By Brendan Moore

10.18.2008

While visiting the Citroen stand recently at the (still ongoing) 2008 Paris Auto Show, I couldn’t help but notice how much better the cars looked compared to years past, and further, how competitive they were with their challengers in each segment.

For those of you unfamiliar with recent Citroën history, this is unusual. Although Citroën was both a technology and style leader for many decades, that all started to fade away quickly after Peugeot acquired the company in 1974, which, coincidentally, was the same year Citroën withdrew from the North American market. Peugeot’s strategy of transforming Citroën into their budget brand meant some truly awful things happened to cars wearing the double chevron in the three decades following the acquisition of Citroën. The Citroën lineup was reduced to being carbon copies of the bottom of the Peugeot range, albeit with Citroën badges on them. Sometimes the cars weren’t very good, and even in the instance they were okay to drive, they were dull as old dishwater. The brand fell on hard times.

This undesirable situation began to change several years ago, and for 2009, Citroën finally has a lineup that is more worthy of their heritage. To be sure, Citroën no longer stuns the world with their new models, but there is now life at the marque. Continue Reading →