The Citroën DS, GS, SM, 2CV and other models retained conventional column stalks, but the CX of 1974 gave the first taste of things to come with its indicators, lights and so on, activated by simple ‘click-clack’ switches at the ends of the gently curved dome-shaped dash binnacle.
The Visa of 1978 advanced Citroën’s driver controls a further leap forward, this small five-door hatch being the world’s first car to use an innovative single pod to activate most of the key controls (lights, turn signals, wipers, etc.), with a simple slider on the opposite side of the steering wheel regulating the interior heat and air flow. It looked and sounds complicated, but once tried, the pod controls quickly became second nature; the Visa driver not having to move his or her hands from the wheel to use a function.
The revised GS of 1979 gained a fifth hatchback door, plus totally new instrumentation, to become the GSA; the model’s twin satellite pods controlling each of the car’s main functions, with buttons colour-coded to help signify their purpose.