The first Citation ever built was the Citation 500, delivered in 1970.
Over the past 50+ years, Cessna Aircraft Company and subsequently Textron Aviation have continually brought to market new variants of the Citation 500 fuselage – from the Citation II, V, Bravo, Ultra, Encore and even the 525 “CJ” line by utilizing the same basic fuselage structure. The fuselage was lengthened along the way, different wings were attached, and improvements made in the engines, avionics and interior appointments in order to create each successive model. In the 525 line, the Citation 500 fuselage was used to build the original Citationjet (straight 525 CJ), the CJ1, CJ1+, CJ2, CJ2+, CJ3, CJ3+, CJ4, CJ4 Gen2, Citation M2 and M2 Gen2. Textron recently announced the Citation CJ3 Gen2 for deliveries in 2025.
The introduction of the Citation 650 fuselage provided for a larger, midsized cabin experience and was used in the Citation III, VI and VII before Cessna introduced the Citation Excel. The Excel has had numerous variant models such as the XLS, XLS+ and the XLS Gen2. The Sovereign/+ and the Citation X/X+ were also designed using the Citation 650 fuselage.
The Citation Mustang fuselage was only utilized for one aircraft and was discontinued in 2017.
Customer clamor for a flat floor and wide cabin super mid aircraft led to the development of the Citation 700 fuselage, used in the Citation Latitude and Longitude.
