Announced at the 1998 NBAA convention, the Model 680 made its maiden flight in February 2002, certification was awarded on June 2, 2004, and deliveries began in late September.

The Citation Excel fuselage was stretched and joined with an all-new, larger wing and more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines for increased maximum takeoff weight and a 3,200 nmi (5,900 km) range.

[2] The Citation Sovereign was announced at the 1998 NBAA convention, it made its maiden flight in February 2002, and deliveries began in late September 2004.

[5] The improved Sovereign+ was announced at the October 2012 NBAA, it rolled out in early March 2013, first flew in April, and began deliveries on December 23 after certification, at a time when the Sovereign fleet reached 349 and had flown 802,000 hours.

[1][7] The Citation Excel fuselage was stretched for a 6.6 ft (2.0 m) longer cabin and joined with a large, newly designed 515.9 sq ft (47.93 m2) wing with large trailing edge flaps for good runway performance, 16.3° wing sweep and a relatively high critical Mach number for efficient 445 kn (824 km/h) TAS cruise.

It is powered by 5,770 lbf (25.7 kN) Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C engines, derated from the Gulfstream G200 or Do 328JET, and uses Honeywell Primus Epic glass cockpit avionics with four LCD screens.