Production of the Citroen C6 has come to a close after eight years, ending the reign of the unconventional and largely unloved large luxury sedan.

With just 556 Citroen C6s delivered in Europe in the first 10 months of 2012, the French manufacturer decided to pull the pin on the ageing model, which has been essentially unchanged since its 2005 launch.

The successor to the Citroen XM that was produced between 1989 and 2000, the Citroen C6 was previewed by the 1999 C6 Lignage prototype but did not roll off the assembly line in production form for another six years.

Created as a style-centric alternative to the likes of the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the C6 was – like its spiritual forefather, the Citroen DS – instantly recognisable thanks to unique design elements such as its boomerang-shaped headlights and tail-lights and concave rear windscreen.

The Citroen C6 launched with a 3.0-litre petrol V6 and a 2.7-litre V6 diesel – the same unit that now powers the Australian-made Ford Territory. A 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel was added in 2006, while the 2.7-litre was replaced by a 3.0-litre V6 diesel in 2009.

Despite launching to some fanfare – former French president Jacques Chirac used a pre-production C6 as his official car before the model was even introduced – sales fell away towards the end of last decade. Annual production peaked at 7600 in 2007, but petered off to 1000 just two years later.

Citroen sold 104 C6s in Australia between its 2006 launch and the $108,750 model’s discontinuation around the middle of this year, with almost half of those (46) delivered in 2007. Just 11 have been registered in Australia since the end of 2009.

The C6 is expected to be replaced in the coming years by the Citroen DS9, which was previewed in April by the Citroen Numero 9 shooting brake concept.