The Citroën Activa and Activa 2 were two
concept cars
A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...
produced by the
French manufacturer
Citroën
Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
as a means to test and to showcase features intended for future use in their production cars. Both were unveiled at the
Paris Motor Show
The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...
in 1988 and 1990 respectively.
The name ''Activa'' was later used to refer to the production
Xantia fitted with Activa suspension.
Overview
Among the features seen on the Activa models was the electronically controlled
hydropneumatic
Hydropneumatic devices (or hydro-pneumatic devices) are systems that operate using water and gas. The devices are used in various applications.
Description
A hydropneumatic device is a tool that functions by using water and gas. ''Hydropneumati ...
suspension (known as the "
Hydractive" system) combined with an
active anti-roll bar. This married Citroën's famous hydropneumatic suspension system to sophisticated
electronics
Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
, enabling the
handling of the car to automatically adapt to how it was being driven as well as 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 to become available to the public 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 active suspension.
Activa 1
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
A navigation system is a computing system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling (for example, on the ship's bridge) or located elsewhere, making use of radio or oth ...
. In addition, the Activa 1 featured electronically operated doors which 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 at 6000 rpm and of torque at 3600 rpm, coupled to a 4-speed automatic transmission. This gave the Activa 1 a claimed top speed of .
[
]
Activa 2
The Activa 2 was considered for production as a successor to the SM, but it was eventually decided that Citroën's image would make it too hard to compete with prestigious marques such as Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
and Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...
in the grand touring
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving with performance and luxury. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement ...
market. The Activa 2 was a fully functional prototype, based on the XM's bottom plate and equipped with the same 24-valve, 3-liter V6 engine and four-speed automatic transmission which had also been used on the Activa 1. Claimed top speed increased to . The prototype was mainly built by Bertone, who possessed the expertise to build running prototypes.[ The Activa 2 was test driven by journalists in period, as part of a push to build excitement about the Hydractive suspension.
]
References
External links
Forum Xantia Activa Club
Xantia Activa Club de France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Citroen Activa
Activa