Love at first test drive

What if the most exciting moment in choosing your next car wasn’t the day you take it home but the very first time you get behind the wheel?

Citroën and its agency BETC Paris unveil a new campaign dedicated to one powerful moment: the test drive. The narrative builds around a simple insight: you don’t truly know a car until you drive it. In that short drive, everything can change. At a time when drivers are rethinking their mobility needs, Citroën reinforces its commitment to accessibility, comfort and innovation across its renewed range and positions the test drive as the most convincing argument of all.

The film features a woman who has just finished test-driving a Citroën and reluctantly returns to her old car. Set to the iconic song “Is This Love” by Survivor, we’re drawn into a romantic flashback in which she relives the moments spent behind the wheel, leading us to believe she’s reminiscing about a romance with the dealership salesman… before revealing that the true object of her affection is the Citroën she has just driven.

“We loved the idea of borrowing the codes of cheesy 80s and 90s romantic flashbacks: the slow looks, the heightened emotions, the slightly over-the-top nostalgia… and pushing them to their most absurd extreme”, say Julia Heydemann and Maria Espada, creative team at BETC Paris. “Because that’s exactly what a great test drive can feel like: an instant, irrational crush.”

A twist that gives the film a tone that is both playful and full of tenderness. Back in the present, one thing is certain: she absolutely has to buy the vehicle she just test-drove.

Produced by VERY/CONTENT and directed by Ramez Silyan, the campaign celebrates the almost sensory dimension of the test drive experience. The dealership becomes more than a retail space: it becomes the starting point of new stories.

The message is clear and inviting: come and try it for yourself. Because sometimes, the future begins with a simple drive.