From Citroën.com:
Citroën is unveiling C5 Airscape at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. This exceptional concept car is a new take on the most beautiful of vehicles, the cabriolet.
Does CarDesignFetish agree?
Oh, hellz yeah!
The C5 Airscape is what you would get if a VW Passat, BMW 6-Series, and Mercedes SL had a three-way: a vehicle that looks as fun to drive as it is sexy!
On with the crit, I say!
Exterior
The most noticeable feature on this vehicle is it’s bodyside. The almost Audi-like, taught horizontal ledge dives into the front wheel-arch and appears around the front of the vehicle, maintaining it’s speed and, uh, taught-ness. In fact, every line on this vehicle is taught, lending to it’s appearance as a pure sketch come to life. This is a cabriolet done right, and reminds us heavily of the TT concepts of the last few years.
The front end is kept extremely clean surface-wise, with nary a graphic break-up out of place. The headlamps look almost foreign in comparison to the rest of the vehicle, as they incorporate some of the graphic tricks we’ve come to love from European styling this millennium.
It’s very easy to understand why Citroën thinks that cabriolets (“convertibles” to us Amurikens) are the hottest vehicles. They put their effort into designing one that is an instant head-turner. The only gripes we would note are that the extremely large DLO creates a vacuous space when the top is up. Citroen have taken the approach to hide the majority of the interior when the top is down, except for the sliver of brown (why brown?!) that catches our eye.
Interior
Citroën didn’t release any great shots today of the interior of the Airscape, but we’ll take their word when they say:
Fully upholstered in dark brown leather, the cabin of C5 Airscape conveys an appealing impression of sophistication.
The particularly well designed seats suggest luxury and precision. The central section of the seats brings to mind the links of a watch strap, while the decorative stitching on the edges of the seats reinforces the taut, well-muscled look of the whole.
Final Verdict
Although this vehicle is nothing new, it does do a great job of summing up European design over the last 5 years:
Sexy, sleek, and sketched!
There are many Cintroens here in Germany. I am a little disapointed in their production vehicles.
Their concepts are so out there, but their production vehicles are so plain an ordinary……
This citroen is far more production looking than most of the “air” concepts citroen has released. They really did not do anything out of the ordinary of this concept. It would be safe to say its a very safe design, using existing surfacing and graphics on other company cars/concepts.
The rear looks similar to the audi’s: shooting break, q7, etc.
The surfacing is reminiscent of bmw’s, which is no suprise especially saying that everyone else is pretty much coping off them.
The overall proportions are still citroen from the front 3/4 view, but from the rear 3/4 you could replace the badge with a volkswagen or audi sign, and it wouldn’t be any different.
This concept is really horrible.