Citroën E-Méhari - Art Car by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
The Citroën E-Méhari art car by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between the French designer and Citroën, created to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Méhari in 2018. Hand-painted by Castelbajac himself across every body panel, this fully electric cabriolet transforms an icon of French automotive culture into a moving canvas defined by his signature palette of red, yellow, and blue.
The Méhari: fifty years of French freedom
The original Citroën Méhari launched in 1968 as a deliberately simple machine: an ABS plastic body on the Dyane 6 platform, powered by a 602cc flat-twin petrol engine. Its lightness, modularity, and cheerful character made it one of the most beloved utility vehicles in French history. The E-Méhari is its electric successor: a four-seater open-top cabriolet powered by Lithium Metal Polymer batteries developed by the Bolloré Group and produced in Brittany, assembled at Rennes. It is the first electric vehicle certified as French Origin Guaranteed, as Stellantis Media's official press release on the E-Méhari art car confirms.
Castelbajac's intervention
Jean-Charles de Castelbajac approached the E-Méhari as he approaches any canvas: with an optimistic, declarative gesture. His three primary colours carry deliberate meaning. Red stands for passion, yellow for radiation and energy, blue for electricity and ecology. A conquering angel occupies the hood, Castelbajac's recurring motif for hope and forward momentum. The brushwork extends to the electric powertrain cover, which Castelbajac signed personally, blurring the line between automotive engineering and artistic authorship. According to Citroën's international media release on the collaboration, the chromatic programme is a direct reflection of the designer's long-standing engagement with primary colour as a language of joy.
A unique piece exhibited at the Paris Auto Show
The E-Méhari art car was presented at the Paris Auto Show and made exclusively available through TheArsenale, making it one of the rarest intersection points between contemporary fashion design, electric mobility, and collector automotive culture.
The E-Méhari belongs to a lineage of vehicles that exist as both art objects and functional machines. Explore more automotive artworks and one-of-a-kind collector vehicles in the TheArsenale gallery collection and the TheArsenale car collection, alongside limited works such as the Art Ball M1 Andy Warhol Edition and the Smart Electric Drive Blackout by TheArsenale.
