The production-ready Citroen C3 was spied near Chennai in Tamil Nadu
The Citroen C3 has been spied undisguised a few months after its official reveal took place and it looks like the French brand is not keen on wrapping up the final leg of road tests without properly examining the car.
Set to be launched in the Indian market in the first half of this year, the Citroen C3 (not to be confused with the model sold in Europe with the same name) will be the brand’s affordable model.
This particular development mule had a lot of testing equipment and 4 occupants inside and its body was painted in white, while the roof was blacked, like the ‘A’ and ‘B’ pillars and exterior mirror caps.
This crossover was riding on steel wheels (had wheel covers though), had twin chrome trim pieces that integrate with the DRLs up front and chrome housing for the blinkers on the front fender, tail lamps and reflectors on the back bumper.
It is likely that the excessive chrome embellishment comes as part of an accessory package that will be offered with the compact crossover, among other such packs.
The recently spied Citroen C3 did not have the plastic cladding on the lower part of its doors and its rear skid plate was different to the model that was unveiled as it is likely a variant with less equipment that does not have fog lamps as well.
Based on the French firm’s Common Modular Platform (CMP), the 3.98-metre C3 is the first model to be produced under Citroen’s C-Cubed programme. India will be the manufacturing hub for right-hand drive versions of the car.
It will rival the likes of the Tata Punch, Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger in the Indian market and will be powered by a sole 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine which can be teamed to either a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 7-speed DCT.
To be offered with dual tone colour choices, the C3 will come with features such as a digital instrument cluster, 10-inch infotainment touchscreen, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, smartphone holder, voice recognition, among others.
But, the compact crossover will not feature a sunroof and customers will have to make do with seats that have integrated headrests, manual air-conditioning and manual adjustment for the ORVM.
