Advert of the week : Citroën CX

Keith Adams

Citroen CX advert, starring Grace Jones
Citroën CX advert, starring Grace Jones

In 1985, Citroën facelifted its long-running CX fastback. There was little wrong with the basic shape of the car, but with the onset of newer aerodynamically styled rivals such as the Audi 100 C3 and Renault 25, all of a sudden, the chrome-bumpered CX was beginning to look a little twee. So, the company set-about updating the car, giving it body coloured impact bumpers and a new dashboard featuring – gasp – analogue instruments.

To show off its wares, and to prove that the CX was still as youthful as it ever was, the highly budgeted advertising department came up with this stylish video featuring none other than Grace Jones. It worked, too – because it generated huge publicity for the Citroën CX, and with publicity comes custom.

Enjoy the advert!

 

Keith Adams
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23 Comments

  1. Fabulous – my favourite all time car (sorry Alfa Romeo) – if I ever had the dosh I’d have one, modernise it (in a similar fashion to those re-worked Jags) and enjoy driving a totally unique motor! Great advert too – clips from this ended up in Grace Jones’s ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ video…….good call!

  2. My dad had one of these for years. One of the most beautiful cars ever, absolutely loved it. I was gutted when he sold it!

  3. Compared to Grace Jones any car is pretty. Perhaps BL should have employed her for the Allegro Ad’s.

    She must have been the worst looking Bond Girl ever!

  4. You don’t see many CXs these days. Astonsihing car, forced to live in the shadow of what I believe was the greatest car ever made, the DS.

    Wonderful advert, real imagination. Grace Jones? Made some intersting records about the time this advert came out.

    Anyway, far better than the 405 Take My Breath Away garbage.

  5. It’s a stylish commercial, of course, but I always felt the plastic-bumpered Series 2 CX looked a bit gawky compared with the metal-bumper Series 1 -a bit like an old boy who’d forgotten to put his dentures in. And the Series 1 GTi Turbo already had analogue instruments – plus body-coloured metal bumpers. Just wish I could attach a pic to show its true loveliness.

  6. The coloured bumpers (on the facelifted CX and GSA) are a bit Maxi 2 really, at the time they looked more modern, but in retrospect look a bit desperate!

  7. “Re: Dennis the comment king
    Quite possibly the worst Bond film too”

    mmm you may have a point Mike. I have to say though Casino royal was pretty dire too, where he turns up at the hotel in a Ford Mondeo!

  8. I remember the spoof of this. It had an arse come out of the ground which fired out what looked suspiciously like a Metro. I think it may have been on Spitting Image

  9. Casino Royale was excellent. Back to real Ian Fleming. Who cares about the Ford product placement? The first scene featured loads of New Holland products!

  10. @ Richard Kilpatrick
    “I like CXs. I like Grace Jones.”

    There’s only one way to find out which is best…

    FIIIIIGGHHTTT!

    (I think Grace would win.. Anyone every listened to her Album?)

    • Her first best of (from 1985) is amongst my favourites to listen on car journeys. And the CX amongst the favourite cars in my dream garage – well at least until the SM comes along…

      That ad is simply fantastic!

  11. Grace by name, but not by nature.
    LOL: strange ad. Jsut can’t imagine a Audi- or BMW-owner rushing out to buy a CX instead of theirs…

  12. Mmm…yes, the 1980’s…The Citroen CX and Grace Jones….both were interesting.

    Even more interesting was the shockingly rare Citroen SM that preceded the CX….now who would the advertisers have had driving that eh?

    The SM is by far the most beautiful, most interesting and most fascinating car of the post-war era. Check out some of Citroen’s own advertising of the time too….I think they even won awards for some of it.

    As for Grace…?

  13. “Casino Royale was excellent. Back to real Ian Fleming. Who cares about the Ford product placement? The first scene featured loads of New Holland products!”

    Product placement is one thing, but it can go so far you feel like you’re just watching a long advert.
    My point was, that he’d gone from Aston’s and high end BMW’s to a bog standard Mondeo, they could at least have given him a mustang or something. Even Fleming gave Bond a Bentley.

    Now the SM, that could almost have been designed as a Bond car, lob a Maseratti V6 into a saloon car. That would be like buying a Fiat Bravo now and finding a Ferrari V8 under the bonnet.

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