Citroën Eole luxury concept estate-wagon • circa 1986

Introduced at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show, the Eole was a four-passenger luxury wagon based on the production CX – Citroën’s very successful executive sedan and enormous, family-swallowing Safari model. But while that car had its roots in the 1970s, the Eole was an exploration of where the genre might go in the next decade and beyond.

The estate wagon is often seen as the humble workhorse of the automotive world, considered more for its function and overlooked as an inspired platform for stylistic or technological innovation. But in 1986 Citroën came forward with a bold concept that led to a re-evaluation of this time-worn belief.