Citroën ID Sedan 1968

The name “ID” is pronounced in French like “idée”, meaning “idea”, continuing Citroën’s wordplay around the DS name, pronounced like “déesse”, or “goddess”. The 1968 sedan also belongs to the first D-series generation fitted with the dramatic four-lamp front end beneath a glass cover. On ID models, swivelling headlamps were not universally standard as they were on some high-specification DS versions; their availability depended on the model and selected equipment.

The exact production total for the 1968 Citroën ID Sedan is difficult to separate from the wider D-series figures. Published totals often combine ID and DS models, several body styles or multiple markets, without identifying the sedan built during one specific model year. It is therefore safer not to assign a precise number of cars to this version without a factory record covering the same scope. The sedan was nevertheless part of the ID family’s long commercial career, which began in the mid-1950s and continued until the range was reorganised in the early 1970s. Break models, export specifications and production outside France make surviving production statistics even harder to interpret consistently.

Period tests and specialist publications generally identified the ID with suspension comfort, stability and strong road holding, while noting its less lavish specification compared with the DS. A Motor Sport road test of an ID 19 praised the car’s ability to absorb poor surfaces and its accurate handling, but also pointed to the substantial size and heavy steering during slow manoeuvres. That assessment captures the sedan’s character: it was better suited to long-distance travel and relaxed cruising than to quick urban responses. Contemporary commentary therefore treated the ID as more than a budget derivative. It remained a technically distinctive automobile, although its comfort-focused design brought compromises in weight, packaging and low-speed ease of use.