The Citroën Prototype C was a range of prototype vehicles created by

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 ...

from 1955 to 1956 under the direction of

André Lefèbvre André Lefèbvre (19 August 1894 – 4 May 1964) was a French automobile engineer. André René Lefèbvre was born in Louvres, France (North of Paris, Val d'Oise). He began his career as an aviation engineer working for Voisin, then later for ...

. The idea was to produce a water-drop-shaped, very lightweight vehicle that would be more modern and smaller than the 2CV. One of the prototypes, the Citroën C10, has survived and is still owned by

. The overall look of the vehicle was quite similar to the

Messerschmitt Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in parti ...

bubble car Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...

. It was equipped with the same 425 cc engine as the 2CV. The vehicle was nicknamed the Citroën Coccinelle ( French for ladybug).

References

Prototype C Cars powered by boxer engines {{Classicpow-auto-stub sv:Citroën Prototype C