Russ's 2.1 SED Auto now in Mandarin

[Dean]

Canted straight 6, supercharged. The rest as you suggest.

I would buy one at 10 years old, just got to convince some mug to buy it new and we are onto a winner.

D

[russ92xmsed]

I like it... With painted calipars of course. Extra bhp's.

If Citroen would take it rallying... Then more chance it would have sold maybe. A French quattro....

[Dean]

If the period rumours were written down correctly I think the XM was expected (be the motoring media) to be an Activa2 in a slightly different dress, 4ws+4WD V6 Activa anti roll, heads up display etc etc, I also seem to remember the XM was planned to be released later with 4WD but due to low sales further development of the model was ditched.

D

[russ92xmsed]

Yes apparently so. I would love to know if that was the actual plan. Very modern thinking really, classic Citroen.
It could have been fantastic or fantastically unreliable. But really for the time that was a lot to expect form a production car.
We were probably quite lucky to get hydractive.

It's interesting as Peugeot seemed to nail the all wheel drive with the 405. The BX 4x4 seemed to be forgotten. A 4x4 XM would have been very interesting indeed.

[Dean]

The original XM design was not approved and when it was discovered what Citroen had been up to it was destroyed, early designs right up to late in the design process the XM was to have six headlamps but that SM design cue was dropped, shame.
The jap's got the same sort of spec nailed down with the soarer, prelude and one other I forget. If Citroen had done it though it would have been released too early and suffered major problems, mind you if it was an unquestionable marvel the buying public would of forgiven it.

D

[russ92xmsed]

It was a strange attitude to do that. It's not unknown for designers to go ahead and squirrel project money aside and make their own designs happen. It happened to the land rover discovery. Designed in complete secret.

It did though look quite Peugeot like the first xm concept....Maybe Peugeot nicked some design elements. Art Blakeslee, head of Citroen design, got wind of it apparently and ordered it to be destroyed. why? would have thought you could use it to develop the project. Or maybe they knew they wanted to use Bertone..... Mmmm
One of my big regrets was to not meet Geoff Matthews properly. He was at Coventry when I was there, and he suposidly 'finished off' the XM design. Something I didn't know then.

Citroen should have teamed up with a Japanese company to sort out the tech. Would have been an amazing car then.
What might have been....

[Dean]

If there had been a jap pairing then you could guarantee Citroen would do the mechanicals and the Japanese would do the styling
I think Citroen were flat out told "no more crazy Citroen stuff!" And then they are found mocking up some more crazy Citroen stuff but who knows.

D

[raynoon]

Didn't Nissan and Alfa Romeo get together to create what should have been an absolute belter of a car? Only Nissan did the styling and Alfa provided the mechanicals...

[raynoon]

It was 1983, and Alfa Romeo had just launched the Arna, an acronym for “Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli”. The Arna was essentially a N12 series Nissan Pulsar / Cherry with the engine, transmission and front suspension from Alfa’s popular if rust-prone Alfasud. Built in Alfa’s new Pratola Serra factory near Naples, the Arna had the mechanical reliability of the Alfasud and all the style and grace of the Cherry.

In other words, it was a dog.

Although it was available with either of Alfa’s 1.2L or 1.5L flat-four boxer engines, the fact remains that it was a dull Japanese hatchback built by the same uncaring, unionized Italian labour force that had built the Alfasud. In one final irony, the Arna was (deported) exported to Japan as the Nissan Pulsar Milano, probably giving the Japanese peoples their first (and last) taste of ‘80s Italian engineering.

The Arna died a quiet death in 1987, replaced with the Pininfarina-designed Alfa Romeo 33. The 33 was by no means a great car, though after the Arna, many Alfaistas would have welcomed an yearly rail pass with open arms. Nissan continued to sell the Cherry / Pulsar in Europe, though never met great success in Europe’s highly competitive subcompact car market until the launch of the K11 Micra in 1992. For both manufacturers, the Arna was a miserable failure, remembered only by auto watchers such as yours truly.

[russ92xmsed]

If there had been a jap pairing then you could guarantee Citroen would do the mechanicals and the Japanese would do the styling
I think Citroen were flat out told "no more crazy Citroen stuff!" And then they are found mocking up some more crazy Citroen stuff but who knows.

D

Yes that is exactly what would have happened.. Bland box with amazing mechanicals. Car companies never listen to the actual people who want to buy them!
Once again, smacks of Peugeot putting their foot down. Also it is known Jaques Calvet who ran Citroen was anti DS and 2CV. So it was a miracle the XM was made at all in the way it was.



Ray, quite a few years ago, there used to be an Alfa Arna that parked round the corner. It was brown. Enough said!