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Last Auto account – Q&A with Citroen artist Bertrand Dantec Citroen’s Chief of Project Architecture talks to us about how he sees the approaching of the French firm’s architecture unfolding.

Citroen bent anybody by abruptness if the Survolt was apparent at the Geneva Motor Show –  how does it fit with added abolitionist concepts like the Revolte and GTbyCitroen?

GTbyCitroen was an exercise in appearance for a video bold (Gran Turismo 5), admitting this car is an exercise in appearance and a artistic class for new technology, area we can analysis and analyze new powertrains, agnate to Formula One.     

The architecture has elements of both antecedent concepts, but seems added applied and beneath cosmetic. Were the changes to the Survolt added about acceptable its on-track achievement and beneath about looks?  

The ambition was to alloy the feminine elements of the architecture with its antic and achievement character. Agnate to admixture affable area you mix two altered capacity calm and get something even bigger – that was the aim. The car you saw in Geneva had already been into the wind adit to appearance the aerodynamics. Even admitting it was alone a appearance car, the abstraction was already there that we would see it on the track.      

How abundant of the technology on lath is aggregate with assembly models?

When we physique cars like this we consistently aim to be at the acid edge, like in Formula One, but rather than demography absolute parts, we apprentice a lot from experience, and yield that advanced into boilerplate models. Making this car has been amazing, and application electricity like this, and ambidextrous with batteries has helped with the development of the C-Zero, which will arise out afore the end of the year.

The Survolt is advised for racing, and has already done laps at Le Mans, what can you acquaint us about the rumours that there are affairs for a one-make chase series?

At this point, annihilation is possible. I accept heard this rumour as well, and although it is abundant to brainstorm thirteen Survolts lined up calm on the starting filigree for a race, the botheration is money, even this one car was actual expensive. That was not the aboriginal aim with the car though, still it is possible, as this is a real, alive car, you can dream.     

Away from the abstruse side, what elements of the architecture can we apprehend to see clarification down to Citroen’s assembly cars in the future?

There are beheld data that already arise on some of our cars, the DS3 has the aforementioned air intakes in the foreground bumper, and the accompanying curve on beanie are important to the attending too, but as for the lights and the grille, they ability arise in the future, but not today. If designers physique a car like this they are chargeless to do what they want, and colleagues ability yield altered things from the design, but some of it is too big-ticket or too complicated to accomplish production.  

The Survolt fabricated a big appulse at Geneva, accept you got any added surprises in abundance for us at the Paris show?     

The abruptness at Paris will be that humans will in fact be able to drive this car, we are alive on it at the moment and finalising the data and the set-up, but as this car is still actual new, we charge to yield it advanced afore we alpha alive on something new. Still, the alone way to accomplish abiding it to arise to Paris and acquisition out! 

“It is like an aeroplane, Le Mans was the analysis flight. It sounds like a even at speed. Underneath the physique all the mechanicals are absolutely beautiful, locations distinctively advised or brought in from aerospace projects.”