French car manufacturer Citroen will soon be entering the Indian market with their premium mid-size SUV C5 Aircross. The launch is expected to happen next but, we got a chance to spend some time with the all-new C5 Aircross and to more about this new SUV click here. Citroen is a very well known name in international market and has a variety of products in their portfolio. They have both passengers and commercial vehicles that are sold in other markets. Here we have a video which introduces one of the oldest and only surviving Citroen van in India.

The video has been uploaded by Talking Cars on their YouTube channel. In this video, the presenter basically introduces a 1967 model Citroen H van which was once popular around the world. The Citroen H van was produced from 1947 till 1981. The van is seen in the video and the main attraction here is its simple design. Citroen has not put any extra effort to give it a different look. All the body panels are made from tin metal sheets and in order to give it a bit more strength without adding more weight, they had corrugated all the panels and that itself is acting like a design all over the van.

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It has a very basic looking design with a large grille and Citroen logo on it. The engine is mounted at front and unlike other vans, it is a front wheel drive vehicle. Citroen H van is a very simply and practical van that came in number of formats. It was used as food truck, cargo truck and was even used to carry people from one place to other. The side panels on the Citroen H van are customisable which makes it easier for all these conversions. Citroen even used to offer a long wheelbase version.

As this is a front wheel drive van, there is not transmission tunnel running towards the rear. This gave it a flat floor with a low loading lip. This meant more space on the inside for luggage or even passengers. Just like the exteriors, interior of this van also has a very simple but, elegant look. There are two seats at the front, a steering wheel, glove box and an odometer. The engine can be accessed by removing the panel inside the cabin. In this particular H van, there is a sliding door at the rear to access the rear cabin and it does look very spacious from inside.

The van is powered by a 1.9 litre petrol engine mated to a manual gearbox. The main reason why it became popular was because of its practicality. The H van seen in the video was actually gifted by Pope Paul VI to India. Several states in India got this vehicle to distribute medical supplies and other purposes. Most of the vans have already been destroyed and this is probably the only surviving Citroen H van in the country. As Citroen was concentrating more on the practicality part, they did not even care about the design and did not make any changes when it was in production.