Not for a moment did we imagine that we would jump so far.” Loeb said.
These stunning photos were captured on events including New Zealand, Sweden, Italy, Norway and arguably the spiritual home of ‘big air’ moments — Finland.
The Citroën Total World Rally Team have been competing in the FIA World Rally Championship since 2001 during which they have won five manufacturers titles and powered Sebastien Loeb to all six of his World Drivers’ Championship crowns to make him the most successful rally driver in history.
The Frenchman heads into round eight of the 2010 championship in Finland with a 51 point lead over his closest rival and firmly in the hunt for a record seventh drivers’ crown. The Citroën Total World Rally Team also holds a 47 point lead in the Manufacturers’ standings.
Check out the amazing photos in the gallery below.
