This New Citroen MPV Concept Has Something In Common With A McLaren F1

Well, it’s not very often we can start writing about a multi-purpose vehicle and draw a direct comparison between it and a McLaren F1, so forgive us for doing so with this, the Citroen ELO.

There’s no chance this goes into production directly, but the Citroen ELO uses a central-driving position much like the legendary ‘90s British supercar, albeit here for the sake of practicality.

That allows two seats to flank the driver (again, like the F1), although a rear bench means it can seat a full quota of six people on board.

The F1 comparisons end there, but our interest in the ELO does not. For a start, the name is taken from Rest, Play and Work. “Wouldn’t that make it the RPW, then?”, you rightly ask. Annoyingly yes, but it doesn’t, rather rEst, pLay and wOrk. Thanks, we hate it.

Anyway, the car itself. It’s a pretty small thing in stature, measuring just 4.1 metres long (only a bit longer than a production Citroen e-C3 for a bit of context), but promises to be pretty practical.

There’s a set of London Underground train-esque sliding doors which give you access to the cabin, while the driver’s seat can be spun around when the car is parked if you want to face your rear passengers. Or swivel on it like an office chair.

You can take out the front passenger seats too, to give a little more room, and they can be slid underneath the rear ones when not in use. They also double up as picnic chairs, which we’re genuinely quite impressed with.

As well as being very orange, the front and rear bumpers are the same part, much like the front and rear sections of the Citroen Ami. Handy for keeping insurance costs down (and more importantly for the French car manufacturer, production costs).

As we say, don’t expect to see the ELO go onto the road in this form, but there’s nothing to suggest it couldn’t directly inspire a road car. Just look at the Citroen Ami concept compared with the eventual production car as an example.