September 14, 2009

Citroën Xantia

A little history

The Xantia received the difficult task of succeeding the BX in December 1992. Typically Citroën, the Xantia benefited from such features as a hydropneumatic suspension or an angular Bertone body, at a time when most of its rivals were graced by much more rounded lines. Sales started in March 1993 in a variety of 4-cylinder variants, with engines displacing from 1.6 to 2.0 litres. Diesel engines followed in June of the same year. Later, an estate would join the hatchback saloon (September 1995) and a 3.0-litre V6 would be added in January 1997.

In December 1997, the Xantia received a mid-life facelift. Thereafter, the mid-range Citroën remained roughly unchanged. In March 2001, the C5 hit the market, without replacing the whole Xantia range, of which a few models were built until October 2002. More than 1.2 million had been constructed by then, but production had started in Iran a few months before – it still continues today.

(This car’s history will be expanded in due time, please be patient.)

About the models

Model: Citroën Xantia 2.0i
Year: 1993
Maker: Universal Hobbies
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Atlas as no.30 of its Passion Citroën press series
Acquired: brand new, in October 2005, in Brive, France

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2 comments:

JDMike's Diecast Site said...

Its really great that we get to see these less known cars this side of the world, and thanks aslo for educating us with some infos on these beautiful collection of yours! :-)

lorenzo721 said...

Thanks JD. Actually, living here since a while myself I'm no longer as familiar with these cars as I used to be. In fact for the first few minutes after I posted this, there was also in this post a Xsara estate that I mistook for a Xantia - I hastily removed it, but I have to admit that even they're cars from my own country, I sometimes have trouble recognizing them now...