What's the news?
At the Beijing Motor Show Citroen displayed the C-XR concept crossover, the first car developed in conjunction with Dongfeng, the Chinese car manufacturer that has taken a sizeable chunk of the PSA Group. Though the C-XR was labelled a concept for the motor show it's expected to go into production for the Chinese market very soon.
It is essentially mechanically identical to the Peugeot 2008 and uses that car's electronic Grip Control traction system and 17-inch all-season tyres to compensate for the fact that it can't be bought with four-wheel drive.
There's the de riguer enormous panoramic glass sunroof and Citroen claims that the "suspension settings effortlessly absorb road imperfections for optimal ride comfort." That would be nice, for once these days.
Power comes from a 160hp 1.6-litre turbocharged THP petrol engine fitted with a new automatic gearbox that Citroen claims does wonders for the fuel economy and CO2 emissions. No official numbers are quoted though. Citroen does say that the car has been through a similar weight loss regime to that of the C4 Cactus, which should help its performance.
Anything else?
Aside from the fact that it's only the most thinly disguised of production models, the question surrounding the C-XR (C3 AirCross in production perhaps?) is whether or not it will come to Europe. The success of the similar Peugeot 2008 suggests it's likely, but the car seems to occupy similar conceptual space to that of the crucial new C4 Cactus so we shall have to wait and see.
Neil Briscoe - 28 Apr 2014