It takes a good 12 months at least to develop a concept car – the French marque Citroen is no exception either. But for once they’ve put their automotive building creative brains in overdrive and designed a concept chariot in collaboration with Pathé, Trésor Films, and the Editions Albert René in just three months.
The one-off four-wheeled machine built for the upcoming movie “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” is set to be released on 23 February 2023 in France and then later in spring 2023 exclusively on Netflix.
Designer: Citroen
For those who don’t know, this movie will be the adaptation of a cult classic French comic book series from 1959 called “Asterix.” Over time the 15 film and cartoon series has amassed 25 million viewers and 70 million worldwide. Citroen has chosen the iconic 2CV family car (produced between 1948 and 1990) as the inspiration for this concept. Those who know what I’m talking about will immediately find a resemblance of the rear section of 2CV in the concept chariot. The body of the chariot is crafted out of solid oak and the mythical sunroof from lutece canvas. The brand’s logo too gets the classic treatment in the shape of Astreix helmet wings.
For the wheels, Citroen decided to stick with repurposed shields and interestingly, the suspension is made from a pair of boar guts. Another highlight for me is the design of firefly headlights fitted on the roof. Other than that, the chariot has intricate motifs from the famous film series. According to Pierre Leclercq, Citroën’s Global Design Director, the two French legends “had the most amazing time working on this project. The result is an ode to the 2CV, the legendary car that represents Citroen in all its glory.”
A responsible aspect of the whole movie creation is the fact that Citroen was generous enough to lend their fleet of 10 electric cars (including three ë-C4, three C5 Aircross PHEV, two ë-Spacetourer, one Ami, and one ë-Jumpy) to be used by the film crew during shooting. Even the costumes were recycled and reused to minimize the movie’s impact on the planet. According to the crew use of recycled cardboard saved two tons of wood. This obviously, as a part of the ongoing decarbonization efforts going worldwide to safeguard the tormented environment.
