Citroën CX — Strikingly Beautiful Design

Two automotive enthusiasts from Ireland, Tomo and Conor, with a YouTube channel called 427 Motorsports, have a love for the Citroën CX. So much so that they posted a 25-minute video about the CX’s development and changes during production.

Historical footage interspersed with video they shot of their CX2500 and hastily shot on camera dialogue bits give the documentary a rustic feel. There’s also the thick Irish accent narration, but get past that and the content for the most part is accurate.

They did get a couple of things wrong:

They say that there were two directions taken in the development of a model to replace the DS — creation of a small car and a large car. They then state that the small car project was under the banner Project “L” showing a GS in the video as one of 2 designs that were presented to Citroën management for the approval of CX. The GS was developed under Project “G” to replace the Ami. Project L was the development of the large car project.

They are right about the direction of the project stemming from 2 designs. In 1969, a few months prior to the launch of the SM and GS, management gave chief designer Robert Opron a directive for a sedan with a classical, conventional shape. In a decision meeting, surrounded by several rather bland research models that had resulted from the suggested brief, Opron unveiled a secretly prepared model that had a strong resemblance to the GS, but was larger. It was selected and Project “L” commenced. With further design refinements it became the CX.

In the section about CX steering they get a little cloudy mentioning DVRAI variable assist power steering. They say it was fitted to the DS and the SM. The DS has power steering with power assisted return, but DVRAI with variable power assist when parking and less steering assistance at high speed, was never fitted on the DS. It was first introduced on the SM and later used in some CX and XM models.

Here’s the video:

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