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As part of its centenary celebrations, Citroen is showing off the 19_19 Concept, a car that it describes as its 'manifesto' for the future.
It's a dramatic, highly futuristic concept, which uses all-electric power for a claimed range of 800km on one charge, allied to exceptional comfort thanks to Citroen's new 'Progressive Hydraulic Cushion' suspension system. The company claims that the 19_19 Concept is: "a disruptive Citroën manifesto that rewrites the rulebook and illustrates a vision of mobility that is deliberately unconventional, futuristic looking and constraint-free. Boasting exceptional proportions for the automotive segment - and inspired by the worlds of aviation and interior design - 19_19 Concept is immediately recognisable through its pure and streamlined shapes, its skilfully worked technological details, and through the various ways in which it can be interpreted."
The body of the car is designed to represent the fuselage of an aircraft combined with the bubble cabin of a helicopter, and it rides on huge, but narrow, 30-inch wheels, with tyres specially developed by Goodyear. Even the wheel design is unique, and is supposed to blur the lines between where the wheel ends and the tyre begins. There are even Rolls-Royce-style gimballed wheel centres to keep the logo pointing the right way up at all times.
Those four wheels are pushed right out to the ends of the car, leaving space for a massicve 3.01 metres wheelbase, into which the large 100kWh battery can be fitted. 0-100km/h comes up in a claimed five seconds, and the top speed is supposedly 200km/h. Of that 800km range, Citroen claims that you can add 370km in just 20 minutes from an ultra-fast charger, and there's a cable-free inductive charging system.
The two halves of the body are painted different colours to represent different driving experiences. Those in the front 'bubble' are on view to the rest of the world and have an amazing view out, while those in the back are more hidden away, more cocooned.
There's also an 'Artificially Intelligent' digital on-board assistant, which takes care of all the car's functions when it's in autonomous mode, and which is supposedly capable of not only learning each occupant's preferences, but of using that information to predict what they're going to want next. Which after 800km, is going to be a wee (that's our guess anyway).
Although it's autonomous-capable, Citroen isn't removing the driver from the equation, saying that they can: "take back control whenever they like, for example to enjoy the at-the-wheel experience" and admits that this includes times when: "they may be required to do so in certain more complex situations, such as in traffic through obstacle-filled city centres."
The AI system moves its display postions depending on how you're driving. If the driver is in control, then the system slides to a position low down on the dashboard, where it's ready to help but sort of in standby mode. In autonomous mode, the AI setup slides up, taking up a more prominent position on the dash. This 'Personal Assistant' can propose alternatives to the initial route, detours to visit points of interest based on browsing history, breaks in pleasant nearby locations, and renowned restaurants in the surrounding area.
The seats are all different too. The driver gets relatively conventional seat, but the front passenger gets a seat that's almost a sofa, what Citroen describes as a 'chaise lounge.' In the back, the rear passengers get a massive sofa designed to look and feel like a sun lounger.
The steering wheel, made of a marble-like mineral resin that is warm to the touch, can retract into the dashboard to free up extra cabin space in autonomous mode, and it, like the wheels, has a stabilised badge in the centre, rather like the fixed-hub wheels of the old C4 and C5 models.
"19_19 Concept is our technological and innovative vision of the automotive future. It conserves the fundamentals that have made Citroën what it is over the last 100 years, a brand that listens to its customers and systematically focuses on human aspects, consistent with its 'Inspired by You' brand signature. Design, creativity, comfort and innovation are and will remain central to Citroën's DNA, as demonstrated by 19_19 Concept" said Linda Jackson, Citroen's Global CEO.