n January 1991, the Citroën company took a decisive step that would bring it access to the heart of the European market.
By launching the ZX, Citroën plugged the gap in its range between the AX and the BX. At last it could accede to the M1 segment, the most desirable category in Europe. The Xsara, launched at Frankfurt in September, is destined to 
take over from the ZX. It therefore has the onerous task of cultivating the acknowledged qualities of the ZX and correcting its weaknesses. It was in this spirit that the brief for project ‘N6’ was drafted in 1992. First off, Citroën product planning decided that the ZX was not going to be reworked and that its replacement would benefit from totally new styling.
At the same time, they set to work on simultaneously developing the three bodywork types that, within its first six months of life, would constitute the ‘N6’ range: the three- and five-door saloons and the estate. They also knew the programme would have to be completed in a relatively short time span: 196 weeks. To do so, Citroën’s Centre de Création assembled a suitable team (with about a dozen designers) around Donato Coco, responsible for the B and M1 segments at Citroën, under the direction of Arthur Blakeslee.
The computer was also a precious ally in accelerating the development process. To the ZX’s credit, there were all its formidable dynamic qualities. On the down side, the bonnet area was one of the car’s perfectible points. So it was in these two directions that the product planners, then the design people, first turned. Among the other constraints, they also had to take into account the imperatives that characterised design – and still do – in our fin de siècle: an awareness of perceived quality, a sense of robustness and the rationalisation of production.
The first, unfettered, pencil strokes were sketched during 1992. With the drafting of a precise brief, the research focused on more realistic projects. The brief imposed one major constraint: aware of the track-to-wheelbase ratio that had generated such unanimously appreciated dynamic qualities, the ZX replacement had to stick to the same basic dimensions. The hard points of the package, the mechanical setup and the ergonomic approach had to remain virtually unchanged from one model to the next. Departing from there, the stylists nevertheless had to increase the capacity of the boot and optimise the interior space of what was yet to be named the ‘Xsara’.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 107
