Citroen will stop selling cars equipped with its once-renowned hydropneumatic suspension system. Instead it's working on “new technologies” to ensure that a comfortable ride remains at the heart of the French brand's top models, CEO Linda Jackson told Automotive News Europe.
She declines to provide details on what Citroen plans next. Jackson's comments confirm a report last month that Citroen has decided to scrap the in-house suspension as part of wider cost-cutting measures launched under PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Carlos Tavares.
For decades, Citroen's upper-range models have had a linked suspension system in which conventional springs are replaced by nitrogen-filled spheres that are stiffened or softened using hydraulic fluid.
The system was the key to the famed soft ride of the Citroen DS launched in 1955 and the firm has used some variation of the system since then on its flagship models. The C5 midsize sedan and station wagon use a computer-controlled version of the system that Citroen calls Hydractive III.
The 7-year-old C5 is the final car to use the hydropneumatic suspension, Jackson said without saying when the next-generation C5 would arrive. She said the next C5 will be sold in China but its future in other markets, including Europe, is unclear.
'Old technology'
“Hydraulic suspension will cease because it is an old technology,” Jackson said, adding that future Citroens would provide comparably smooth rides by using new technology. “Comfort suspension is 100 percent part of our DNA,” she said.
Newer technology such as adaptive dampers and air suspensions have allowed automakers to incorporate the advantages of the hydropneumatic suspension such as adjustable stiffness and ride-heights at a lower cost.
