Stellantis used the 2026 Mondial de l’Auto in Paris to set out its stall for the near future. Promising a veritably galactic spread of concept cars, plus a vast stand at the show itself, where a grand total of 60 cars across its eight-brand portfolio were on display.
Ahead of the opening day, Stellantis assembled six ultra-significant concepts for a special showing at Hangar Y in Meudon, to the south of the city centre, where a former airship hangar has been converted to a vast event space on a forested site. ‘The Night Before’ promised a close-up view of the building blocks of Stellantis’ Fast Lane 2030 strategy, complete with buoyant CEOs bigging up their respective charges in a familial and welcoming environment.
The music ebbed and throbbed in Zimmer-y approximations, graphics spun across the screen and Stellantis milked the galactic associations for all they were worth. With a runway flanked by tiers of seating, the night was clearly meant to ape the style and presentation of a fashion show, taking care to put clear blue water between each brand with a shift in music, graphics and presentation modes.
This, Stellantis reckons, is its path to success: brand differentiation. With such a big portfolio, there are savings to be made by using shared platforms. That’s all the more reason to dig into the history of each brand, identify what it’s best at and strive to make that the focus going forwards. Think of Stellantis’ future portfolio as a big box of Quality Street, as opposed to a packet of M&Ms.
Of the six concepts showcased at Hangar Y, some were more successful than others, but that speaks volumes as to the prominence and cultural memory of particular brand histories, and how each individual name has managed to steward, shape and evolve these values over the decades. Here’s our guide to the unveiling and the event.
Citroën 2CV Concept
Top of the tree and the best-received concept on the night was the long-awaited revival of the legendary Citroën 2CV. Stung by rival Renault’s assault on the sales charts with its cheekily retro R4 and R5, as well as mindful of stablemate Fiat’s own masterful control of its heritage, it’s surprising that it’s taken Citroën so long. Like the R4 and R5, the 2CV will be electric only. The concept is – we’re promised – apparently very close to the production reality.
There’s a wealth of genuinely entertaining detailing here, all of which hasn’t just been carried out in homage to the original, but as a way of finding new methods to keep costs down. Citroën aims to get the production 2CV (here by 2028, hopefully) to come in at the magic €15,000 mark. Whether global geopolitics will allow such a thing to happen is another matter, but you can’t argue with their thinking.
This pricing is largely down to the new E-Car platform, Stellantis’ dedicated electric city-car underpinnings. With so many of its brands occupying various strata of this important European sector, it makes sense to find a new, ultra-efficient way of catering to it. Alongside the price, the tech is also designed so that cars can be made within Europe itself.
The original 2CV had its origins before the Second World War, a car for everyone that was equally at home on the rutted tracks of rural France as it was on cobbled Parisian streets. The concept takes this stripped-back ethos and runs with it, from the rollback canvas roof to the bent metal sofa stylings of the seats. The door handles, the vents, the removable radio, the creased bonnet, the bumpers, the quirky gear shift – it’s all here. Nostalgists will have a field day, and it's still a delightful sight for the rest of us.
Fiat Multiplay Concept
Next up in the desirability stakes is the Fiat Multiplay. Representing a pleasant and perverse stroll down memory lane, the Multiplay takes the three-row six-seater 1956 original Multipla and splices it with the three-abreast quirkiness of the 1999 revival. All of this is intertwined with the DNA of a pick-up truck.
Relatively hefty in scale (4.5m long) and extremely capacious inside, the Multiplay offers three of endlessly reconfigurable seating and a clever rear end that slides forward to open up the boot to the elements so it can take large items like bikes and camping gear.
Slide it back and the interior space achieves its full volume. Flexible interiors elements include the ‘Petsenger seat’ and the ‘Sunseat’ lounger, while the bright pastel packaging and simple interior forms evoke the best contemporary Italian domestic design.
The Multiplay came on stage soundtracked by the spirited and deliberate gibberish of Adriano Celentano’s 1972 hit ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’; we can only hope the future of Fiat’s Utility Vehicle makes more sense.
Alfa Romeo Cuorerosso
Fury and spirit are the emotions conjured up by the angry-looking Alfa Romeo Cuorerosso concept, a four-door saloon that previews the next generation electric Giulia. In the sliced and diced demographic pie that makes up the Stellantis audience, Alfa owners are meant to be the most emotional (and perhaps irrational?), letting their heart rule their head. Alfa calls the design approach that's laser targeted at these folks the ‘Bellezza Necessaria’ philosophy.
From some angles, the Alfa Romeo is almost cartoonish in its approach, all red and black masculinity with a throaty voiceover. The deep Rosso red bodywork, massive pepperpot style wheels, illuminated front grille and spoiler that appears to scoop all before it are all amped up elements from Alfas past. As are the insectoid front headlamps, circular rear units and the muscular bonnet and rear haunches come together to complete the picture.
Describing it as a ‘car for people in love with driving’, the Cuorerosso has aesthetic antecedents from recent memory, notably the 4C sportscar and the 2008 Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione. In its exaggerated posture and stance, we think it’s a bit more Brad Bird than Brad Pitt.
AlfaRomeo.com, @AlfaRomeoOfficial
DS Automobiles DS Fever
Along with Maserati (a no-show tonight together with Jeep, Lancia and Abarth), DS Automobiles is probably batting on the stickiest wicket in the Stellantis camp. Ostensibly a luxury brand, DS builds great and elegant cars that sit in a great airless no-man’s-land betwixt premium and volume offerings.
To help balance the books, DS needs to sell more cars and the best sector in which to do that is the upscale supermini. Hence the DS Fever concept, styled F3VER in a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that it previews the next generation DS3. This is an important car for the brand, the model that started it all and helped persuade others that small cars could be premium objects of desire.
Setting itself a tall target of ‘reinventing the compact car’, DS Fever offers a weighty, well-balanced stance and a neat rear three-quarter view. All those semi-translucent panels and intersecting colours give customers ample opportunity for customisation (which helps the bottom line).
While the infinity-style rear lights work well, our first glimpse of the front end was a bit like seeing a deepwater fish loom out of the gloom. ‘It doesn’t try to look like anything else,’ said the company spokesman, candidly.
DSAutomobiles.com, @DS_Automobiles
Peugeot RCZ Vision
The RCZ Vision was joined be the T16 Concept on the Peugeot stand, but at The Night Before it stood alone, a representation of the newest iteration of Peugeot’s ever-evolving design language. Taking the form of a revival of the quirky RCZ from 2009, the concept does a decent fist of making the bubble-topped original more elegant and fluent. The first car was meant to be an Audi TT rival but never quite got off the ground.
The Peugeot design revival has certainly given its hatchbacks, SUVs and estates a good going-over, but the company still hasn’t made a truly beautiful two-door since the Pininfarina-penned 406 Coupé from 1997. Could the RCZ be the one to fix this omission? Or is it simply representation of the ‘soul of our brand’, with a little bit too much emphasis on its alleged leonine qualities.
The double-bubble glass cabin is mirrored in the transparent glass information screen hung from the dash, while Peugeot’s idiosyncratic quartic steering wheel – the ‘hypersquare’ – is all present and correct. A brightly illuminated Peugeot badge finishes off the front end – an almost universally adopted device across this future preview of the Stellantis range.
Opel STX Concept
Perversely, all things Opel are known as Vauxhalls in the UK, even if every other aspect of the car changes. For a long time, Vauxhall was one of the biggest UK manufacturers and it’s fair to say that a vox pop of older car buyers would describe the brand as British. Opel, on the other hand, is very German. So German, in fact, that it announced the new STX Concept with a flurry of campy Berlin techno and doubled down on the Germanic engineering obsession that the concept represents.
So could this boxy four-door shooting brake pass off as a Brit when the badges are switched? Possibly not. The STX Concept offers up an idea of the future direction of the non-SUV elements of its range. Cars like the Astra Sports Tourer do venerable service in a culture that largely overlooks the utility of a small but practical estate car. The STX – Sports Tourer Experimental – wants to change that staid image and give it a bit of a kick.
From the abrupt verticality of the Kamm-style tail to the ultra-faceted frontal treatment, the ‘Vizor’, with its new vertical light elements, the STX Concept could set Opel (and Vauxhall) on a very different course, one that’s more emotive rather than staid and practical.