Analysis sheet: Citroën-NSU two-engine and radar suspension project (Motorist, June 1965)

In this document

This typewritten sheet summarises an article published in the magazine Motorist (Z.A., No. 8, June 1965, p. 20, 1 fig.), under the title "Citroën still ahead in its designs: two engines and radar suspension control".

The Citroën-N.S.U. project

According to the summarised article, Citroën and N.S.U. were studying a car intended for production in 1967, equipped with two Wankel rotary piston engines, each driving one of the two axles.

In town, only the front engine would be used; in normal operation, the two combined engines would allow a top speed of 192 km/h for a fuel consumption of approximately 7.8 litres per 100 km.

Radar-controlled suspension

The document describes a system where a radar would detect road defects and trigger a "corrective action" on the suspension. Secret tests, mentioned in the article, reportedly demonstrated that a passenger sitting in the back could continue to write at 100 km/h while crossing 15 cm deep potholes or construction bricks.

Context

As a reference point external to the document: Citroën was developing the hydropneumatic suspension at that time, inaugurated on the DS in 1955 and perfected by Paul Magès. A technical cooperation agreement between Citroën and NSU did indeed exist in the mid-1960s, giving birth in 1967 to the company Comotor, tasked with jointly developing the Wankel engine — a project that would notably lead to the Citroën GS Birotor (1973-1975).

The road detection radar mentioned here, however, was never marketed on a production Citroën vehicle; at that date, it was a matter of prospective speculation or specialised press rumour.

Archivist's perspective

This sheet is part of a technology watch activity: it is likely a summary drawn up to inform Citroën engineers — including Paul Magès — of announcements and rumours circulating in the foreign automotive press regarding competing or partner projects.

The interest of the document lies less in its factual reliability (the original article relayed "news" and tests described as "secret", and therefore unverifiable) than in what it reveals about the teeming climate of innovation in 1965, combining Wankel motorisation and active suspension — two themes that directly overlap with Magès' concerns regarding controlled suspension.

The file in which this sheet is classified also contains several other clippings and technical translations from the 1970s on carburetion and injection, such as the handwritten cover page on carburetion and injection, testifying to a recurring practice of collecting technical press by the department to which Magès belonged.