Geneva 2016: Citroën explores with colour and trim
A quiet show for the French brand allows time for C&T experimentation
With Citroën’s home Paris show later in the year, where the brand will certainly pull out all the stops, Geneva is a quieter affair, with the firm’s delightfully calm show stand a little short on big-ticket unveils.
However, the opportunity to experiment has not been passed up, with a couple of colour and trim concepts to catch (and challenge) the eye. First up is a fresh take on the E-Mehari, Citroën’s designer electric golf buggy with the face of a C4 Cactus grafted onto its front.
In partnership with French fashion house Courrèges, whose founder André Courrèges passed away in January, the Mehari features an all-white colourway, with orange pinstriped tyres and orange plastic spoke covers on each wheel.
Inside, the white and orange theme continues on the seats and steering wheel, while a set of bespoke white leather bags with vinyl orange piping are found in the rear luggage space. The effect is reasonably striking given the base car, but there’s only so much you can do when given such a low starting point.
The Space Tourer Hyphen also offered a welcome exploration of colour and trim to mark the arrival of Citroën’s new van. The exterior features a two-tone colourway with light blue blending to reddish orange as you move backward.
In celebration of the fact that the van is 4x4, the rugged-looking wheel and tyre package includes rubber bands running around the tyre from the rim for extra grip in snow.
The interior is more intriguing, with the light blue blending to orange from left to right. The concept builds on themes introduces with the Aircross concept last year, with orange fabric straps, and two-tone seat covers finishing the cabin.
While we might have to wait until Paris for new cars from Citroën, it’s nice to see a brand be progressive in allowing its colour and trim designers to take centre stage here.