Citroën is, of course, an iconic French brand, but equal in iconography is Asterix The Gaul.
The creation of René Goscinny (who wrote the stories) and Albert Uderzo (who drew the comics), Asterix is a doughty and resourceful Gaulish warrior (Gaul being what France was, more or less, called in Roman times) who resists the Roman occupation with the help of a strength-inducing magic potion. Trust me; it's brilliant stuff with endless comic books and novels and several movie adaptations.
An ancient Roman Citroën
Now, there's a new movie - Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, which will air on Netflix in the spring of 2023 - and Citroën is the official car partner to the production, which, you'll notice, raises a singular problem. The problem is that there were no cars in Roman times, so how do you slip in the product placement?
Easy, you make a Roman chariot look like a Citroën 2CV. This is exactly what Citroën has done, creating the 2CV Chariot, which can be seen at various points in the movie. Citroën's design team apparently sketched and created the concept in three months, compared to the normal 12 months for a project like this. Well, one supposes that not having to work out where to put the engine might have helped...
Pierre Leclercq, Citroën's Global Design Director, said: "The encounter between these two legends of French culture was nothing short of extraordinary. There has been a bond of sincerity and mutual respect between the Citroën and the Asterix movie teams since the beginning. We were presented with this incredible opportunity to create and build a concept chariot from scratch, and we had the most amazing time working on this project. The result is an ode to the 2CV, the legendary car which represents Citroën in all its glory."
Fireflies for headlights
Hilariously, Citroën says it "focused on its core values of comfort, technology and bold design, adding a special touch to the movie. The result is a concept chariot featuring suspension made of a boar's stomach and a sunroof and headlights operated by fireflies boosted with a magic potion. Another detail is the wheels, made of recycled shields, incorporating Citroën's iconic chevrons."
The chariot features in different parts of the movie, including when Caesar's army reaches China, where there is an advertising billboard at the entrance to the country promoting the best car at the time: the 2CV, an incredible chariot made in Gaul, pulled by two horses. This is a subtle allusion to the famous Citroën advertising film made on the Great Wall of China. The wings of the helmet worn by Asterix also feature the new Citroën logo.
Citroën's participation in the movie didn't end with creating the concept chariot. As part of the partnership, Citroën also provided the film crew with an entirely electric fleet of vehicles for use during filming. The fleet was made up of 10 vehicles: three ë-C4 models, three New C5 Aircross PHEVs, two ë-SpaceTourers, an ë-Jumpy (ë-Dispatch) and an Ami. Citroën also arranged charging for the vehicles on the film sets at Bry-sur-Marne and Bretigny-Sur-Orge.
Sustainable filming
Sustainability was a key element of the partnership right throughout the filming schedule. The electric fleet provided by Citroën was one of the Asterix team's contribution to decarbonisation. The team also worked with an agency that implemented processes to limit waste as much as possible. For example, the costumes were recycled and reused for other purposes, while two tonnes of wood were saved using recycled cardboard as part of the movie. Also, all the wooden crates used during filming were given to two urban farms in the Ile-de-France region.