The Oltcit Club was a supermini produced between 1984 and 1988 and developed in co-operation by Citroën of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Oltcit Oltcit S.A. () was an automobile manufacturer, established as a joint venture between the Romanian government (64%) and Citroën (36%). Their main products were the Oltcit Club and Citroën Axel hatchbacks, assembled in Craiova, Romania. Histo ...

, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

company with the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n government. They were powered by the air-cooled engines from the Citroën GS/GSA; the air-cooled flat-twin engine from the Citroën Visa used in the Romanian-market Oltcit Special was not installed in the export-only Citroën Axel.

Development history

From 1965

Robert Opron Robert Opron (22 February 1932 – 29 March 2021) was a French automotive designer. He created or collaborated on numerous projects that became production cars for brands that included Simca, Renault, and Fiat. He is best known for his work at ...

worked on the Citroën G-mini prototype and project EN101, a projected replacement for the 2CV using that car's flat twin engine. It was supposed to be launched in 1970. The advanced space-efficient designs, with very compact exterior dimensions and an aerodynamic drag co-efficient C_d of 0.32, were axed because of adverse feedback from potential clients. The more conservative final design has a Cd of 0.36 (for the Axel 12 TRS, 0.37 for the Axel 11). Citroen Olcit

The early seventies

Citroën Prototype Y The Citroën Prototype Y was a project to develop a replacement for the Citroën Ami, conducted by Citroën in the early seventies. It built on the Citroën G-mini and EN101 projects. It was superseded by project Citroën VD (VD standing for '' ...

, intended to replace the 2CV-based Citroën Ami which dated back to 1960, was originally developed in co-operation with Fiat. It built on the lessons from the Citroën G-mini and EN101 projects. It used the then new and advanced

Fiat 127 The Fiat 127 is a supermini car produced by Italian car manufacturer FIAT from 1971 to 1983. It was introduced in 1971 as the replacement for the Fiat 850. Production of the 127 in Italy ended in 1983 following the introduction of its replacemen ...

platform, featuring a transversely mounted engine driving the front wheels, with an end-on gearbox layout that Fiat had pioneered in the 1960s. When cooperation with Fiat ended, a new Citroën-designed platform was planned. After the takeover of Citroën by

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

in the wake of the 1974 oil crisis, the renamed "Projet VD (Voiture Diminuée)" became the

Citroën Visa The Citroën Visa is a five-door, front-engine, front wheel drive supermini manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1978 to 1988 in gasoline and diesel variants. 1,254,390 examples were ultimately manufactured over a single generation, with a ...

, incorporating the floor pan of the

Peugeot 104 The Peugeot 104 is a supermini designed by Paolo Martin and produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1972 and 1988. It was the first model produced at the company's Mulhouse plant. It was also the first new Peugeot introduced sin ...

and using the advanced 104 engine with the (under-engine) transmission and chassis. It was the first new model under the platform-sharing policy of

PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

that continues today. The earlier Citroën LN was no more than a facelift of the Peugeot 104Z "Shortcut" with a re-engine and transmission from the

Citroën Dyane The Citroën Dyane is an economy family car produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1967 to 1983. The Dyane's design remained almost completely based on the Citroën 2CV and its underpinnings, but at the same time received almost all ne ...

. Eventually, in 1981, the original Citroën platform design from "Project Y" emerged as an Oltcit in Romania, using a Citroën Visa flat-twin engine and

Citroën GS The GS is a front-engine, front-drive, four or five door, five passenger family car manufactured and marketed by Citroën in two series: for model years 1970-1979 in fastback saloon and estate bodystyles and subsequently as the GSA for model yea ...

-based gearbox, and Citroën GS flat-four engine and gearbox. Beginning in July 1984, it was also sold in Western Europe as the Citroën Axel. Citroën was hoping to recoup money that Citroën had invested in Romania that the communist government couldn't repay. The Axel had been scheduled for an earlier introduction, but Oltcit had been unable to provide either the quality or the quantity expected by their French partners. This project was problematic for Citroën due to productivity and build quality issues and 60,184 cars were made, even though the base models were priced below the 2CV in Western Europe. The Axel was never sold in the UK. When launched in France, Citroën acknowledged that the Axel was a competitor of their Visa. However, that the Axel only had three doors and was of a simpler, more robust design was considered enough to offset any possible loss of (already shrinking) Visa sales. The four-cylinder Axel 11 was 10 percent cheaper than a two-cylinder Visa in the French market. It also had a particularly low rear loading height, which, with its sturdy, basic construction, contributed to being particularly well received by farmers and denizens of smaller towns. In addition to the regular Axel, there was also a light commercial version with no rear seats available, called the "Axel Entreprise."

Production

The Oltcit Club carried on with the Prototype Y-derived design and was sold between 1981 and 1995. It was also sold in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and other markets, often badged as the

Citroën Axel The Oltcit Club was a supermini produced between 1984 and 1988 and developed in co-operation by Citroën of France and Oltcit, a joint venture company with the Romanian government. They were powered by the air-cooled engines from the Citroën G ...

. In 1991, as a result of the withdrawal of Citroën from the joint venture, the name of the manufacturing company was changed to

Automobile Craiova Oltena (officially ''S.C. Automobile Craiova S.A.'') was a Romanian car manufacturer formed in 1991 after the takeover of the Oltcit shares held by Citroën by the Romanian state. From 1994 and up until 2006, ''Automobile Craiova S.A.'' (''ACSA' ...

and production continued under the ''Oltena'' brand. After 1994, it was sold under the ''Rodae'' brand, when the company decided to go into partnership with Korean company

Daewoo Heavy Industries Doosan Enerbility Co., Ltd., formerly known as Doosan Heavy Industries, is a heavy industrial company headquartered in Changwon, South Korea. It was established in 1962. Its business includes manufacturing and construction of nuclear power p ...

(later Daewoo Motors).

Engines

Models

Oltcit-branded models

* Oltcit Special (652 cc) * Oltcit Club 11 (1129 cc) * Oltcit Club 12 TRS (1299 cc) *

Oltena Club 12 CS The Oltcit Club 12 CS is a small pick-up based on the Oltcit Club The Oltcit Club was a supermini produced between 1984 and 1988 and developed in co-operation by Citroën of France and Oltcit, a joint venture company with the Romanian gover ...

(pick-up version) (1299 cc)

Citroen-branded models

* Citroën Axel 11 R Entreprise (1129 cc) * Citroën Axel 11 R (1129 cc) * Citroën Axel 12 TRS (1299 cc) * Citroën Axel 12 TRS Entreprise (1299 cc)

References

External links

{{commons category, Oltcit Club
Oltcit (Citroen Axel)
in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

Oltcit, Oltena and Axel
at Citroenet Cars of Romania Subcompact cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Cars powered by boxer engines Hatchbacks 1980s cars 1990s cars Cars introduced in 1981 History of Craiova