Goodbye to 60 years of innovation: PSA weighs the end of hydropneumatic suspension

PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) has always been characterised by the significant technological content of its models, for several decades now.

Citroën has been a great exponent of that technology, offering numerous innovations in its most representative launches from the very beginning.

One element that has always identified Citroën has been hydropneumatic suspension, an innovation launched on the market 61 years ago with the 1954 Traction Avant 15H, whose rear axle was fitted with a hydropneumatic system that also allowed its height to be adjusted.

Over the years, Citroën’s hydropneumatic system was refined, being fitted to numerous models from both Citroën and Peugeot, such as the Citroën DS, GS, BX, Xantia, XM, C5 or C6, or the Peugeot 405 Mi16 4X4.

In the brand’s most recent models, the C5 and C6, the system was already electronically controlled, so that comfort and stability were beyond doubt, offering a level noticeably superior to that of other models in their respective segments. However, it seems that this brilliant idea has reached its end within PSA, which will almost certainly stop using it once the current C5 disappears.

This is mainly due to the high manufacturing cost of this system, which in principle could have been fitted to models in the DS range, at least the DS 5, the spiritual successor to Citroën’s flagship models. However, the current – and future – DS will fit a conventional suspension system.

At most, the incorporation of electronic damping systems capable of modifying their stiffness is expected, a solution that, although relatively popular in the automotive industry today, lacks the “charm” of the hydropneumatic system that has earned PSA so much praise over all these years.

Via | europe.autonews.com