The Citroën LN (Hélène) and Citroën LNA (Hélèna) are front-engine, front-drive, three-door, four passenger hatchback
city car
The A-segment is the first category in the passenger car classification system defined by the European Commission. It is used for city cars, the smallest category of passenger cars defined.
A-segment sales represented approximately 4.2% of the ...
s manufactured and marketed by
Citroën
Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...
from 1976 to 1986 over a single generation — as a
badge engineered
In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. T ...
variant of the
Peugeot 104, introduced shortly after the takeover of Citroën by Peugeot.
The added "A" used in the name of the bigger engined LNA stood for ''Athlétique'' (Athletic).
Its noise figure is 69 decibels.
Citroën LN (1976–1978)
The LN was introduced in July 1976.
It combined the bodyshell of the
Peugeot 104 Z (a shortened floorpan version of the 104) with the economical 602 cc
two-cylinder
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categoriz ...
gasoline engine of the
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV (, , lit. "two horses", meaning "two Tax horsepower#France, ''taxable'' horsepower") is an economy car produced by the French company Citroën from 1948 to 1990. Introduced at the 1948 Paris Paris Auto Show, Salon de l'Automobi ...
. Equipment levels were low, but the LN's key selling points were its low price and running costs.

Strongly resembling the Peugeot it was based on, the LN was assembled at
a Citroën plant and fitted with a Citroën engine. Peugeot had recently acquired Citroën and the LN stood in stark contrast to assurances that the two marques would retain their individuality.
[ When pressed, Citroën explained that the LN project had been rushed through because of "the need to supply customers and the ealershipnetwork with a model to strengthen Citroën's position at the lower end of the market,"][ hardly a ringing endorsement. The Citroën range included the Ami and the Dyane as well as the venerable 2CV which would continue in production well after the others. Citroën made it clear that this would not happen again,] which remained largely true until the Citroën Saxo, which was a badge engineered
In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. T ...
variant of the Peugeot 106
The Peugeot 106 is a supermini produced by France, French automaker Peugeot between 1991 and 2003. Launched in September 1991, it was Peugeot's entry level offering throughout its production life, and was initially sold only as a three-door hatc ...
(itself developed from the Citroen AX platform).
Citroën LNA (1978–1986)
Citroën marketed the LN mainly in Southern Europe and neighbouring countries, and a more powerful replacement, the LNA, was introduced on 6 November 1978 and was exported to much of the rest of Europe (including right-hand drive
Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ...
versions for Great Britain, where it was not launched until early 1983). It had the more powerful and modern 652 cc two-cylinder engine of the Citroën Visa
The Citroën Visa is a five-door, front-engine, front wheel drive supermini car, supermini manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1978 to 1988 in gasoline and diesel variants. 1,254,390 examples were ultimately manufactured over a single gene ...
with electronic ignition. In December 1982 a 1.1 L four-cylinder engine was added which had a top speed of nearly 90 mph (145 km/h) for the LNA 11E and 11RE, which spelled the end of the two-cylinder models in many markets.[ Renaux, p. 137] But like the smaller-engined LN, the LNA was cheap to buy and cheap to run. For Italy and France only, there was also an intermediate version called the LNA 10E, with a 954 cc Peugeot engine.
By 1980 a variant of the LNA could was marketed in France as the "LNA Entreprise", with the back seat removed. This was effectively a function of taxation rules, whereby the two-seater car could be sold with a reduced rate of value-added tax
A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...
.
After the LNA's launch, it spawned another badge engineered
In the automotive industry, rebadging (also known as badge engineering, an intentionally ironic misnomer in that little or no actual engineering takes place) is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. T ...
variant, the Talbot Samba, featuring square headlights and a different, slightly longer, rear body section. The mechanicals and a developed version of the full length 104 floorpan were used in the Citroën Visa
The Citroën Visa is a five-door, front-engine, front wheel drive supermini car, supermini manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1978 to 1988 in gasoline and diesel variants. 1,254,390 examples were ultimately manufactured over a single gene ...
that was also launched in 1978. 1983 cars arrived early, in July 1982, and benefited from new molded black plastic bumpers, a new decoration for the C-pillar, a newly positioned rubber side-strip, new larger rear lights on a black-painted rear panel, blacked out chrome window trim, and more elaborately styled wheels which were shared with the manufacturer's Visa Super E. The interior was also improved (with a parcel shelf, for instance) and the folding rear seat was now split. In July 1985 Citroën introduced cars for the 1986 model year. The previously black grill and bumpers were now coloured grey, although LNA production ceased in the summer of 1986, around the same time as the Talbot Samba. Its successor, the Citroën AX
The Citroën AX is a supermini which was built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. It was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA.
Overview
Development of this model started in 19 ...
, was launched shortly afterwards.
It was not launched onto the British market until early 1983, where the most popular entry-level small cars were the Austin Metro
The Metro is a supermini car, later a city car that was produced from 1980 to 1998, first by British Leyland (BL) and later by the Rover Group. It was launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro (styled AUSTIN miniMETRO).
The Mini Metro was inte ...
and Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...
. It also reached the UK market during the same year as the Fiat Uno
The Fiat Uno is a supermini manufactured and marketed by Fiat. Launched in 1983, the Uno was produced over a single generation (with an intermediate facelift, 1989) in three and five-door hatchback body styles until 1995 in Europe — and un ...
, Nissan Micra, Peugeot 205
The Peugeot 205 is a four-passenger, front-engine, supermini ( B-segment) car manufactured and marketed by Peugeot over a sixteen-year production run from 1983 to 1999, over a single generation. Developed from ''Projet'' M24 and introduced on 2 ...
and Vauxhall Nova, but failed to prove anywhere near as popular as any of these cars and was withdrawn from sale there after just two years.
The Peugeot 104 remained in production until 1988 even though its popular successor, the 205, had been launched five years earlier, as an entry-level model in some markets. The Visa also lasted until 1988. The Visa-based box van Citroën C15
The Citroën C15 is a panel van produced by the France, French manufacturer Citroën from late 1984 until 2006. It was the successor to the Citroën Acadiane, which had replaced the Citroën 2CV vans that pioneered the box van format from the ...
version was the longest lasting 104 derivative, using 205 and 206 mechanicals it was made until 2005.
Technical specifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Citroen LNA
1980s cars
Cars introduced in 1976
Cars discontinued in 1986
Cars powered by boxer engines
LNA
City cars
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Hatchbacks