The Citroen C3 will serve both the Indian and South American market
Citroen has revealed the C3 compact SUV developed for the Indian market. Do not confuse it with the European model that goes by the same name, for this is an all-new car.
Code-named CC21 and based on the brand’s Common Modular Platform (CMP), the C3 is the first model to be produced under Citroen’s C-Cubed programme.
The design of the car, to put it simply, is athletic. Up front, the compact SUV’s ‘face’ is dominated by the large air intake/grille section and the twin chrome bars placed above join with the 4 DRLs.
Sleek main lights sit above the circular fog lamps that get hexagonal housings painted in a contrasting shade. There is a skid plate below the air intake, while a shapely bonnet is situated above.
Shown only in dual tone exterior colourways – Blue with White roof, Grey with Black, Orange with Black and White with Orange – the Citroen C3 has blacked A- and B-pillars, roof rails and ORVM caps painted in the same shade as the roof.
Citroen is not one brand to shy away from using generous amounts of body and wheel arch cladding and the India-spec C3 has it too. It also rides on a nice set of dual tone alloy wheels.
The car has a fairly decent greenhouse, a sleek tail lamps, a small-ish boot lid, rear skid plate, and old school door handles and, yes, it does have enough ground clearance to clear our huge speed breakers.
On the inside, the dashboard of the C3 is more of a revolution among cars in the compact SUV class. The simple unit which comes painted in a bright shade (in orange here) houses a 10-inch touchscreen, unique air vents, digital driver’s cluster and a simple steering wheel.
There is also a metal strip on the dash and mounting points for smartphones, while fairly simplistic air-con switches and gear lever, 12 V power socket and a USB port are present above some stowage as well.
Citroen says the car will come with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, voice recognition, and that it has a 315 litre boot. However, from the images, it is clear that a sunroof will not be offered with the car.
A 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine is expected to power the car and it will come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, while a DCT will also be on offer.
More details about the compact SUV are expected to arrive closer to the car’s launch which is set to take place in the first half of 2022.
In terms of pricing, Citroen says it will be affordable, but not at the lower end of the compact SUV market (think Nissan Magnite).
What’s more, the made-in-India C3 will be exported to many other right-hand drive markets in the sub-continent, east coast of Africa, among other places.
