Citroen C3 Aircross compact SUV spied on Indian roads without camouflage
Citroen has showcased its first vehicle for the Indian market, which will be the C5 AirCross SUV. They are showcasing the new SUV at the La Maison Citroen dealership, which translates to ‘home of Citroen’. While the C5 AirCross is positioned as a flagship, the budget-friendly C3 AirCross was recently spied in Lucknow without any camouflage. Citroen will be launching an all-new compact-SUV which has been codenamed CC21 internally. So, it is to be expected that the C3 AirCross here is on component testing. However, the CC21 will be based on the C3 AirCross but will be smaller than it.
Just like the elder sibling, the C3 AirCross also possesses quite a bit of road presence, thanks to its unique design language which resembles a lot of the C5 AirCross. At the front, it gets a split headlamp design. While the main halogen headlamp is placed below, the LED Daytime Running Lamps are placed above which neatly integrates with the two-slat grille which forms the Citroen logo. The grille is placed alongside the headlamps and then just below it is the faux silver skid plate with three slats.
At the side profile, there are blacked-out five-spoke alloy wheels, blacked-out pillars and the outside rearview mirrors also painted black. There are roof rails and black plastic cladding that runs along the wheel arches enhancing the SUV proportions of the C3 AirCross. From the behind, we can see a similar design that we have seen on the C5 AirCross. The tail lamps resemble a lot to the C5 but are smaller. The reverse light has been placed with the reflectors in the lower half of the bumper. It gets a chunky bumper with a faux skid plate with three slats.
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One thing to notice is the massive glass area that the C3 AirCross offers. This should make the cabin feel very airy and the compact-SUV should be fairly easy to drive as well. The C3 AirCross measures 4,154 mm in length, 1,756 mm in width, and it is 1,637 mm tall. As it crosses, the 4-metre mark, it cannot be classified as a sub-4-metre SUV and won’t be able to take the tax advantage. So, Citroen has to develop a new specific compact-SUV for the Indian market.
The new compact-SUV will come with a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine. The engine will produce 100 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 150 Nm. Citroen will offer it with a manual gearbox as well as an automatic transmission. The CC21 will be underpinned by Citroen’s Common Modular Platform. The same platform is also used by Peugeot and other Citroen products. In future, Jeep’s compact-SUV will also be using the same platform and the engine. The CC21 will be smaller than the C3 AirCross and will fall under 4-metres. However, from the previous spy shots, the design language of the CC21 looks inspired by the C3 AirCross. People will favour the more affordable and compact CC21 than the C5 AirCross which being a CKD is expected to much expensive. The CC21 is expected to start from Rs. 5 lakhs ex-showroom.
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