Designed by Serge Gevin (who was also later responsible for the Charleston and Dolly) and based on the 435cc 2CV4, the 2CV Spot was launched in France over the weekend of 10th – 12th April 1976, and, it is claimed holds the record as France’s first limited edition vehicle.
The striking colour scheme comprised an orange body shell, bonnet and boot lid, with white front and rear wings, ‘A’ panels, doors, wheels, and bumpers. The doors each had a horizontal orange stripe on the lower part with the word SPOT emblazoned upon the two front ones. Inside the car, the seats were covered in an orange jersey fabric, with a pattern unique to the Spot. The vinyl door cards were decorated with orange and white vertical stripes, and under the orange vinyl hood, an orange and white striped sunshade was fitted to protect the driver and front seat passenger.
Stainless steel hub caps and the then current, rectangular headlights (in white) were also fitted. Citroën dealerships were encouraged to emphasise the carefree, holiday image of the Spot with its typically 1970’s paint scheme, and with advertising posters declaring ‘Let the party begin’. The sales campaign was a complete success and the entire batch of 1,800 cars was sold within six days.
Following on from the success of the sales in France, it was decided to market a further batch of 1,000 cars in other European countries: The Netherlands (400 cars); Italy (200 cars); Switzerland (200 cars) & Britain (200 cars1). The Swiss and British cars were based on the more powerful 602cc engined 2CV6, with the Swiss examples being numbered from 1 to 200, marked on the front doors.
Built mainly during September 1976 in Citroën’s factory in the Forest suburb of Brussels, the second batch of Spots are actually 1977 models and as such, differ slightly from their French sisters by having the interior plastic trim in black as opposed the brown of the first batch. Of the UK quota of Spots, by 2022 only six examples were known to survive, including one which was exported to France by its British expat owner, ended up in a scrap yard, and was subsequently rescued and restored by a French 2cv enthusiast.
The name Spot is often said to be derived from the name of the paint SPéciale Orange Ténéré, but that is just coincidence. In fact, no one still alive who was connected with the project, knows the reason for the choice of name. The Spot prototype, which was originally fitted with an orange and white striped hood, was actually called ‘Transat’ (which translates as a type of deckchair) but that was dropped in favour of the name Spot. The name Transat was used later on for the German market version of the 2CV France 3.
1 - Reliable sources say that each UK Citroën dealership was issued with one Spot to sell. It is not known how many there were at that time, but knowing the way that the company worked, that does sound quite a likely scenario.
