The Citroën Visa was a four-door sedan with minimal space
No, said Jacques Wolkensinger, Citroën's PR director in Paris. The new Visa is not a Peugeot derivative like the LN. That was in 1978, four years earlier the Doppelwinkel brand had to merge with Peugeot, with fusion being the friendly description of a takeover.
Citroën had fallen into financial difficulties and Peugeot was now in charge. The frustration among the Citroën people was deep, the LN was a hastily born small car based on the Peugeot 104, which received the engine from the 2 CV in the base. For many Citroën customers it was a disappointment. It stood for poorly done badge engineering; round headlights and a single-spoke steering wheel alone were not enough to create an authentic Citroën feeling.
Everything should be better with the new Citroën Visa.
Is the Visa a real Citroën?
What Jacques Wolkensinger would have preferred to keep secret was the fact that the Visa was also based on the 104. This time Citroën had done everything right, the marriage of convenience brought the first successful product onto the market. The new small car filled the gap between the LN and GS and was recognizable at first glance as a legitimate offspring of the Parisian avant-garde.
The radiator grille and the sharply sloping hood as well as the covered rear wheel arches referenced the design of the larger models. What was new were the elastic bumpers integrated into the body, which could absorb even small bumps in Paris city traffic without causing damage. The design had already emerged in the pre-Peugeot era and had its origins in the prototype Y (Link), which was supposed to replace the 2 CV.
The Citroën engineers had improved the chassis. Firstly, in principle, because the Peugeot parts couldn't be good enough. Secondly, because you had a reputation to defend. The operation was successful, the Visa was considered an incredibly comfortable small car that had four doors and space for four people in an exterior length of just 3,69 cm. Amazing – and thanks to the innovative design.
Under the hood was either the two-cylinder boxer, which had received a new ignition system, or the in-line four-cylinder from Peugeot, which was initially only used in the Visa Super. After the engineers had dutifully completed their homework, they were allowed to let off steam in the interior.
Control satellites in the Citroën Visa
Because a Citroën is a Citroën and should be that way. In the cockpit, a control cylinder, which the press release also referred to as a satellite (which sounded much better), combined all the important functions. It controlled the windshield wipers, indicators, horn and lights and created a typical brand ambience. Anyone who knew the larger Citroën models could handle it. Anyone who tried it as a newbie learned quickly and thought the satellite was good.
The concept behind it was brilliant. Citroën called it the PRN satellite, where P stood for Pluie (rain), R for Route (road) and N for Nuit (night). All everyday functions should be accessible and operable in one place with a tap of a finger.
But the German motor press would work on it forever and ever impossible Criticize the service.
Nevertheless, journalists liked the Visa at its first presentation, for which Citroën had chosen Greece. They praised the sedan-like comfort, the long suspension travel and only found something to complain about in the two-cylinder engines. 652 cm³ displacement and 36 hp naturally struggled with the Citroën Visa, even if it only weighed 735 kilograms. And of course the Peugeot four-cylinder with 50 hp was much more refined and smoother than the boxer engine.
The verdict is that it looks like a Citroën, drives like one and is as idiosyncratic as you would expect. The first test was successfully completed.
The Visa small car was a balancing act for Citroën. He had to find his way between typical stubbornness and Peugeot corporate technology; the start was not easy. But he becomes a success. From 1978 and 88, 1.222.608 vehicles were produced, and by 2005 another 1.181.471 C15 panel van versions (Fourgonnette) were added.
In 1978, no one could have guessed that it would later get a diesel engine and that hot sports models would line its path. But that is also a completely different double angle story.
Oh yes, the visa. An almost new red Super E was my second car after the Duck when I went from Düsseldorf to Frankfurt to do my traineeship in 1981. I liked it a lot: the huge windshield with just one wiper, the clever control satellite, the high level of comfort, the low consumption. Many trips on the A3 between the two cities, to France, the Netherlands, the four of us on the summer holidays to Sweden. If it hadn't been for the too casual workmanship, which made the fun expensive and ultimately increasingly annoying. A nice colleague bought it from me after just two years, but unfortunately he wasn't happy with it either.
Well, I thought, it should be a solid Swedish car. It was a used Saab 96 GL V4. I liked it very much, appreciated its outdated design, its rarity, its comfort. Even from today's perspective, it was my lousiest car, which surprised me with numerous, unexpected defects, but that's another story. I've only been driving a Saab again since 2010 - and rightly so 😉 But the Visa was a piece of everyday avant-garde, an individual small and yet large car.
These wonderful pictures and background stories about earlier Citroëns, Renaults, etc. bring back images that have long since faded but are stored somewhere in the back chambers of my memory - which I obviously took note of at the time, but not as a child and because of that I mentally put aside my awakened interest in cars. But now when I hear a lot of stories like this I think: “Oh yes, I knew him too, didn’t Mr. or Mrs. Sowien drive one of those?” Thank you for these beautiful journeys into your own memories! 🙂
The “operating satellite” looks very interesting and well designed. But was it really practical and safe, including the horn? I always think it should be in the middle of the steering wheel so that in an emergency situation you can hit it hard in a split second - and find it. I used to sometimes drive my mother's Ford Sierra (which she actually won in a raffle at Edeka :-), previously R4 and Polo). The Sierra had the horn operated as a tiny button at the top of the turn signal stalk. This button could be operated very elegantly with your ring finger, as long as you remembered that it was there and found it at all. When the turn signal was activated (e.g. when turning or changing lanes), the horn was located somewhere else and could not be found quickly. That could get difficult and tricky.
Was it similarly difficult with the horn on the satellite? If so, I would rather stick with “form follows function”. I’m just incorrigibly “Saabized”…. 😉
Have a nice Saab weekend everyone! 🙂
Once upon a time there was a car...
The fairy-tale retrospectives here always make me painfully aware of how colorful the European car industry once was, and how radically the philosophies of designers and customers differed depending on brand and nation.
There have been so many cars in the last 20 to 30 years that I would find it really difficult to describe as typically German, French, Swedish or Italian and of course typically British...
It's very easy to get a visa. Typically French! Even typically Citroën – despite the merger.
And while traveling we discovered that other European countries were actually dominated by different cars than in Germany. In Scandinavia, GB, Italy and F, BMW, VW, Audi, Opel and Mercedes with local license plates had the same rarity value as a humpback Volvo, an SM, whatever. Real export hits, which could be found in large numbers on streets across the entire continent, were still the exception. And it was primarily small and micro cars that successfully competed with national brands in other European countries. From the middle class upwards, buyers were less price-conscious and more conservative. A very nice side effect for travelers.
It was just a great time. You're on holiday in Sweden and parked in front of the bakery between lots of Saabs and Volvos. You're in France, the UK or Italy and you almost only see cars from national brands. Some models in D are hardly or not present at all.
Today, all over Europe you park with the same cars to the left and right of your own. There could be a Kia on the left and a Suzuki, an Audi, whatever on the right. I think that's kind of a shame. These are the automobiles. Real estate isn't that far off either. Here, in the relative north of Germany, more and more homes are being built that are completely stylistically dislocated. I'm guilty of that too. Scandinavian wooden house? And the neighbor imagines a Mediterranean, clay-colored villa next to it and palm trees in pots in front of the door in the paved front garden...
One takes the north to the south, the other takes the south to the north and then they both get annoyed by the wild growth and arbitrariness - ultimately because a trip to the north or south is a little less worthwhile because you are too much for yourself or your neighbor has already brought a lot of the culture of the potential place of longing back home. As a house, as a garden, as a car and culinary. And in the place of longing, the locals drive just as many Kia, Audi or Skoda as they do in Germany...
Europe is becoming poorer and poorer - poorer in terms of cultural characteristics and diversity. The contacts shrink. We are becoming more and more unified. An approach? Perhaps. But there is also a certain graying and impoverishment. We have long been discussing whether the best pizza in the world is in Berlin, Napoli, New York, Stockholm, London or Asia,
The Visa, on the other hand, represents a time when typically French cars still came from France and there were predominantly French cars on the road in F. That alone represents a certain value in itself. Even if it's just that cultural differences have their own charm and make us curious about each other. That's a lot of value.
In any case, it pains me a little when we discuss today whether the best sushi comes from California and the best pizza comes from Tokyo, and whether the design of the Volvo XY from the office in the USA is better than the design of the YX from the office in China be.
I'm out of there. It finally becomes too arbitrary for me. But I am enthusiastic about any cultural asset that I can still assign to a culture with my limited understanding. And I am grateful when an object/product makes it as easy for me as this thoroughly French Citroën.
Probably wasn't the only car of a certain purpose, but a very authentic one. Authenticity is in short supply today. Arbitrariness an export hit. I discovered a restaurant for Japanese pizza long ago. I will stubbornly refuse this!
Greatly written! I recognize myself in almost every sentence.
The Visa I was pretty weird and everything, but not pretty 😉
But I can hear the sound of the boxer engines in my ears when I read the text now. This is once again a journey back in time to very early childhood. Thanks for that!
Very interesting! Before SAAB, we drove Citroëns as a family for a long time. I always found the design, the powerful boxer engines and later naturally aspirated V6 engines, and the extravagant operation to be great. Our first one - a GSA - had two control satellites (right and left of the steering wheel). I thought they were great and I was surprised that no other manufacturer imitated them. I also thought the mouse cinema and magnifying glass were great back then.
However, the visa was never my case.
Unfortunately, the beautiful design of the large models has been lost in recent years.
Kind of a shame!
Can it be a coincidence or is it a logical consequence? I think the latter.
Citroën, Lancia and of course Saab, my three “car loves” are becoming more and more of a topic on the blog. Good thing, I really like it!
I grew up with Citroën, everything up to a CX was represented. Of course, I started with Citroën, moved on to Lancia Delta and then eventually arrived at Saab (in between there was a large Volvo station wagon, because of the children).
As I said, a logical consequence for me. For me, Citroën, Saab and Lancia are on the same page.
I can't say the same with Lancia, but there are certainly parallels with Citroën. We always have/have had a Citroën in the family, more recent models. There is obviously a connection with Saab, probably because both brands were never 100% mainstream.
...I didn't dare to write anything yesterday, my first thought was “Citroen can be ugly too”, but bizarre is better!
You can write (almost) anything here 😉
But it's bizarre. The first revision to make the visa compatible for the majority came quickly!
Since I couldn't decide between two very bizarre automobiles at the time, there was the first personal car duel of my life: Talbot Samba Cabrio versus Citroën Visa Plein Air. The Samba won. On the one hand, it may be due to a strange Talbot tradition in my family - yes, Tagora was there too. On the other hand, it felt like the “better car”. I found them both incredibly charming. Especially in direct comparison with the small cars of the time.