Hm, I think you’re mixing two cars up. Citroen first tested the hydropneumatic suspension on the Traction Avant in the 50s and it entered production with the DS soon after. The DS was fairly successful thanks to the excellent ride quality. The 2CV was arguably even more successful, but because it was basic, reliable and cheap. These cars were essentially polar opposites and the success of the 2CV and later budget models allowed them to experiment with their cutting-edge executive cars (that they lost a lot of money on in many cases).
The original 2CV never came with hydropneumatic suspension either. The system is way overkill for such a small and light city cruiser.
I thought the reason the 2CV right after WW2 was succesful was because of the hydropneumatic suspension?
Hm, I think you’re mixing two cars up. Citroen first tested the hydropneumatic suspension on the Traction Avant in the 50s and it entered production with the DS soon after. The DS was fairly successful thanks to the excellent ride quality. The 2CV was arguably even more successful, but because it was basic, reliable and cheap. These cars were essentially polar opposites and the success of the 2CV and later budget models allowed them to experiment with their cutting-edge executive cars (that they lost a lot of money on in many cases).
Yeah, I watched a video on hydropneumatic suspension and made the leap in my head that of course 2CV’s had that as well.