Citroën has always been a car maker that’s
charted a different course with car design. It’s meant that several times they’ve
been ahead of the curve on technical innovations. By getting a steal on the competition, there
was always a feeling that if they could shake off some of their weirder parts of their car
design, they could finally break into the mainstream large car market with a superior
product. The BX was a car that had as good a shot as
any of Citroën’s previous cars of making that transition. As they said in their marketing
material, it had “originality without being eccentric”. It was their chance to show
to parent Peugeot just what they could do when they combined reliable parts from the
Peugeot parts bin with Citroën’s innovation. So, did it catapult Citroën into the mainstream,
or was it just a big flop? This is the Citroën BX Story. (music) Citroën launched the innovative GS in 1970, but even before it had launched, they’d
been looking at ideas for its replacement. A few models were produced, but Citroën’s
lack of finances in the early 1970s and bankruptcy in 1975 put paid to any serious development
work. After it was acquired by Peugeot, money was available to fund a replacement. By 1977
some early mock-ups were produced, but work began in earnest in 1978. The team realised
the importance of this project – dubbed “XB” – it would be the first wholly
developed Citroën since the Peugeot takeover, so a lot was riding on its success. The new
car needed to win over customers who’d been put off by the eccentricities of some of their
previous cars. The suspension would use Citroën’s now
tried and trusted hydropneumatic system that gave a smooth, magic carpet-like ride. The
rear suspension system would be based on the GS’s, but the front would eschew the GS’s
double wishbone’s for a less expensive MacPherson strut setup.
The engines would be sourced from Peugeot’s parts bin – the 1.4L from an earlier Peugeot/Renault
partnership that was used in the Peugeot 104 and Renault 14, and would be used in the upcoming
Citroën Visa, and the brand new 1.6L engine that would also appear in the Peugeot 205.
The chassis would be all-new. Peugeot would use it for the 405, and some of the early
designs for the project XB would have a hint of the 405 about it.
Although Citroën had produced their own styling concepts, they turned to Marcello Gandini
from the Bertone design house. Gandini had already created a similar shape for the 1977
Reliant FW11, meant for Turkish production by the Otosan car company. It ended up being
too expensive to produce, so Gandini had shopped it around to Volvo as the Tundra concept two
years later. Although it had lots of sharp edges that you would have thought would have
appealed to boxy Volvo, they passed on it, calling it too modern and difficult to sell.
Well, the words “Modern” and “difficult to sell” described Citroën’s cars to
a tee, so they took one look at Gandini’s Volvo design and said, “we’ll have a bit
of that!”. But the design is only the start of the process. It also needs to be fuel efficient,
and that means having an aerodynamic shape. Despite the angular style, the car got a very
respectable drag coefficient of 0.34, better than the 0.36 of its predecessor. The aerodynamics
would be further improved with the hydropneumatic suspension that would keep the car level while
cornering. Those 1.4L and 1.6L engines also get better
fuel economy when a car weighs less. While rust defending galvanized steel would be used
in important structural and safety locations, the bumpers, bonnet, and tailgate would be
made of plastics and composites that would give the car a curb weight of just 870kg,
less than the GS despite having larger capacity engines, plus more safety and luxury features.
Even the fuel tank was made of thermoplastic polyethylene that meant it would melt rather
than explode in an accident. The interior would have many of the traditional
Citroën design elements, such as a “bathroom scale” style speedometer, a single wiper,
and manually cancelling indicators on a rocker switch. (music) The BX was launched in front of the Eiffel Tower in September 1982; the colours of Citroën
lighting up the famous monument, recalling the many years it was used as a large advertising
hording for the company. The 1.4L and 1.6L engines were mated to both 4 and 5-speed gearboxes
giving good, if not impressive performance. And the BX found itself in a crowded market.
In France alone it faced competition from Renault, Peugeot and Talbot, and parent PSA
who owned Talbot would stop selling the 1510 hatchback just to encourage more BX sales.
Competition from outside France was even greater, but being a popular category, Citroën was
confident that they could carve out a niche. A year later the first diesel engine appeared,
using the brand new 1.9L PSA engine that would appear in many of their vehicles, plus Lada’s,
Rover’s, Suzuki’s and Hyundai’s! Frugal diesels sold well in France, especially as
modern engines were quieter, started quicker, and filling up no longer meant having to go
eye to eye with an articulated lorry! The new engine would offer similar performance
as the entry level 1.4L engine while going almost 20% further on a full tank, and in
France diesel cost less. Sales of right-hand drive models began in
the UK, and the BX estate appeared, called the “Break”. This wouldn’t be built
by Citroën, but by French coachbuilder Heuliez, who would also go on to make the estate version
of the XM and Xantia in the 1990s. But despite selling 1M BXs by 1984, all wasn’t rosy.
Build quality issues at the Rennes factory meant that ¼ of all cars needed some sort
of rework before they could leave the factory. Power steering and an automatic gearbox became
options, with power steering being particular welcome with diesels. A slightly more powerful
1.6L engine was available, and a more powerful 1.9L GT model appeared that broke the 10 second
0-60 barrier. Publicity shots would show it in red, because as we all know, if it’s
red it must be fast! It also used standard dials that further removed some of that Citroën
quirkiness. More power would come in 1985 with the BX
Sport. It was one of the last mainstream cars to use carburettors rather than fuel injection
to boost performance, with the 121hp (90 kW) 1.9L engine getting to 60 in 8.4 seconds.
It included the obligatory 1980s body kit and rear carry handle that lowered the drag
a little, but also made the BX look a little bit cooler. Just a little bit anyway! If you’re
from the UK or Ireland and like me wondered why this car passed you by, it was only available
as a left-hand drive model. Reviewers liked the performance but weren’t that impressed
with the handling – something they’d been dinging the BX on ever since it launched.
The GT went digital with the BX Digit. It featured an all-electronic instrument cluster,
on board computer, uprated car stereo, and “DIGIT” letters on the dashboard to remind
you which model you’d bought. Something of a novelty at the time, it included remote
door locking. Like the Sport, this was a limited-edition model of just a few thousand cars.
Since the BX had been first developed, other shapes had been considered, such as a saloon
and a coupé that included this design that looks like it didn’t have any brakes judging
from the rock that’s been carefully put underneath the front wheel! Releasing a BX
coupé was still being considered as late as 1985, but the ultimate decision was to
stick with just the hatchback and the estate. Coachbuilder Heuliez would propose a 3-door
estate as the Dyana, with longer front doors for rear access. It really seemed to be a
solution looking for a problem, but Heuliez would convert regular 5-door BX estates into
vans or emergency vehicles. To help promote the BX, plans were put in
place to take it rallying. The work would be a collaboration between Citroën’s motorsports
team and Heuliez, who would not only build the rally cars, but the 200 homologation cars
that would be sold to the public. The car, dubbed the 4TC, would use the SM’s 5-speed
gearbox, and would be longer than the regular BX as the turbo charged 2.1L engine was mounted
longitudinally. Performance from the hydropneumatic rally
car was disappointing, with its best position being 6th in Sweden, and it often broke down.
Like the regular BX, the 4TC suffered from handling problems, with the front overhang
causing balance problems while cornering. Sales of the 200 homologation cars was also
disappointing, with just 86 sold and many of them were purchased back from the owners
because of embarrassing reliability issues. What wasn’t disappointing was the performance,
with a top speed of 137mph (220 km/h) and a 0-60 of just 7.1 seconds.
Citroën would team up with the Bertone design house once more for an updated reimagining
of the BX; the Zabrus concept. It used the 4TC and its 2.1L turbocharged engine as a
starting point, plus four-wheel drive in a shortened hatchback body. Inside there was
a suitably futuristic dashboard, along with rotating seats covered in kangaroo hide, probably
not something that would make it into mass production given the amount of kangaroo farms
that would be required to make it work! The Zabrus contained design elements that
would appear in the XM that would appear just a few years later. But instead of getting
an exciting update like the Zabrus, in 1986 the BX was only given a slight styling update.
You’d be forgiven if you didn’t see any changes on the outside. If you looked closely,
you’d see new wing mirrors, slightly more flared front wheel arches and new front indicators.
Inside it was a different matter. The last of the Citroën eccentricities had been vanquished,
a sign that PSA’s designers were now firmly in control. Engines were updated, with the
old 1.4L Douvrin engine updated for the brand-new TU engine that would be used in many PSA vehicles,
and a new 1.9L diesel. An interesting addition was the tiny 1.1L engine that was added for
markets such as Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal that gave tax breaks for smaller
engines, but it left the BX somewhat underpowered. The sporty models got fuel injected, with
the GTi 16V or 16 Soupapes in French. It was the first French car to get 16 valves, leaning
heavily on technology from the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 rally car, and the 1.9L engine propelled
the car to 60 in almost 8 seconds, and on to 137mph (220 km/h). Handling was much better,
and it bested the Peugeot 405 Mi 16 around the test track. The GTi would upstage the
4TC by performing much better in rallying, coming 2nd in the 1993 Swedish International
Rally. Sporty petrol engines are all very well, but
the BX caught my attention when they launched the 1988 BX Turbo Diesel. It seemed to mark
a coming of age for diesel engines with a car that could get to 60mph in almost 10 seconds,
yet still get close to 50mpg (40mph US, 6.7l / 100km). Finally, you could have your cake
and eat it, so long as you didn’t mind your cake sounding a bit like a truck. BX diesels
already sold well, and this encouraged even more sales, making it the UK’s best-selling
diesel. There’s a good reason why the BX was the Caravan Club’s “Towcar of the
year” more than once! The BX launched the same year Ford’s jelly
mould Sierra appeared. Although the shape was ridiculed at the time, the rounded lines
would start a shift away from straight edged designs like that of the BX, and by the late
80s it was looking dated. But there was life in the old dog yet! The
BX had its obligatory 1980s GTi model, and it was followed up with the equally obligatory
4WD version, and of course a GTi 4x4 version in 1989. But by now the BX’s days were numbered,
being replaced by the smaller ZX in 1990 and the larger Xantia in 1992, both much more
sensible than its slightly eccentric parent. The BX soldiered on with sports models such
as the 1990 1.9L GTi with an 8-value engine, and various close-out specials.
Heuliez was clearly thinking there was still some life in the BX when in 1990 they released
the two-seater fun 4x4 off-roader based on the BX chassis that they dubbed the “Scarabée
d’Or” or Golden Beetle. It was like the sort of thing Suzuki was doing with their
Vitara, but like many concept cars at auto shows it remained just a concept.
Back when development of the BX began with project XB, this was seen as an important
car to continue the Citroën brand. There was a real chance the brand could disappear
– PSA’s other purchase Talbot had effectively been retired by the mid-80s. The BX, and the
smaller AX went a long way in making the switch from Citroën’s range of eccentric mid-size
cars and upturned prams, to cars with more mainstream appeal that turned a profit. When
production ended in 1994 over 2.3M BXs had been produced in just 12 years. The BX lost
many of the quirky features that made it unique, but it gained many new fans to the Citroën
brand that’s still alive today. Look, you’ve been sitting in front of YouTube
for way too long. The dishes haven’t been done, you haven’t called great aunt Ethel,
and the bed isn’t going to make itself. You could click on the videos on my right,
but is it really the right thing to do? Is it? Is it?
