Q&A with Citroen designer Bertrand Dantec

Text: Paul Bond / Photos: Nathan Morgan

30th July 2010

Citroen caught everyone by surprise when the Survolt was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show –  how does it fit with other radical concepts like the Revolte and GTbyCitroen?

GTbyCitroen was an exercise in style for a video game (Gran Turismo 5), whereas this car is an exercise in style and a creative laboratory for new technology, where we can test and explore new powertrains, similar to Formula One.     

The design has elements of both previous concepts, but seems more practical and less cosmetic. Were the changes to the Survolt more about enhancing its on-track performance and less about looks?  

The goal was to blend the feminine elements of the design with its sporting and performance character. Similar to fusion cooking where you mix two different ingredients together and get something even better – that was the aim. The car you saw in Geneva had already been into the wind tunnel to shape the aerodynamics. Even though it was only a show car, the idea was already there that we would see it on the track.      

How much of the technology on board is shared with production models?

When we build cars like this we always aim to be at the cutting edge, like in Formula One, but rather than taking direct parts, we learn a lot from experience, and take that forward into mainstream models. Making this car has been amazing, and using electricity like this, and dealing with batteries has helped with the development of the C-Zero, which will come out before the end of the year.

The Survolt is designed for racing, and has already done laps at Le Mans, what can you tell us about the rumours that there are plans for a one-make race series?

At this point, anything is possible. I have heard this rumour as well, and although it is great to imagine thirteen Survolts lined up together on the starting grid for a race, the problem is money, even this one car was very expensive. That was not the original aim with the car though, still it is possible, as this is a real, working car, you can dream.     

Away from the technical side, what elements of the design can we expect to see filtering down to Citroen’s production cars in the future?

There are visual details that already appear on some of our cars, the DS3 has the same air intakes in the front bumper, and the twin lines on bonnet are important to the look too, but as for the lights and the grille, they might appear in the future, but not today. When designers build a car like this they are free to do what they want, and colleagues might take different things from the design, but some of it is too expensive or too complicated to make production.  

The Survolt made a big impact at Geneva, have you got any more surprises in store for us at the Paris show?     

The surprise at Paris will be that people will actually be able to drive this car, we are working on it at the moment and finalising the details and the set-up, but as this car is still very new, we need to take it forward before we start working on something new. Still, the only way to make sure it to come to Paris and find out! 

“It is like an aeroplane, Le Mans was the test flight. It sounds like a plane at speed. Underneath the body all the mechanicals are really beautiful, parts specially designed or brought in from aerospace projects.”