A capsule on wheels, an incredible face, a multi-sensory cockpit, a panoramic view… Is the ultra-comfort car of tomorrow seen by Citroën a global UFO or has it already been seen? Here are some reflections on themes highlighted on the 19_19 concept that have already been explored elsewhere. The subject is a balancing act that designers generally do not like. The view of a concept car always reveals in our hearts this little something of… “I’ve seen this before elsewhere.”…
With the Citroën 19_19, we are far from all that, because the concept flies beyond the borders of our automotive universe. Citroën propelled us to light speed in 2030. I will be 69 years old, a walker designed by Philippe Starck or Adidas Gazelle “Revival” at my feet for my morning jogging, it depends, and no one will tell me that what I wrote in 2019 on this subject was wrong.
So it was the light mind that I opened some dusty drawers of my brain filled with images of concept cars sometimes forgotten….
When I discovered the 19_19, my brain opened these lockers:
Theme of the bow and peripheral vision
A gigantic windscreen that plunges down on the front lights, well-marked wings, a flat front surface and set back from the wings, that’s what we find on the Citroën 19_19. Add to that a glass capsule that acts as a cockpit. These are the themes that can also be found in the Audi e-tron Imperator project designed by designer Frédéric Le Sciellour and planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Audi Type R Imperator in 2028, almost the year 2030 in which Citroën is projecting us with its 19_19. On the other hand, the latter adopts a very different architecture by externalizing its four wheels.
To discover the Audi e-tron Imperator, visit Frédéric Le Sciellour’s Behance page here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/55744321/Audi-e-tron-Imperator?tracking_source=curated_galleries_list
Interior with full view of the outside
Light, everywhere. Glazing, everywhere… And even, in the picture below, a vision to the road from the back seat ! This dive of the occupants into the landscape crossed in great comfort aboard the Citroën 19_19 is a theme that has been deflowered by the…. Citroën, in 2005 (fourteen years ago) in a much more compact size with the C-Airplay concept car designed by Cyril Pietton. Good, because it means that nothing is lost unconsciously at the Citroën creation centre ! Not even the will to offer transparency even in the doors !
Citroën C-Airplay (2005) below :
Backrest in stretched elastics
In order not to interfere with the transparency observed from the bow to the stern of the 19_19 concept car, its designers have equipped the rear bench seat (worthy of a sofa) with a very “transparent” backrest, too, since it is made up of stretched elastics, an elegant trick that also makes it possible to find objects placed at the top of the boot. This is a principle that we also discovered on the Renault Captur concept car unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011.
Different driver’s seat…
Each of the Citroën 19_19’s seats is different:
– dedicated to driving for the… driver,
– dedicated to relaxation for the passenger with a Meridian,
– ultra-comfort in the back with a real soft sofa.
Aesthetic research to improve comfort was one of the main focus of Michel Harmand’s teams in the 1970s and 1980s. We see above a seat study for the Citroën BX in the late 1970s. Once again, it is from the Citroën style centre that these ideas come from, which some considered eccentric but which were on the contrary very avant-garde. The 19_19 concept car finds here a perfect legitimacy and will in turn serve as a reservoir for audacity, from which future designers can draw at will!
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