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Citroën pulled out of the North American market in the 1970s, due to US regulations that required headlights maintained a consistent height. Since their suspen
by Svip 1y ago
Citroën pulled out of the North American market in the 1970s, due to US regulations that required headlights maintained a consistent height. Since their suspensions allowed them to raise and lower their height, there was no way they could be compliant without massive changes to their system. Besides, the Citroën network was not big in the US anyway, and since the DS had few facelifts in its 20 years in production, it was falling out of favour with US consumers who didn't want to be seen driving yesteryear's car.
Their build quality is fine, at least contemporarily to the rest of the market; of course today, we would find its steel pitiful. It's not without reason that people who maintain Citroëns of that era tend to replace the panels with fibreglass ones.
Additionally, as Citroën pulled out, the maintenance network in North America began to falter, as the suspension system required significant know-how. There are still a dedicated group of Citroën fans in North America (albeit small), and I met a lot of them when I drove from coast to coast (and back again) back in 2017 in a 1998 Citroën Xantia. A car that may not seem particularly interesting to Europeans (although it was the Activa V6 model), but it was extremely rare in North America.
- branko_d 1y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_test "It is noteworthy that the previous record holder (set in 1999) was the Citroën Xantia 3.0i V6 Activa, an unassuming family car with a unique active roll bar system.[15]"
- Onavo 1y agoThey should have just lobbied the government instead.
- Svip 1y agoCitroën? A French auto-maker lobbying the US government so they can stay on the US market? Besides Citroën was basically always about to go bankrupt before Peugeot bought them in 1976. Buying Maserati and building the SM had not turned into the success they had hoped for.
- lotsofpulp 1y ago> 1970s, due to US regulations that required headlights maintained a consistent height. Were headlights bouncing up and down a problem back then? Sounds so ridiculous, especially considering there is no regulation about the headlights’ actual height/color/intensity/angle, which causes many drivers to blind others these days.
- p_l 1y agoThe point of the regulation was to kick Citroen off the market
- Svip 1y agoUnfortunately, I cannot find an actual source for this ban. So many sites repeat the claim, but with no citation. So now I am not even sure it's true. I tried searching NHTSA's website, but it's kind of a mess. I do know, that Citroën pulled out in 1974 from the US. The CX, released the year after, was never sold in the US, and the last year of the SM, which was popular in the US, only saw sales in Europe.
- lloeki 1y agoThere absolutely is, at least in the EU. You can have any colour, as long as it's 6000-ish K. In France, every two years you gotta have your car legally checked. Misaligned headlights is ground for not passing, or being fined if the police notices it in between. Ever since high power Xe headlights are a thing, headlight leveling is mandatory to be automatic.