C5 production to end

[Dean]

I think its advances in refinement, chassis construction and suspension that has closed the gap hugely between a hydrocit and a run of the mill coiler, the benifits arent there to outweigh the risks/cost of hydraulics. The people have voted with their cheque books and whether they prefer hydo or not, Citroen can sell the same numbers without having to produce what must be an expensive to manufacture product.

Shame.

D

[White Exec]

Have to agree with Dean.

Makes you wonder, just counting recent history, the BX, Xantia and C5 were vastly popular, and commercially viable you would assume. It was only when non-hydropneumatic cars began being offered that buyers wanted them. But the hydropneumatic cars sold well for decades before that came about, so were commercially successful.

I do wonder sometimes just how many buyers of these extremely popular Citroens were actually aware they were hydraulically run.

In the case of the BX, it was (especially in the UK) so phenomenally successful, that if sales had been limited to fluid-aware customers, the pool of buyers would have dried up pretty quickly. Citroen today is hugely successful as a brand, but, numerically, most buyers have probably never given a thought to how their suspensions work; such things are just taken for granted.

Also, the selling price of new small-medium cars is staying pretty well static, and actually falling in many cases. This is happening at the same time that engines, transmissions and electronics become increasingly complicated and parts-numerous. So Will is right: if you want a luxury barge, with all the latest creature comforts (even more component hungry) you are going to have to pay very heavily for it. Range Rover was an early player in the climb to some really serious money for its best models, and you have to be prepared to produce something quite special (although not necessarily absolutely reliable, as LR have shown) if you are going to sell decent numbers in that market segment.

Not sure that PSA really operate in that arena - regrettably. They are, in any case, principally geared up now to high-volume production, and not to the kind of bespoke building that you can still see at JLR.

It would be good to see even some part of PSA showing signs of taking a lead on real technological innovation, but maybe the habit of breakthrough R&D, once exemplified by Citroen, has already gone. Such expertise, and the habit of it, is easily lost, if not invested in. Profits, for shareholders, can exit the back door by the truck-load, reducing R&D budgets and threatening a company's future.

I would like to be surprised by a turnaround of events, but am not encouraged. Simply knocking out a few "me too" hybrids just won't do: anyone can do that. There are lessons to be learned from Nissan and Tesla, and Renault have obviously got there first.