WOMEN REJOICE! A car that can take the knocks and scrapes from trolleys and bad parking has arrived. Citroen has listened to you and AirBump is the answer, a grid of lumps covering the flanks. Marketing will love it too: the appeal of an overt design solution is how easily digestible the conundrum is, that an everyday problem can have a solution so easy to articulate. That it is easy to get into and has great visibility establishes it not just as brand vision, but a clear illustration of bullet-points gathered from market research.
This rational approach extends to a pebble-clean body uninterrupted by light-catchers and creases. This could have been a stodgy design, yet there is a grace and lightness afforded by a carefully considered gesture in the shoulder and perfect wheel-to-body relationship. The front and rear graphics uses today's popular separated headlamp concept, and revives the pill/lozenge trend exemplified by the 2006 Mazda Ibuki concept. This geometric approach is equally appealing inside where a sturdy IP gives the impression of a solid extrusion from which precisely hewn switchgear and vent details are hung.
The Citroen C4 Cactus marks a concerted effort to differentiate Citroen from the DS line-up, not just through the glitz of the latter, but through the grounded consumer-centricity of Citroen. The question is not its success in achieving that with the C4 Cactus, but whether the niche-by-niche approach is in danger of destabilizing the range. A glance towards Volvo shows how effective a traditional package is at supporting an aesthetic argument: a vision of the next C5 might just do that, with or without lumps.
REMEMBER THOSE Christmas cards you made when young, sketched
out in crayon, then, with a flourish of a glue stick, is dipped in saucer of
glitter, shards of silver sticking wherever tack has prevailed. The DS Divine doesn’t stray too far from this approach, rather falling into the gee-gaw category. The shoulder-line and
the rocker are edged in chrome, and crystalline surfaces abound in the interior. Why? Because otherwise
you might notice it's a boggo five-door hatchback with an Audi front and Brera
back. Citroen –nay, DS –say they are creating a brand for long term ascension.
That means diversity that can later be traded upon when the bodystyle is
‘re-found’ and claimed to be a classic.
Motor shows also mark the time to
go fishing for twelve-year olds, who, in their awe of a bejeweled interior, promise themselves a DS when they are earning. In a conservative industry that jolts from quarter-to-quarter, such patience is surely a virtue. It is a
concept that Porsche accidentally stumbled upon with the 911 (they planned to can it several times), and now car makers are keenly
making sure that what you buy as an adult is a clear evolution of what you
hankered after as a child. Thus every car has the potential to be an endeared
oldtimer. And every oldtimer will look
the same as its descendants, or at least look the same as an Audi.
