“The brief of this project was very simple: we wanted to revolutionise the interior in a very small platform.”
One of the headline features of this radical new cabin concept is a novel three-by-three interior configuration, with a McLaren F1-style central driving position.
Leclerq said this is a logical format for urban motoring – “if you’re in the centre, you’re going to have good visibility towards the outside” – and added that it can be a boon on longer trips, too: “The kids want to drive next to mama or papa when they go on vacation.”
The driver’s seat features its own suspension, in the form of foam blocks inside its frame, and comes with a desk attachment for working on the go. The front passenger chairs, meanwhile, can be removed and stowed inside the rear row when they aren’t needed.
The rear seats were inspired by the pop-out camping furniture stocked by French sporting goods retailer Decathlon, with which Citroën collaborated to design the ELO. Although the row of seats itself is fixed, the bases can be removed and feature fold-out legs for use outside the car.
The seatbacks can be folded flat too, providing a floor for a pair of single mattresses suspended from the ELO’s ceiling. The same hooks that support these mattresses can also be used to fit a projector screen for watching films while inside the car.
Citroën said its intention is for the ELO to function as a “base camp”. As such, plug sockets and an air pump are integrated into the flanks of the floor, accessible while the sliding doors are open, and an awning can be mounted across these doors to provide shade.
Meanwhile, the extrusions on the front and rear running lights are topped with a grid-like anti-slip surface, enabling them to be used as trays for dinner plates.
The same texture is used on the top of the dashboard, so phones can be placed vertically next to the driver while they are connected to the ELO’s wide head-up display screen.
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