Based on a 1960s car named after a camel, the Citroen Cactus M is the latest out-there concept to come from the fertile minds of French car designers. It’ll make its global debut later this month at the Frankfurt auto show.

Dubbed an “outdoor crossover,” the idea behind the Cactus is to remove all boundaries “between passengers and the world around them,” a theme inspired by the 2CV-based Mehari Citroen built between the late 1960s through to the ’80s.

You’ll have to forgive us as we use our just-barely-functional French to wade through the press release, but Citroen has built a car for the beach that can be hosed out, as the perforated floor will let water drain, the flowery fabric on the seats and dash is salt-resistant, and the entire boat-inspired interior is weather-resistant.

The rear arch, a stylistic element borrowed from the Mehari, is finished in wood, along with the windshield header and A-pillars, and from the C4 Cactus with which the concept shares a platform, the Cactus M gets “airbump” exterior door panels that resist parking-lot dings.

When you’ve had enough of the outdoors, there’s an inflatable roof and a two-person tent that stows in the car’s trunk.

We gave up camping years ago; we gotta say, the Cactus M is cool enough get us back into the great outdoors.

Citroen Cactus M concept (6)

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