{"id":45564,"date":"2026-08-16T16:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=45564"},"modified":"2026-08-16T16:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T14:19:15","slug":"antoine-volaniss-spectacular-feats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=45564","title":{"rendered":"Antoine Volanis\u2019s spectacular feats"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dan Abramson, the Citro\u00ebn designer in charge of the brand\u2019s high-end vehicles and concept cars in the 1990s (he was responsible for the two Activa concepts), can\u2019t believe it. To develop the design of the concept car for the 1994 Paris Motor Show \u2013 the future Xanae shown below \u2013 Citro\u00ebn brought in external consultants alongside its in-house team. Dan Abramson recalls that \u201cCitro\u00ebn knew Renault was preparing to launch its Sc\u00e9nic compact MPV, and the management wanted to show that the brand was very much alive! The project for this concept car was assigned to my team. Mark Lloyd worked on the exterior styling, and Marc Pinson on the interior. All the work was practically finished when, at the presentation of our concept car, we learnt that Luc Epron\u2019s team had asked Antoine Volanis to come up with his own proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re extremely surprised because, with a concept car, you don\u2019t usually seek external input.\u201d This concept, which heralds the Xsara Picasso MPV, is set to be the subject of a legal case involving Volanis. Dan explains that \u201cAntoine Volanis had presented a design for an unbranded MPV at La Garenne. Each drawing was numbered and protected, but we never actually saw them! However, the member of Luc Epron\u2019s team responsible for liaising with Volanis was keeping him updated on the progress of our own work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem at the time was that we weren\u2019t protecting our designs. So Volanis claimed that Citro\u00ebn had plagiarised his design! What\u2019s incredible is that we didn\u2019t see Volanis\u2019s mock-up until the final presentation, and it was actually ours that was chosen. The group then put together a dossier containing all our sketches, thereby demonstrating that all the Citro\u00ebn designs had been created six months, or even a year, before Volanis\u2019s proposals. But as our designs hadn\u2019t been registered, Volanis won the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And a substantial sum that will enable the designer \u2013 born in Thessaloniki in 1948 and who arrived in France in 1968 \u2013 to develop his independent design firm, based in Montfort-l\u2019Amaury since the late 1980s. This feat also strained his relations with certain car manufacturers. Until the late 2000s, his work then focused more on industrial design for companies such as A\u00e9rospatiale, Donnay and even\u2026 Tefal. We know Antoine Volanis best for his work at Matra, which he joined in the early 1970s. Iconic names spring to mind: the 1973 Bagheera, the 1977 Rancho and the 1984 Espace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The original aim of the Matra \u201cVan\u201d project: Antoine Volanis\u2019s famous orange design, which would go on to form the basis of Renault\u2019s \u201cEspace\u201d range after being rejected by the PSA Group, which was in financial difficulties at the time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, the final design of the large MPV was finalised by Jacques Nocher\u2019s team at Renault Design, alongside G\u00e9rard Asensio, in April 1983. Volanis also marked a highly inventive and creative start, with the unveiling of two concept cars: one showcasing an innovative and unprecedented compact MPV, the other revealing a saloon with excellent aerodynamic efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Renault\u2019s task was to transform the Matra Van into a vehicle with a more upmarket feel. It\u2019s the little details that will make all the difference. What\u2019s more, the interior\u2019s versatility is 100 per cent Renault.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is these two projects that we are looking back at today. More than ten years before the \u2018Xanae affair\u2019, Antoine Volanis put his automotive design studio in the spotlight with a revolutionary concept car: the Helios, pictured below. The large Espace MPV had not yet gone on sale, but Volanis, who was behind the project, immediately envisaged this concept in a more compact form. Eight years before the 1991 Sc\u00e9nic concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The French designer would like to become the equivalent of Giugiaro, who, at the same time, was producing a succession of innovative architectural concepts, such as the Lancia Together concept, which also explored the theme of the compact MPV. Antoine Volanis exhibited his Helios prototype at the 1983 Geneva International Motor Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
At 3.94 metres, the Helios is shorter than the current Clio, yet it accommodates four passengers in great comfort and offers a generous boot space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helios is a model featuring a highly innovative interior, notably including this steering wheel comprising two handles. The glass surface area is, unlike today\u2019s models, exceptionally large.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its compact, five-seater design and monocoque body, the Helios boasts advanced aerodynamics with a drag coefficient (Cx) of just 0.22. It is worth noting that during this period, European manufacturers were receiving government support to develop the most aerodynamic and fuel-efficient prototypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In terms of styling alone, the car features a signature design element dear to Volanis: the rear light strip encircling three-quarters of the tailgate, a design he had previously proposed for a small city car prototype at Matra. The contacts he made at the Geneva Motor Show enabled him to raise his company\u2019s profile. Just over a year later, at the 1984 Paris Motor Show, he designed a second full-scale concept car. This time, he set aside the MPV concept to focus on an elegant saloon car, once again highly refined in terms of aerodynamics: the Apollon, shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like Ital Design\u2019s Renault Gabbiano concept car, the Apollon is based on the Renault 11 Turbo platform, but the saloon is very sleek and boasts a drag coefficient (Cx) as low as 0.13. Always looking to the future, Volanis\u2019s vision also incorporates a number of striking innovations: infrared-activated doors, a navigation aid system and an air suspension system to lower the ride height when driving on the motorway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These two unique car prototypes enabled Antoine Volanis to work behind the scenes on various projects for major car manufacturers. This included a minivan with two rows of three seats, initially conceived for Fiat (which decided to go ahead with the idea\u2026) and subsequently proposed to the French group Peugeot-Citro\u00ebn. We all know how that story ended\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In the 1983 Helios press kit, a model of an aerodynamic saloon body was unveiled, a year before the Apollon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dan Abramson, the Citro\u00ebn designer in charge of the brand\u2019s high-end vehicles and concept cars in the 1990s (he was responsible for the two Activa concepts), can\u2019t believe it. To develop the design of the concept car for the 1994 Paris Motor Show \u2013 the future Xanae shown below \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45564"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45595,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45564\/revisions\/45595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}