The Citroën Xantia, pronounced "Zan–ti–a" is a large family car (D) produced by the French automaker Citroën, and designed by Bertone. Presented to the press in December 1992, the car was produced between 1992 and 2002 in Europe, with a facelift in the end of 1997.
The Citroën Xantia Activa V6 still holds the record speed () through the moose test maneuver, due to its active anti-roll bars. This test is conducted by the magazine Teknikens Värld's, as a test of avoiding a moose in the road. The second place car, Porsche 997 GT3 RS was able to manage .
Citroën produced 1,216,734 Xantias during its nine years of production at the PSA Rennes Plant. The Xantia was replaced with the Citroën C5 in 2001, although in its native France it continued to be offered as a cheaper alternative until October 2002.
Production of the Xantia at SAIPA, Tehran Iran from 2001 to 2010 resulted in an undisclosed number of additional units.
Name
The name "Xantia", like some other names used by Citroën before (like Athena or Pallas) comes from ancient Greek history and mythology.
"Xantia" is derived from Xanthos, mean golden or blond in Greek language. Xanthos is name of an ancient Lycian city (meaning "golden city") in ancient Lycia region. The name is also known for Xanthian Obelisk, An bilingual Obelisk from Persian Achaemenid Empire era found in ruins of Xanthos city.
History
The Xantia replaced the earlier Citroën BX (which straddled both small and large family car segments), and maintained the high level of popularity of that model, but brought the car more into the mainstream to compete harder with its mid-size rivals, such as the Ford Mondeo and Opel Vectra/Vauxhall Cavalier.
The car was built from November 1992 to October 2002 in France, totalling almost ten years, including the facelift in December 1997.
It signalled that Citroën had learned from the reception given to the staid Citroën ZX, introduced two years earlier, and criticised by contemporary journalists for its lack of traditional Citroën flair, in engineering and design. Citroën addressed these concerns in the Xantia.
The Xantia also used the traditional Citroën hydropneumatic suspension system, which was pioneered by the older DS. It was initially only available as a hatchback (notchback) (Berline), but an estate (station wagon) (Break) version, built by Heuliez, appeared in September 1995.
Inline with PSA Group policy, the Peugeot 406, launched two years later, used the same floorpan, core structure and engines as the Xantia. The Hydractive suspension system was not carried over, and the 406 utilised a more traditional spring suspension.
Sales in the United Kingdom were strong, and even though it was never able to match the volume of British favourites, such as the Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Vectra, the car did help Citroën establish a strong foothold in the business car market in the United Kingdom.
1998 facelift
The Xantia was given a facelift at the end of 1997. The Mark 1, produced between 1993 and 1997, can be distinguished by the grille integrated with the body of the car. On the Mark 2, produced between 1998 and 2001, the grille is attached to the bonnet. The facelift model also features body colored bumpers and a revised dashboard.
Xantia Activa
The top model in Citroën's Xantia series was the highly engineered Activa. The model was introduced at the end of 1994, and between the spring of 1995 and the autumn of 2001 was built in just over 18,000 copies.
The name refers to the Citroën Activa showcar. The distinguishing feature of the Activa was the ability to drive around curves without any chassis roll. This technology is more broadly known as active suspension, and the Xantia Activa has exceptional road holding comparable to true sports cars.
This lack of roll is achieved by active chassis intervention. In addition to Hydractive II, Activa also had undercarriage stabilization (AFS), in French SC.CAR = Systeme Citroën de Contrôle Actif du Roulis, which was the first standard-fitted, active cross-stabilizer in automobile construction. With this system, the lateral inclination could be reduced to a minimum (−0.2 ° to 1 °) by means of mechanical control with hydraulic cylinders acting on the cross-stabilizer bars. This technique enabled (according to the manufacturer's specifications) with optimal road grip transverse accelerations of up to 1.2 g and despite this also offered an above-average high suspension comfort and thus a safer road position. Compared to the standard models, Activa had seats with reinforced side rails, which on the first series (X1) were also pneumatically adjustable.