Citroën Axel

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Citroën
Citroën Axel (1984-1990)
Citroën Axel (1984-1990)
Axel
Production period: 1984-1990
Class : Small car
Body versions : Station wagon
Engines:
Petrol engines : 0.6–1.3 liters
(25–45 kW)
Length: 3732 mm
Width: 1538 mm
Height: 1430 mm
Wheelbase : 2370 mm
Empty weight : 875 kg

The Citroën Axel is a small car from the car manufacturer Citroën . It was sold in Western Europe from summer 1984 to 1988, with remaining copies available until 1991. The model was manufactured in Romania by Oltcit SA (1981-1991), the successor company Automobile Craiova (1991-1993) and the joint venture Daewoo Automobile (1994-1996). Apart from the vehicles imported to Western Europe by Citroën, this model was sold under the name Oltcit and later as Oltena (or Rodae Oltena ).

history

The vehicle was developed under the name "Project Y" (around 1974) by Citroën as a replacement for the Ami 8 , but was no longer realized after Peugeot had taken over Citroën . In France, instead of the Axel originally developed by Citroën itself, the Visa was developed and built on the platform of the Peugeot 104 .

The body looks very similar to that of the Citroën Visa , but has no identical parts . The chassis is also different: the new model had torsion bar springs.

Oltcit

After a pre-series of 100 pieces, production began in early 1982. The vehicle was built as an Oltcit Special and Oltcit Club . While the Special was powered by the small 2-cylinder boxer engine with 652 cm³ from the Visa, there was the Club with a 1,129 cm³ or 1,299 cm³ engine. The price in Romania was initially set at $ 5,500 (in foreign currency).

Export model Citroën Axel

The car was sold by Citroën in France, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy (but not in Germany , Great Britain , Scandinavia and Switzerland ) under the model name Axel from mid-1984 . The vehicle did not necessarily meet Western quality standards, but the price was very attractive: the basic version cost less than the Citroën 2CV . With the typical control satellite , the vehicle was recognizable as a Citroën.

The vehicle had the air-cooled four - cylinder boxer engine of the Citroën GS with 1129 cm³ and 41 kW (58 hp) in the Axel and Axel 11 R and with 1299 cm³ and 44 kW (61½ hp) in the Axel 12 TRS . On some markets was Entreprise version without rear rear seats offered as a commercial vehicle.

In 1988 Citroën informed the Romanian side that from now on they would neither deliver CKD kits nor buy finished vehicles. The joint venture had thus de facto failed at an early stage.

Production as Oltcit was now continued without French parts, which was further detrimental to the quality.

Other variants

In 1985, four copies of the Oltcit were made, which were equipped with the engine of the Dacia 1400 and called Olda . They should be the basis of any export business to Canada. However, the venture failed. A year later (1986) two convertibles were custom-made. In 1989 a version with four doors called Oltina was presented at the Bucharest trade fair , but series production did not follow due to the political upheavals. After the privatization of the company, Automobile Craiova SA manufactured the previous model under the new name Oltena . From 1993 there was a pick-up version ( Oltcit Club 12 CS ). After the company was taken over by Daewoo Automobile , the vehicle received a facelift and was henceforth marketed as Rodae Oltena .

Quantities

A total of 60,184 Axels were produced, 48,000 of them with the 11-series engine, the rest as 12TRS.

The information on the number of units, however, varies widely. Some sources cite 28,115 copies of the Axel sold (in France), while another source puts vehicles sold in Western Europe at just 13,175.

literature

  • Thijs van der Zanden: Citroën Axel: la cousine de craiova . Citrovisie, Eindhoven 2012, ISBN 978-90-815208-0-5 .

Web links

Commons : Citroën Axel  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Oltcit  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernard Vermeylen: Cars from the Eastern Bloc . Delius Klasing publishing house, Bielefeld, ISBN 978-3-7688-3149-9 , pp. 102-106
  2. ↑ a b Luminita Gatejel: A Socialist-Capitalist joint venture: Citroën in Romania during the 1980s . In: The Journal of Transport History . tape 38 , no. 1 , 2017, p. 70-87 ( sagepub.com ).
  3. ↑ citroenvisa.net: Oltcit, Axel and Oltena ( Memento of February 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ↑ Citroënët: Oltcit and Axel (English)
  5. ↑ Olda: les Canadiens en étaient tombés amoureux! In: sovietauto.fr. Retrieved November 29, 2018 (French).
  6. ^ Oltcit Club Cabriolet: roumaine découvrable. In: boitierrouge.com. October 31, 2016, accessed November 16, 2018 (French).
  7. ↑ Bernard Vermeylen: Cars from the Eastern Bloc . Verlag Delius Klasing, Bielefeld, ISBN 978-3-7688-3149-9 , p. 106
  8. ^ Citroën Axel. In: lautomobileancienne.com. September 6, 2018, accessed November 22, 2018 (French).
  9. ^ Oltcit Club / Axel: la dernière vraie Citroën. In: boitierrouge.com. April 4, 2014, accessed November 22, 2018 (French).
  10. ↑ Citroën VISA: Relatives from Romania and a bootleg from China. In: garage2cv.de. Retrieved November 22, 2018 .