Physical attributions: good road handling, comfort, safety, strongly-built, yes, there’s no mistaking, Axel’s one of the family!  Background: designed by Citroën, built in Roumania, parts delivered by Citroën to a Citroën equipped plant.

A new car has been marketed in France since July 1, 1984 - the Axel is the result of an agreement between Roumania and Citroën Automobiles. Designed in the drawing office, the car is constructed in Craiova, Roumania, inside a modern industrial plant, also designed and set up by the French factories. Most of the installations are often identical to those found in the Rennes-La Janais and Aulnay plants in France.

Citroën sells Roumania assembly units (gearboxes, transmissions, crankshafts, suspension, steering and engine parts, etc...) required during the manufacturing of all the vehicles (intended for the Roumanian national market, Comecon and the world) making up 50 % of their value. In exchange, Citroën buys and markets 40% of completed vehicles (in France, Austria, Holland, Italy and Belgium).

It should be noted that without this agreement, Axel wouldn’t be on the market today as the French constructor’s budget hasn’t allowed for this particular model.

STRONGLY BUILT A HARD WORKER It is a front wheel drive double body coupé, 3.72 m long; it is a five-seater with three door. Axel is a functional model, strongly-built and well-adapted to the worst conditions and roads, while capable of bearing heavy loads. It is a multi-purpose car and is extremely practical as it is easy to service (special equipment, easy access to parts and driving gear). It has excellent luggage transport and accommodation space. Loading becomes a quick and simple affair thanks to a tailgate that opens at bumper level. There isn’t a rear loading plate and the back seat folds down. Road handling is exceptional, mainly due to having independent long displacement shock absorbers on all four wheels, as well as front and rear torsion bars. SUSPENSION – CITROËN SAVOIR-FAIRE The suspension has been laid out in a rather unusual way - it is made up of two longitudinal torsion bars linked by a transversal flexion plate fixed to the body. It makes up a simple, robust and extremely light unit with few anchoring points, together with a minimum amount of bearings and articulations, (easy to set and dismount). The needle suspension of the lower bearing wishbone gives a soft kind of suspension absorption, with no sign of stress marks. Two elastomere bearings anchor the flexion plates to the body, causing longitudinal elasticity with excellent absorption along bumpy roads. This type of axle means that the front wheels have high displacement (170 mm). The rear axle has been studied over a long period of time by Citroën. Both the hydraulic version (GSA, CX, BX) and the mechanical version, constitute a modern solution to suspension problems, (it has since been adopted by Peugeot). At the same time it forms a rigid unit taking up little space. It is placed under the floor-board leaving the luggage room entirely free (no bumps or dents). This solution has been adopted on the GS since I970. A U-shaped axle frame is placed horizontally,(opening to the rear), and is fixed to the body with rubber silent blocks which filter the bearing noises. Two smooth bearings allow the suspension arms to rotate partially around the crosshead. They are upheld laterally by torsion bars on either side according to the layout. Longer arms can thus be assembled thereby increasing flexibility (235 mm wheel displacement). The relatively short suspension arms ensure variable flexibility according to the load transported - it is rather soft when the vehicle is not transporting any goods, hardening with increasing loads. This improves the comfort and loading capacity of the vehicle. ENGINE AND GEARBOX THE GSA EXPERIENCE The engine gearbox unit is particularly well built. It is derived from the GSA and benefits from its experience. The flat four cylinder alloy engine is air cooled (no water circuit or cylinder head gasket). It has an overhead camshaft driven by a cogged belt. The alloy gearbox is placed to the rear of the engine in the axis of the vehicle. It is identical to the GSA gearboxes with similar gear ratios. They may be four (standard) or five (optional) speed gearboxes.

TRIPLE AXEL
AND DOUBLE ENTREPRISE

Axel may be delivered in one of many versions - three versions for private use and two “Entreprise” versions, with two different motors and two different levels of finishings.

Axel, Axel 11R and Axel Entreprise (engine: ll29cc delivering 57.5 bhp equipped with a four speed gearbox), Axel 12 TRS and Axel 12 TRS Entreprise (engine: 1129cc delivering 61.5 bhp equipped with a five speed gearbox).

Axel in its different versions completes the Citroën range and can be found on two markets - for small car buyers and Entreprise (company) car buyers.

Buyers of small practical vehicles require useful cars with roomy accommodation, capable of transporting large loads, (large load volume, easy access to boot).

In the lower range, one out of five buyers uses his car “often” to transport luggage or parcels. .. whether for business, family or leisure reasons. This kind of customer (usually ex-Ami 6 or Ami 8 owners) are looking for a reasonable car corresponding to their needs – a useful, reliable and pleasant kind of car.

The “Entreprise” market (cars transformed in to utility cars according to precise rules and regulations such as no rear seats) made up a total of about 850,000 vehicles in France, in 1983. The market is mainly made up of lowerand middle range vehicles.

The buyers are usually people who buy cars for their own private use and use them to transport objects for work. This is why they are looking for good loading space (1102 cm3 for the Axel 12 TRS Entreprise with the seat down), cheap price and lower VAT rate (18.6 % instead of 33 %). As a result of its lower price and practicality, Axel should be one of the most competitive cars on the market.

ASSEMBLED IN OLTENIA

Oltcit, a Franco-Roumanian group with 64% of its capital coming from the Roumanians, was created at the end of 1976. According to the contract signed at the time, Citroën was to provide a turnkey plant, for the construction of a car (Axel), while also handing over the licence.

This agreement has generated a considerably important increase in the number of orders placed with Citroën as well as with French machine-tool and equipment constructors. (A third of total machine-tool orders for France in 1978 and 1979 for example).

Machine, installation and engineering sales represented approximately 3 million hours of labour for Citroën workers throughout France to manufacture the capital goods, 500,000 hours for engineering and general method designs, and 500,000 hours to work on plans for the vehicle.

Situated near Craiova in the Roumanian province of Oltenia, the Oltcit plant covers a total surface area of 350,000 m - over 114 hectares of grounds.

Except for foundry and iron work, all the activities dealing with the manufacturing of the car are carried out on the premises. 5,500 people are employed in two shifts.

The plant consists of a central parts shop and six production buildings - stamping, welding bodywork assembly, painting of small parts and mechanized welding, assembly and machining.

The stamping building is equipped with 107 single and double action cutting and stamping presses varying from 80 - 1,400 tonnes. There are also similar small presses to those at the St-Ouen Citroën plant near Paris.

The bodywork assembly building is made up of 12 automatic welding lines, with an assembly line which measures some 127 metres. The techniques used are identical to those used at the Citroën Rennes - La Janais plant, whereas the assembly procedure of the lower car body is unique to Oltcit.

The same techniques and installations as at the Aulnay plant can be found in the painting department. It is equipped with electrophoresis installations as well as robots for priming and lacquering.

In the bodywork assembly unit number II, engine accessories are manufactured, such as air ducts and pedals, as well as exhaust pipes and petrol tanks.

In painting department II, the exhaust pipes are covered in high heat-resistant paint. Ultra-modern zinc covering methods are being developed here.

The machining building is equipped with 42 automatic transfer lines, of which 4 are engine assembly lines.

Finally, the assembly and finishing lines are very similar to the assembly lines found in France. 59 conveyors and 255 transporters have been installed to make up a total length of 34 kilometers.

The plant comprises 32 programmable automatic machines.

One of the main characteristics of Oltcit is its aim to achieve high quality products.

Devices to continually control and check the quality of the products at all stages of manufacturing have been installed - control points, testing stations, metallurgic and chemical labs, metrological workshops integrated with each technique which are air conditioned and equipped with three dimensional processing machines. All cars coming off the assembly lines are systematically tested.