Citroen India has commenced the trial production of its first product - the C5 Aircross - at its facility in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. The company will locally assemble the SUV from the imported CKD kits. Citroen C5 AirCross launch will take place in the Q1 (January-March) 2021 in the Indian market. We have learnt that it will be presented in a single fully loaded feature rich trim to the buyers while the price could be around Rs 30 Lakhs (Ex. Showroom). The ideal competitors for the SUV will be Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson and Skoda Karoq.
Earlier, Citroen had decided to launch the C5 Aircross in 2020 only in India but it had to push back the launch by a year due to COVID-19. As far as styling is concerned, the SUV will flaunt split LED headlamps with DRLs upfront. Some of the key features will include dual-zone climate control, hands-free tailgate, panoramic sunroof, powered driver’s seat, 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto & Apple CarPlay, electronic parking brake, and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster as standard. The first Citroen dealership is almost ready to operate in Ahmedabad while nearly 10-15 more outlets will be opened in various big cities in the first phase under the company's ‘La Maison Citroen’ concept.
Under the bonnet, Citroen C5 AirCross will have the BS6 compliant 2.0L diesel engine which will develop top power of 180bhp while linked to an 8-speed torque converter automatic transmission. Earlier, it was stated that the SUV will draw power from a 1.5L diesel engine which will churn out 131bhp but that turned out to be untrue. The French automaker has planned to introduce at least three more new SUVs besides the C5 Aircross. In particular, it is working on a C21 compact SUV which will be heavily localized with upto 90-95 percent local content so that it could be priced aggressively at around Rs 7 Lakhs (Ex. Showroom). Citroen C21 has already begun road tests and will be launched in the second half of 2021 in India.
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