This May Be The Best Worst Batmobile

Are you one of those people who always wanted to be a big fan of Batman, but just couldn’t get into it because instead of Batman being the alter-ego of a fabulously wealthy possible psychopath from a fictional American city, you would have much preferred that he was the alter-ego of a likely lower-middle-class possible psychopath from somewhere in Latin America? If so, I have some great news for you.

It seems that sometime in the early 1970s, Spanish-language Citroën advertising included a Batman-focused campaign. I mean, I’m saying “campaign,” but the truth is I’ve only found one print ad that included Batman and a Citroën, so that’s all I have proof for, but I’d be surprised if that was really the only one. I mean, you go through all the trouble to license a well-known character like Batman, are you really just going to use it for just one ad?

This is the ad, by the way, for the Dyane 6:

That tagline, “para gente encantadora” translates to something like “for delightful/charming/lovely people,” and I suppose one could argue that Batman and/or Robin have those qualities? I feel like I rarely hear Batman described as lovely or charming, but maybe I just haven’t observed him in the right contexts. Maybe at a relaxed brunch Batman is a witty, charming fellow who delights with his bon mots and makes everyone feel special?

This tagline shows up in a number of other Spanish-language Dyane 6 advertisements, like this commercial that seems to be targeted at collegiate-aged buyers:

…and this one, that covers the full Citroën line, including some interesting pickup truck variants:

I think that pickup is a Chilean-market car, and that’s where I think this commercial is from?

But let’s go back and talk about the Dyane 6 as a possible Batmobile. The Dyane was developed to be an updated Citroën 2CV; it used the well-proven 2CV drivetrain and suspension, but was clothed in a new, more modern body. Designed in 1967 (and built until 1983), the Dyane is best thought of as a somewhat more comfortable 2CV.

This is, of course, good and bad, depending on your perspective. It has all of the 2Cv’s advantages of reliability, ruggedness, and flexibility, but, despite its more updated body, is still the somewhat archaic, spartan 2CV underneath it all.

The Dyane did offer a true hatchback design for more practicality, and while I think they’re pretty cool, they never really managed to replace the 2CV. While modern-looking compared to the old Deux Cheveaux, it still didn’t exactly look like most modern cars of the era, which, for some buyers, wasn’t what they wanted.

Okay, but what sort of a Batmobile would it make? A slow one. Even though the ad specifies it’s a Dyane 6, meaning it has the Citroën “big block” 602cc engine making a mind-scrambling 29 horsepower, that’s not a lot by Batmobile standards. Or, even regular economy car standards.

As far as special Batmobile equipment goes, all I can really see is a bat-cowl-shaped grille-area panel and a large dorsal vertical batwing on the roof. This batwing sort of confuses me, as it’s mounted to the Dyane’s canvas, foldable roof. Would that keep the roof from opening?

There could be other equipment in there I just can’t see, like grappling hooks and Bat-seat massagers and Bat-guano-launchers. Maybe that’s there?

As it stands, a Dyane 6 Batmobile would be charming, slow, have excellent fuel economy (which can’t hurt), and could seat about twice as many people as most traditional Batmobiles.

So, overall, assuming the Joker or Riddler or whoever isn’t in too big a hurry to escape, I think this would be pretty great!

Top graphic image: Citroën