Well, like the Saab, the Activa version of the Xantia had roll-free suspension, with the Citroen’s hydrolastic anti-roll bars causing the car to remain totally neutral and flat through bends, meaning every corner could be taken flat-out, with the emphasis on flat, and the rubber on all four tyres giving optimum contact with the road surface. This made the fine handling Activa remarkably rapid on regular roads, and supersonic on the track; Citroen creating a family saloon that was able to embarrass many far more powerful sports cars in action. The Xantia Activa comfortably beat a Ferrari 360 around the Magny Cours circuit in a contemporary comparison road test, for example.
Unlike the prototype Saab, however, the Xantia Activia wasn’t a concept, but rather a standard production model that could be ordered from any Citroen showroom in the 1990s. It was and remains to this day, the first, and only, production car to be equipped with roll-free active anti-roll bar suspension as standard.
More than 40 years ahead of the revolutionary Xantia Activa’s introduction, a gifted but virtually unknown French engineer with a very Germanic surname, Jean-Marie Federspiel, pioneered another Citroen with a cunning suspension set-up.
Known as ‘Suspension Federspiel’ and launched in 1950 as an independent after-market option, Jean-Marie’s clever system cured the Citroen 2CV’s notoriously soft and pliable suspension roll – resembling a sailing ship in a swell on tight corners – and made the 2CV lean into corners, more like a motorcycle. Although Federspiel’s crafty suspension worked well, is was quite expensive and few were sold to retrofit to new then-new 2CVs, which enjoyed a long waiting list in the early 1950s.