The PSA Groupe that owns the French brand Citroen has announced its entry into India. It showcased its first SUV for the Indian market the Citroen C5 Aircross in Chennai. The C5 Aircross will be locally assembled at its plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, where it already makes engines.
The Citroen C5 Aircross will be launched in 2020, followed by three new models from Citroen – one every year between 2021 and 2023.
But before this SUV is officially launched, the company has a lot of ground to cover. It will be starting its dealership and service network setting up initiative from July 2019. Although the C5 Aircross was unveiled at the event, the company did not give out specifics of the vehicle.
It is slightly larger than a Volkswagen Tiguan. The model showcased is a five-seater. Globally, it has a 2-litre diesel or a 1.2-litre turbo-charged petrol engine option with 8-speed automatic transmissions. It comes with driving modes that play with the traction control to give it some off-road cred. It’s unclear which options will be chosen for the Indian market.
The company currently is only making engines at its plant in Hosur, which are for export markets, but it will soon start producing cars for the domestic market. Citroen, in addition to the C5 Aircross SUV, is also likely to bring in the C3 Aircross, which is a much smaller compact SUV, measuring about 4.1 metres in length. It’s slightly larger than a Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and smaller than a Hyundai Creta, quite similar to the Mahindra XUV300.
It has partnered with the CK Birla group, which used to sell Hindustan Motors cars (remember the Ambassador) cars in India. PSA Groupe has bought the rights to the Ambassador brand as well – but there’s no clue on what product that name may or may not be used on.
(Photos & inputs from: Vikram Venkateswaran @ The Quint)
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