Citroën AX Superproduction

If you know, you know. IYKYK.

Really, the above is all I should write for the Citroën AX Superproduction, a hot hatch committed to sticking to its guns against much (much) tougher rivals.

I’m writing about it for one reason: over the last 24 hours, approximately five people in my orbit have mentioned the Citroën AX in some form or another. Mostly, fond memories of their time with the entry level, high-tech French hatchback. 

Skipping to the good part, namely a small group of factory built race cars based on AX shells, Citroën had the audacity to enter a front-drive hatchback into the Superproduction series.

Developing the cars over the 1987 season from having no power steering, no limited slip differential, and ‘only’ a 380 horsepower 1.4 liter 8-valve turbocharged 4-cylinder engine running at 2.8 bar, it had little hopes of competing at the sharp end and big hopes of catastrophe.

Naturally, evolution took hold and by the end of 1988 Citroën had added power steering, a limited-slip differential, and an entirely different 1.6 liter 16-valve turbocharged 4-cylinder Peugeot-Citroën XU-series engine (Wikipedia).

Its chassis was now more dialled in, now with updated bodywork, cage, and long rear trailing arms that helped to give its two front tires the best chance at finding grip.

Though the mighty AX Superproduction cars weighed approximately 800 kg (1,760 lbs), against four-wheel-drive competition from Renault, Audi, and a plethora of actual sports cars, the Citroëns put on a show…but never a clinic.

One super AX was sold in 2016 at an HVMC auction, while another changed hands — or perhaps the same car, I can’t tell them apart — in 2020 at an auction by Aguttes, offering cars in the Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot Official Auction (classicdriver.com).

Side note: the roster of vehicles offered was breathtaking, from a 405 Mi16 Dakar prototype to the Peugeot Tulip, which I’ve written about here.

Peugeot Tulip

Car of the Day #256: 1995 Peugeot Tulip – Car Sharing, But ’90s

Weird Car of the Day Newsletter | banovsky.commichael banovsky

To me, and many others, none hit quite like the AX Superproduction: it was a mighty, mean, mite of a thing that proved front-wheel drive cars could hang with some of the best sports cars in the world. 

Editor’s note: Feel free to share this article, I’ve placed the member content at the very bottom.