Citroen Compact SUV Spied, Firm Begins Testing Of First India-Made Car

A development mule of the India-made Citroen compact SUV has been spied while it was undergoing test runs.

The French carmaker will first launch the C5 Aircross by Q1 next year and then introduce its first made-in-India vehicle, which is the compact SUV that has been spied, during the festive season.

Codenamed C21, the model will be underpinned by Citroen’s Common Modular Platform (CMP), which has been specifically designed for developing markets.

As for the design, although the spied model is completely covered up, we can say for sure that it will take styling cues from larger cars in the carmaker’s range and will have familiar features like the grille, 2-tier headlights and black cladding along the sides.

Road tests of the Citroen compact SUV spied car will also include in its assessment, the performance and durability of the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that will power the car.

It was the same unit that was recently being tested on a unit of the Berlingo MPV and it is said the unit has been benchmarked against Maruti’s petrol motors. So, expect fuel efficiency to be on the higher side.

Production will take place at CK Birla facility at Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu. Also, the upcoming compact SUV will also be sold in other places like South America.