A Supercar With An American Heart

Many gearheads remember the concept car craze that gripped the automotive world throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. During these decades, automakers were determined to demonstrate to the world just how technologically advanced they could be, if their designers and engineers were given free rein over a project. Many of these models, such as the Dodge Copperhead concept, never even made it to production, although some futuristic-looking models did, albeit with much of their one-off charm stripped away.

While the end of this high period for concept cars was winding down by the late 2000s, some automakers continued the dream of the high-tech, space-age concept. One such automaker, Citroën, released one of the wildest-looking concept cars of the era. In addition, the futuristic concept car was partly debuted in the popular racing game Gran Turismo, specifically in the game’s fifth iteration prologue. While production of the GT was scheduled to begin in 2010, there was mystery surrounding whether any were actually produced.

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A Spaceship For The Road

GT By Citroën Concept Key Points

• Introduced in 2008
• Made part of its debut virtually in the Gran Turismo video game series
• Utilized a Ford-sourced V8 as its powerplant
• A total of six road-going versions were slated for production.

While it may look like an Earth-bound version of Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter – just finished in white instead of gray – the GT by Citroën concept was, in fact, a supercar designed by a mass-market French automaker. While we typically think of Citroën as a car brand that doesn’t do any business in the United States and a producer of rather modest, maybe even boring, family sedans, wagons, and hum-drum coupes designed for the European market.

However, in the early part of the 2000s, some of Citroën’s engineers appeared to have a collective identity crisis, and so they petitioned Citroën’s top brass to allow them to design and develop a supercar that was wholly Citroën. Surprisingly for the rest of the automotive world, these cavalier engineers were given the green light, and the GT by Citroën project was off and running. At the time, no platform existed in Citroën’s lineup that could support a supercar, so the GT was to be a complete clean-sheet design.

Citroën found itself in a surprisingly lucky marketing situation with the then-budding GT concept project. The model’s chief exterior designer, a man called Takumi Yamamoto, was a childhood friend of the director of Polyphony, the game development studio responsible for the Gran Turismo racing game series. After some brief talks, a deal was struck to use the company’s then-upcoming Gran Turismo 5 video game as a tool to help market the GT by Citroën concept.

The GT by Citroën’s Development

After a deal was struck with Polyphony, the game developer began to take a role in designing the GT by Citroën concept. While Citroën handled the concept’s mechanical underpinnings and related components, Polyphony worked alongside Takumi Yamamoto’s team to design the concept’s interior, exterior, and some of its aerodynamic features.

Both Polyphony and Takumi Yamamoto’s team petitioned Citroën’s management team with the help of Jean-Pierre Ploué, director o the Style Citroën design studio, in order to ensure the production version of the GT would resemble the concept as closely as possible, since the model would be seen in a video game before production was slated to commence.

Detailed Specs & Features

In addition to Citroën not possessing a platform capable of supporting a supercar, the French automaker also didn’t have an engine with enough muscle to power it. So, instead of reaching out to one of its European contemporaries, Citroën decided to contact Ford to borrow one of its mills. The engine was a hot version of the 5.4L V8. While specifics regarding the powerplant were unavailable, we can speculate that the actual version utilized a four-valve valvetrain, along with some form of forced induction.

Along with the American powerplant, the GT by Citroën concept also boasted a slew of specially-designed upgrades in order to give the concept as much pep in its step as possible. Unfortunately, many of the specifics regarding what would make the GT by Citroën concept a formidable supercar are unknown. However, due to the sheer amount of aerodynamic accessories, large brakes, and low ride height, we can speculate that the model would be quite the track-muncher had it gone into full-scale production.

We’ll lay out all the known specs regarding the 2008 GT by Citroën in the table down below:

*Specs courtesy of Car and Driver

Features

Much like many of the GT by Citroën’s detailed specs, we also don’t know much about what sort of features the concept was packing. However, we can speculate based on its interior pictures. One of the most striking features of the GT by Citroën’s interior is its sculpted center console, wherein a huge number of chrome-clad switches are carefully arranged. This large console makes the model’s cabin look spaceship-like, especially when finished in that polished copper look.

Another Off-Beat French Concept

The same year that the GT by Citroën concept made its half-digital, half-real-life debut, another French automaker unveiled another wild concept. The model pictured above is called the Venturi Volage concept, and it was the French automaker’s attempt to give the world a taste of lightweight, razor-sharp driving. According to its chief designer, Sacha Lacik, the Volage’s body was designed with streamlined aerodynamics in mind, as the Volage was meant to be styled with minimal noise in its look.

The Venturi Volage was first unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, the very same year and venue that the GT by Citroën made its real-life debut. At the event, the Volage was inundated with positive critical and spectator praise, with many motor show-goers inquiring about a possible production and wanting to know when it would go into effect. Thanks to the outpouring of positive feedback, Venturi announced a planned production commencement year of 2012, although this was a tentative timeframe.

However, rather quietly, Venturi canceled the Volage project just before 2012. While no official explanation was given, it’s widely expected to have been due to a lack of funds actually to produce the model. After all, Venturi has never been a large-scale manufacturer like Ford or Citroën, rather it’s a more low-production, bespoke automaker. Venturi did release a production model close to the Volage’s expected production year, the interestingly-named Venturi Fetish, a small, track-focused two-seater.

Unfortunately for both Citroën and Venturi, it seems the gods of financial surplus were not on their side. Both concepts failed, and didn’t make it into production, because the sheer cost of design, development, tooling, and production were deemed too high. As is the case with many other concepts shown to the world throughout automotive history.

Sources: Citroën, Venturi, Car and Driver