CX cars were also victorious in the 1978 and 1979 Tour of Senegal. In addition, the Paris-Dakar Rally also contributed to the CX becoming a true legend in rallying. In the fall of 1979, Citroën immediately saw the potential of this legendary event and supplied main organizer Thierry Sabin with four Méhari SUVs and a CX 2400 GTI model, which later became the real flag-bearer of the event. The CX completed the second Paris-Dakar off-road rally with ease. This gave the legendary Citroën the opportunity to amaze Thierry Sabin with its exceptional handling, even on difficult terrain. Citroën repeated this the following year, but the best was yet to come. In the 1981 rally, the factory CX 2400 GTI finished 16th, besting a number of higher-powered off-roaders, and was the first two-wheel drive car to finish the race.
Cradle CX: Aulnay Sous Bois
The Aulnay plant was opened in 1973 and began assembling CX cars in June 1974. At the time it was the most modern car assembly plant in Europe. The bodywork, painting, and upholstery were made here, and assembly took place here as well. The use of contemporary computers and “robots” has made it possible to greatly automate various stages of production, from spot welding of body parts to warehouse operation, whereby polished body parts are transferred to the appropriate body parts. Production line.
Thanks to automation, complex work procedures are simplified.
The millionth CX model rolled off the production line on October 23, 1987. The CX was produced on an area of 180 hectares, in a factory of 410 thousand square meters, with the participation of 8,000 people, until July 1989. After that, only the station wagon version was produced at the coachbuilding plant Heuliez in Serizay.
Legendary CX ads
Customer experience advertising has always had a huge impact, whether it paints a restrained and elegant image or a dynamic and striking image of the specific model. They were registered by the famous advertising agency RSCG, whose symbolic director was Jacques Sigella. The first commercials appeared in the 1980s, in which celebrities and actors of the time, such as Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc or Miu Miu, paid tribute to the CX against an intimate black-and-white background.
At the same time, CX also boasted truly special advertising campaigns, featuring the visual work of famed photographer Jean-Paul Goude and his “muse,” model and actress Grace Jones. For the launch of the CX GTI Turbo in October 1984, Goude created an aggressive and provocative campaign, the slogan of which called the CX GTI Turbo “The Devil”. For traffic safety reasons, this advertisement was quickly banned, as the maximum speed of the car with a turbocharged engine of 220 km/h played a pivotal role… However, the ban imposed by the Minister of Transport at the time only exacerbated the problem. A memorable ad became more popular, then spread like wildfire.
In CX numbers
Between 1974 and 1991, more than one million (1,042,460) CX vehicles were produced across all model years. Between 1974 and 1989, this meant 913,375 sedans (including 29,380 long versions) and between 1976 and 1991 129,085 CX station wagons (including 900 Enterprises).
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