The Onyx Axel Familiale was a concept car built by Franco Sbarro on commission from Citroën, based on the Citroën Axel. Rather than a simple estate version of that car, it was a thoroughly reworked family and leisure vehicle. It was shown publicly at the Paris Motor Show in 1984, where Citroën also provided Sbarro with a stand large enough to display an example of his separately built Windhound luxury estate, a car built individually to order. The Axel Familiale's styling was aligned with that of the Windhound, including the slatted front end that ran across the headlights, a feature shared with other Sbarro creations.
The Citroën Axel was the French-market version of the Oltcit, built in Romania and launched in autumn 1981 as a three-door fastback parallel to the Citroën Visa, with a wheelbase of 237 cm rather than the Visa's 243 cm. It was offered with two- and four-cylinder engines, and the French version used the air-cooled 1129 cc four-cylinder boxer engine previously known from the Citroën GS, producing 57 hp at 6250 rpm and 81 Nm of torque at 3500 rpm.
Sbarro reworked the small Romanian car extensively, particularly at the rear, stretching the rear overhang and raising the roofline toward the back to allow for transverse folding child seats in the rear. The interior was finished to a luxurious standard, and the flanks featured pronounced wheel arch extensions linked by surrounding bumper protection. The bodywork was made of glass-fibre reinforced plastic and was designed with potential small-series production in mind, though such production could not have taken place at Sbarro's own facility.
