The cars

Citroën BX 4TC

Citroën Compétition · 1986

Photo: Croquant via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Citroën’s Group B car arrived late, too heavy and too close to its family-car origins. It started just three world championship rallies in 1986 before Citroën withdrew, and most of the road cars were later destroyed.

Grouve Sport documentary

Episode 7 — The Underdogs: Toyota, Opel, Nissan, Mazda, Renault, Citroën, Porsche & Ferrari

The underdogs of Group B.

A family car with four-wheel drive

Development began under Citroën’s commercial department with the 1985 season as its target. The rules of the project were restrictive: the car had to keep the BX’s architecture and use as many production parts as possible. The result was long and nose-heavy, with the engine mounted far forward, and the hydropneumatic suspension added to its understeer. The first circuit tests, in December 1985, confirmed that it was heavy and short of power.

Three rallies

• Monte Carlo 1986 – both cars retired, one with a mechanical failure and one after going off.
• Swedish Rally 1986 – Jean-Claude Andruet and Annick Peuvergne finished sixth, the car’s best result.
• Acropolis Rally 1986 – all three cars retired.

After the accidents in Portugal and Corsica, Citroën withdrew to improve the design, and the end of Group B ended the project.

Three rallies, one sixth place and 86 buyers: Citroën’s brief Group B adventure.

The road cars

Only 86 of the 200 road cars found buyers; Citroën destroyed many of the unsold examples, which makes the survivors highly collectable today.

Photo gallery 4 photos

Historic Group B cars photographed at events, demonstrations and museums; each caption states where and when.

Further resources

• Car & Classic: The Homologators — Citroën BX 4TC EN · article
  The story of the BX 4TC and the road cars built to homologate it.
• Motor Sport: Rallying's Cyrano de Bergerac EN · article · subscription
  The Citroën BX 4TC and its brief, troubled career.
• FIA homologation: Citroën BX 4TC (form B-279) EN · archive
  The FIA's homologation record with dates, extensions and the scanned form.
• BX 4TC Evo register EN · community
  Register of the surviving Citroën BX 4TC Evolution cars.

All Group B resources →

More from Cars

Mazda RX-7 Group BRotary power and a podium on the 1985 Acropolis: Mazda Rally Team Europe’s RX-7.Read more →Ferrari 308 GTB (rally)Charles Pozzi’s privately entered Ferrari 308 GTB, second in Corsica in 1982.Read more →Other Group B carsŠkoda 130 LR, Lada VFTS, Talbot Samba, Alméras Porsches and the other Group B cars of the World Championship, with links to the Nissan, Citroën, Mazda and Ferrari pages.Read more →Nissan 240RSNaturally aspirated, rear-wheel drive and built to survive: Nissan’s Group B car for the long rallies.Read more →Renault 5 Turbo and Maxi TurboA mid-engined supermini: three world rally wins, two of them in Corsica with asphalt master Jean Ragnotti, plus a home win for Joaquim Moutinho in Portugal in 1986.Read more →Porsche 911 SC RSPorsche never officially fought for the Group B world title, but the Rothmans/Prodrive 911 SC RS won on asphalt in the European championship and took a podium in Corsica.Read more →

Sources

1. Wikipedia (EN), Citroën BX 4TC — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_BX_4TC
2. Jonkka's World Rally Archive (juwra.com), results and entry lists 1982–1986 — https://www.juwra.com/

All text is original writing for Grouve Sports Management Group, based on the sources above. Facts checked on 21 October 2026.

Thumbnail photos on this page: TTTNIS (Wikimedia Commons, CC0); Thesupermat (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Carlo Marzetti (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0); 先従隗始 (Wikimedia Commons, CC0); HombreDHojalata (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0); Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0).