The C4 Cactus saloon and the new Citroën C5 Aircross SUV offer the main comfort seats that the French brand has been pursuing for a century.
The new seats are a new reference in the market, an innovation resulting from decades of experience and research in aspects such as ergonomics, safety and modularity. Issue that the brand proposes from its first models as a hallmark of its vehicles.
In the Citroën of the 20s and, in 1931, André Citroën used the comfort and finish of the seats of the brand’s vehicles as an advertising argument. They were the cover of the Citroën C6 Grand Luxe catalog , as a synonym for refinement and comfort.
Citroën has sought to optimize the well-being inside the cabin in the different models of its range. The seats were the protagonists of the cover of the launch catalog of the Citroën C6 Grand Luxe in 1931 , which reflected a careful interior and the incorporation of the latest innovations in terms of global comfort and road behavior, such as the floating engine.
This model was followed by many more, such as the 2 CV with hammock seats, which were not only very comfortable, but also fully removable and could be used to sit outside on field trips.
During decades of the mid-twentieth century, Citroën experimented with a wide variety of ideas in the interior configuration of its vehicles. Later, for the GS, CX, SM and BX, the brand created ultra-comfortable seats that offered soft cushioning and support for the thigh and legs, as well as a lumbar padding.
The CX Prestige was the first model of the French brand to equip seats ‘lounge’ type in the rear, inspired by that of private aircraft, along with raised footrests for maximum comfort. Meanwhile, the SM had leather reclining seats designed to pamper and hold occupants on all types of journeys.
90S: MODULARITY AS THE PROTAGONIST
Modularity became the main protagonist in the 90s, with the arrival, in 1991, of the Citroën ZX and its folding rear bench, which maximized the possibilities of your trunk.
Three years later, Evasion incorporated the longitudinal adjustment of the seats and, almost in the 21st century, the Xsara Picasso offered easily removable seats with greater freedom of configuration. A trend that was collected in various concept-cars, such as the C3 Lumière , with seats that could pivot 90º and move throughout the cabin thanks to 4 equidistant rails, turning the cabin into a real living room.
Comfort was not lost sight of, as the C6 Lignage demonstrates , with individual seats with multiple adjustments, or the Citroën C6, produced between 2006 and 2012 that was equipped with electrically reclining “first class” style rear seats.
Already in 2008, the Hypnos concept had four seats made up of numerous prism-shaped cells that could swell or deflate on demand to offer a lumbar and dorsal massage.
In 2014, with the C4 Cactus, a model made in Spain that inaugurated a new era for Citroën, the brand introduced the concept of the ‘sofa’ type seat, an adaptation of the front ‘benches’ of the classic models.
Currently, the Citroën Advanced Comfort program gathers the brand’s experience and adapts it to our time to feel in your cars “at home”. Citroën studies solutions of products outside the automotive world to apply them to its models. This is the case of mattresses, where “shape memory” constitutes no more comfort.
MASSAGE AND HEATED FUNCTION
The brand has developed the Advanced Comfort seats with different layers of specific materials (polyurethane foam, viscoelastic or textured), to adapt to the morphology of the person, in addition to offering an unpublished fluffy in the automotive world. Thanks to their properties, they return to their original form.
Covered with a padded lining, these new seats offer great comfort, which we have seen in the C4 Cactus and in the new C5 Aircross SUV . Its innovative high density foam optimizes comfort by offering a cozy fluffy. This denser foam, 15mm, 13 more than the standard seats, is structured to make the seats visually and physically more comfortable.
Inspired by the brand’s mythical saloons, such as the CX or Xantia, these quilts create a visual signature at the service of comfort, reinforced by stitching and graphic elements that follow the formal language used also for example by the C3 or the Compact C3 SUV Aircross.
According to Citroën Ergonomics expert, Julia María Sánchez, to avoid fatigue “you have to bring your back as close as possible to the backrest, adjust the seat and steering wheel to reach it and the pedals with your arms and knees slightly bent and check that the knees are at the same height as the hips to bend the spine as little as possible. “
The seats offer postural comfort, with sidewalks and wide backrests, a reinforced support, a height adjustment for the driver and passenger, and a lumbar adjustment for the driver in order to achieve an ideal lumbar support.
It has a good support without being overwhelming, especially during long journeys thanks to the new high density foam that also prevents aging of the seat after many years of use.
In the C5 Aircross they are optionally available in four of the five Interior Environments (Wild Gray, Metropolitan Gray, Metropolitan Beige and Hype Brown). The price of the Environments (trim of seats plus interior decoration) with the seats is 800 euros.
In the Hype Brown high-end environment, with Advanced Comfort seats, the front ones are made of Nappa brown leather and black leather effect fabric, heated, and the driver’s head has a massage function, black-brown bitone leather steering wheel. In this case, the price is 1,400 euros. In the C4 Cactus, Advances seats are included in two main rooms (Wild Gray and Metropolitan Red), for 250 euros.
“The Advanced Comfort seats also allow greater vibration absorption, which, together with the suspension of Hydraulic Progressive Shock Absorbers, enables a real flying carpet effect,” explains Juan Rueda, Product Manager at Citroën.
PRICES
In the case of the C5 Aircross , the front seats can be equipped with a heated system and also with a massage system that works with the help of 8 air chambers located in the backrest. This system allows the driver and front passenger to choose between 5 programs, being able to combine lumbar, back and shoulder massage.
Advances seats are optional and are included in some of the finishes offered in the C4 Cactus and in the C5 Aircross, for the five seats of the vehicle.
In the C5 Aircross they are optionally available in four of the five Interior Environments (Wild Gray, Metropolitan Gray, Metropolitan Beige and Hype Brown). The price of the Environments (trim of seats plus interior decoration) with the seats is 800 euros.
In the Hype Brown high-end environment, with Advanced Comfort seats, the front ones are made of Nappa brown leather and black leather effect fabric, heated, and the driver’s head has a massage function, black-brown bitone leather steering wheel. In this case, the price is 1,400 euros. In the C4 Cactus, Advances seats are included in two main rooms (Wild Gray and Metropolitan Red), for 250 euros.