Autoblog

The Citroen 2CV is already a unique-looking car, with Citroen's distinct mid-century-modern style and flair. The French auto could be considered the opening salvo in a styling onslaught that led to such heights of style as the DS. A regular 2CV could be considered a piece of art, and Andy Saunders saw his French runabout as a canvas for further experimentation. Inspired by Pablo Picasso, pieces of the CV were sliced, diced, moved hither and yon, and repainted to mimic the artist's 1937 portrait of Dora Maar. The car is street legal in England, and we can only imagine the double takes it garners as it motors on down the street. Nighttime visibility must be rather entertaining, with both headlamps on one side of the car, and since turn signals received similar treatment, you'd best know your hand signals if you don't want this art car to suddenly become a collaborative effort, painted by someone else's vehicle-shaped brush. Saunders's car was at Goodwood this year, and Autoblog photographer extraodinaire Frank Filliponio snagged a shot of it. Just like Picasso's work, this Citroen will garner diametrically opposed reactions, but love it or hate it, it is a brilliant homage to an artistic movement that was fresh and vibrant when this humpbacked, bug-eyed voiture first saw the light of day.

[Source: Caradisiac]

As part of the 22nd Annual International Automobile Festival, a team of judges has chosen its Most Beautiful Automobiles of the World for 2007, and no, the U.S. did not come home with a trunk of gold medals in this competition. We Americans will just have to be content with our two silvers.

On the other hand, many of the pageant-winning cars can actually be found on these shores.

List of winners after the jump.

Correction: Looks like I got my international "Most Beautiful Automobiles of the World" contests mixed up. The cars listed on the jump were chosen at the 14th Annual "L'Automobile più Bella del Mondo" competition, Oct. 27th in Milan, Italy. The Annual International Automobile Festival is in France in January when their choice for most beautiful is announced. So it looks like I need someone to translate French and Italian for me cause Google ain't gettin' it. I'm chalking the Scania truck mixup to translation as well. Mulligan?


[Source: Virtual Car via Carbody Design]

Citroën unveiled their new minivan (MPV in European parlance) at the Paris show. The C4 Picasso joins (rather than replacing) the long-in-the-tooth Xsara Picasso, as well as the larger C8, in the Citroën line-up, and will start selling in France next month and other markets in the next quarter.

The C4 Picasso applies what Citroën calls the "visiospace" design philosophy that gives the spacious family-hauler enhanced visibility through such features as a wide-angle (read: expensive to replace) panoramic windshield and class-leading interior volume.

Citroën also boats high-quality-feel interior materials on the new MPV, using chrome and piano-black accents and high-quality plastics. Two gasoline engines (1.8 with 127 hp and 2.0 with 143) and two diesels (110hp and 138hp HDi units with particulate filters) are offered, driving through a new available 6-speed electronic gearbox.

The (very) full press release is available for your perusing after the jump, along with shots from the show floor (courtesy of our compadres at Autoblog Spanish).

Yesterday, Citroën released details surrounding it's new seven-seat compact MPV, the C4 Picasso. It joins the smaller Xsara Picasso and larger C8 to give the French automaker a 3-car MPV lineup. Its formal debut will take place at the Paris Motor Show next month.

Competing against similar vehicles like the Ford S-Max and Renault Grand Scenic, the C4 Picasso is a very stylish and innovative entrant in segment. Appealing lines, tasteful front and rear-end treatments and a flowing greenhouse set the tone for the car's exterior. It's likely to win people over on looks alone, but in case that's not enough, the interior should seal the deal.

Obviously, the seven seats can be reconfigured in a number of ways. That's expected. The big surprise is the radically different dash panel layout. All the major controls the driver needs have been relocated to the steering wheel, which we show in detail after the jump. The dash is almost fully devoid of buttons as a result, save for a few located underneath the main NAV/info/gauge displays. Driver and passenger get their own HVAC controls, which are pushed out to the two far corners.

(Continues after the jump. Pics, press release also follow)

[Source: Citroën]