That was unexpected! On an almost abandoned car market in south Beijing, I found a Citroen C6 sedan, standing outside, unattended, painted in dark black and still with the original multispoke alloy wheels.
The Beijing municipal government is closing many traditional car markets, the ones with zillions of small shops, where consumers go for cheap repairs and maintenance. Business for these markets has been hit hard anyway due to the arrival of the EV, which doesn’t need as much work as ICE cars.
The first generation Citroen C6 was a beautiful fastback sedan produced from 2005 until 2012. The C5 was the spiritual successor of the Citroen XM, and another attempt by Citroen to break into the executive sedan market, which had always been dominated by the Germans with a fringe role for Volvo. Citroen tried to succeed by being different, which is a typical French thing, so they came up with a rather radical teardrop design. It has an enormous front overhang, a long stretched-out roofline, lots of chrome, and a short sudden rear end.
There was some work going on inside! The interior of the C6 was luxurious and Citroen used light colors, whereas the Germans always went for gray. The beige seats were wide and soft, it had wood trim on the dash and doors and black trim on the center stack. The door bins were especially pretty, with a wooden door with a handle in the middle. Very classy.
The steering wheel was large, with 3 spokes and a thin rim. The driver had a small digital display that showed the most important metrics. Atop the dashboard was a screen for the infotainment, The audio system was equipped with a CD player and changer.
The most controversial part of the C6’s design was the styling of the rear lights, which folded over the rear fenders. It still looks a tad too odd even today. The rear spoiler pops up at high speed. The C6 was available with various diesel and petrol engines.
Note the old Wuling Sunshine van in the background, on the left.
The car that I met has the tops-ed 3.0-liter V6 under the overhang. The output was 208 hp and 290 Nm. The motor was mated to a 6-speed automatic gearbox, sending all horses to the front wheels.
There is a tow hook sticking out of the bumper. The first generation Citroen C6 sedan was never officially sold in China, so these big French sedans are a very rare sight in this country.
However, in 2017 Citroen launched the China-only second-generation C6 sedan, made by the Dongfeng-PSA joint venture. The C6 had a twin in the Dongfeng Fengshen A9. Amazingly, the C6 was produced until 2023! Sadly, there was no direct successor and that meant the end of the C6 name.