Citroen 2CV Rumoured To Be Returning As A Super-Affordable EV

The Citroen 2CV is as much visual shorthand for France as the original Fiat 500 is for Italy and the classic Mini for Britain. Unlike those cars, though, France’s most famous people’s car has never been revived in a modern, retro-styled form. That, however, could soon change.

While Citroen has previously been averse to retro design, it’s thought that the massively positive reception the reborn Renault 5, 4 and Twingo have received has led the Parisian firm to rethink its attitude to its most famous model.

Autocar reports that “preliminary design work” on a 2CV revival has begun, according to an unnamed insider; while Top Gear separately quotes Citroen CEO Thierry Koskas, who said the brand “may make one exception” to its no-retro-design rule when asked about the possibility.

If the 2CV were to be brought back, it would likely follow the same brief as the original – affordable, utilitarian transport for the masses. Here’s where we drop in that bit about carrying a crate of eggs across a ploughed field.

The big difference, unsurprisingly, is that the new 2CV is thought to be under development as an EV, likely using pre-existing underpinnings from the wider Stellantis empire. The £14,995 Dacia Spring – currently the cheapest electric car in Britain, barring stuff like the Citroen Ami that isn’t technically a car – is cited as a possible rival.

Prototypes of the original 2CV – its name standing for ‘deux chevaux’, or ‘two horses’, referring to the taxable horsepower of the engine – existed as early as 1939, but the Second World War put a stop to the car’s planned introduction. It would eventually go into production in 1948, and enjoy one of the longest production runs of any car, the final of nearly 3.9 million examples being built nearly 42 years later in 1990.

Should a 2CV comeback be on the cards, it’s not clear when it could happen. The last rumblings we heard of something like this were with 2009’s Revolte concept, a plug-in hybrid that looked suspiciously like a modern interpretation of the deux chevaux, but that ultimately came to nought.