1988 Citroën Activa

The Citroën Activa and Activa 2 were two concept cars produced by the French manufacturer Citroën as a means to test and showcase features intended for future use in their production cars. Both were unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1988 and 1990. Activa was later used to refer to the production Xantia fitted with Activa suspension.

Among the features seen on the Activa models was the electronically controlled hydropneumatic suspension (known as the "Hydractive" system) combined with an active anti-roll bar. This married Citroën's famous hydropneumatic suspension system to sophisticated electronics, enabling the handling of the car to automatically adapt to how it was being driven and virtually eliminating body roll (one of the main criticisms of Citroën's hydropneumatic system was the amount of body roll). The Hydractive system was soon available first in Citroën's XM model 1989 and Xantia model 1993. In 1995 Activa prototypes' active anti-roll bar was introduced in the Xantia Activa, making it one of the few production cars to have an active suspension.

The Activa 1 included full hydraulically connected, single wheel independent four-wheel steering, anti-lock brakes, and traction control, which were high-tech for the time, while the Activa 2 was more conventional, except the anti-roll-system and featured a center console keypad instead of a gear lever and a navigation system. In addition, the Activa 1 featured electronically operated doors that could all be opened at once using a remote control. Mechanically, the Activa 1 was powered by a 3.0L SOHC PRV 24 valve V6 engine producing 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp) at 6000 rpm and 260 N⋅m (192 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 3600 rpm, coupled to a 4-speed automatic transmission. This gave the Activa 1 a claimed top speed of 136 mph (219 km/h).

The Activa 2 was considered for production as a successor to the SM. Still, it was eventually decided that Citroën's image would make it too hard to compete with prestigious marques such as Mercedes-Benz and Porsche in the luxury 2-seat coupe market.

Sources: "Citroën Activa concept car". www.citroenet.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-11-21; "Activa 1". Citroën Origins. Retrieved 2019-11-21.

Images: Concept Car Central; www.citroenet.org.uk