Today's cars are suffering from lack of charisma. Due to various security, technical and economic reasons cars now look very similar. Automotive companies share the same engines and platforms and often together produce almost identical models of cars under different names. So, today's cars look boring.
The SM story begins in 1969 when Citroen took over Maserati. As Citroen wanted to enter the world of super-sports cars by acquiring Maserati the question of an adequate engine was solved. The legendary Citroen DS served as a design and technical basis. Hydropneumatic suspension from the DS was one of the key ingreditiens in the SM. The exceptionally aerodynamic SM with a maximum speed of 225 km / h was the world's fastest car with front drive.
The car was extremely comfortable for driving and ideally suited for high speed cruising down the highway. SM's hydropneumatic suspension had six levels to adjust the height. Hydropneumatic assisted steering wheel made easy to park relatively heavy vehicle. When the SM would increase the speed, the steering wheel would become stiffer. The Citroen SM was a technologically complex car and Masserati's V6 engine was quite prone to failures. Inevitably, after the successful launch the sales have fallen over time. Citroen itself was in deep financial troubles, and in the early 1970s company was sold to Peugeot. In 1975. the SM production was suddenly stopped.
A total of 12,920 SMs were sold worldwide, while well-preserved SM today costs over 20,000 euros. The SM's timeless design secured the place in the cream de la cream category of classic cars. The SM came about at the same time as the supersonic Concorde passenger jet. The Citroen SM is considered to be the automotive equivalent of a tour de force anglo-french aircraft. The world without the Concorde and the Citroen SM is a somewhat uniform and boring place. It remains to be seen if human imagination will someday re-design similar cars and planes as were the Citroen SM and the Concorde.
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