DongFeng & Elysee
China is now the world’s biggest new car market.
Foreign manufacturers are competing heavily to get a foothold, but the low manufacturing costs mean that it’s not viable to import cars, so joint-ventures are the primary route-to-market.
Citroën have been involved in the Chinese market for many years, through a number of partnerships – the most significant of which is with the DongFeng group. In 2009, DongFeng were the second biggest domestic manufacturer, producing just short of two million cars. The PSA joint-venture, one of several they have including Nissan-Renault and Honda, was established in 1992 with a 70:30 equity split (Citroën as the minority partner), and was first seen through the 1996 launch of the DongFeng DC7140 – a rebadged ZX.
Where the DongFeng story becomes most interesting, though, is the DongFeng Fukang 988. It’s a ZX, but with a Heuliez-engineered boot – traditional three-box cars are popular in the Chinese market. It has established a solid position in the market, and has continued in production long after the French parent was discontinued, alongside hatchback, van and pickup variants. Originally, a LWB version, the 988 VIP, was available – but it did not sell well so was short-lived.
For 2002, it was restyled, and rebadged as the Citroën Elysee – A further restyle in 2009 has further hidden the ZX roots, but it’s definitely the same car still. The C4-based C-Triomphe continues the booted-variant of French-built Citroëns, but is sold as being a more luxurious product, ‘above’ the Elysee.
