Citroën C5 Aircross

Say Bonjour (Hello) to French brand which has recently setup up its shop in India. si.tʁɔ.ɛn (French) which means Citroën (English). Found in 1919, Citroën belongs to French Automotive manufacturer owned by PSA Group. PSA group announced its merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) on 50-50 all-stock bases in 2019. PSA Groups owns brands like Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, Vauxhall while FCA owns Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Abarth, Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romao, Maserati. Citroën has tasted success by winning 8 WRC and 5 Dakar titles.

France is known as the world’s fashion capital and a car designed by French designers will be worth waiting for. Citroën is called the master of front-wheel drive. The first offering for the Indian market will be the Citroën C5 Aircross a front-wheel-drive luxurious SUV. With SUV’s selling like hotcakes in India, C5 Aircross will be a new option for Indian SUV lovers.

Design Aspect

C5 Aircross is an all-steel body moulded in monocoque architecture. On the front, you get to see the bonnet carved with scups like sculpture, the two-part grille is neatly arranged with the Citroën logo spanning out to the DRL and the second part holds the headlamps which are either LED or Xenon. The front cements trapezoidal-shaped air-cons with rounded-out edges and follow me fog lamps. Side profile carries forwards trapezoidal-shaped design details on the skirtings. The window line is C-shaped with chrome element and roof rails on the top giving a sporty touch to the C5. On the back are the 4 part LED tail lamps with curved trapezoid lights and at the bottom are similar geometric figure-shaped exhaust vents. C5 Aircross comes with 18-inch swirled two-tone diamond-cut alloy wheels fitted with 235/55/R18 tires.

Displacement

C5 Aircross will be powered by a 2.0L Diesel engine churning out 177PS (174bhp) and whopping 400NM of torque which is massive for the car of this size, tuned to 8 Speed Automatic Torque Converter gearbox designed by Aisin and the same gearbox can be seen on other German cars as well like the BMW X1. Surprisingly PSA group supply this engine to Ford while Ford is known as a diesel engine technology expert.

Cabin

Inside the car, you get to see plastic, leather, chrome, piano black and fabric stylishly put together. On the dash, a stitched belt gives a fashion touch to the interior of the car. A/C vents are split into two parts; in between the A/C vents is the 8-inch touch multifunctional infotainment screen. Below the screen are feather touched shortcut buttons for menu, navigation, music, A/C controls, vehicle settings, phone calls. Further down the center console, the gear leaver looms out giving a resemblance to Dassault Rafale fuel nozzle. Adjacent to the gear lever is a knob for traction control to switch between sand, snow, mud, normal mode and also to switch-off the traction control. There are mode switches for Eco, Sport and Grip Mode (hill descent control).

Gear lever and engine Start/Stop buttons are located an inch away from the driver; originally C5 Aircross being a European spec car the center console is designed as per the left-hand drive orientation. Moving further there are two cup holders with an uncommon feature for coffee break alert. Under the armrest is the large storage space which can hold upto 2 bottles.

The instrument cluster is a large 12.3” TFT digital screen and the driver can select from the preloaded styles of screens to drive with. On the top of the screen, there is a retro-style dial inspired by a radio tuner for displaying the speed of the vehicle along with digital output showing the speed numbers. A multifunctional leather-wrapped steering wheel with flat bottom and steering mounted controls that can be adjusted in a tilt and telescopic manner is the focal point of the cabin. The cruise control switch and the paddle shifters are fixed and don’t move along with the steering wheel. The rear seat comprises 3 parts that can be folded and moved forward individually for tailoring the boot space. The total boot is 580L with the seat upright and pushed back. The floorboard is flat, below the A/C vents is one USB charging port.

Variants

Citroën C5 Aricross will be available in two variants Feel & Shine. All features will be the same across both versions except 3 additional features like Panoramic Sunroof, LED headlamps & Automatic Tailgate with gesture control in the fully loaded Shine Variant.

Features

Air quality system
Cruise control
Auto lights & wiper
Rear defogger
TPMS
Electric tailgate
Blindspot warning
Parking assist
Double laminated front windows
Android Auto/Apple Car Play
Auto Start/Stop Engine
Seat belt Indicators for all passengers

Dimensions & India Plan

The car stands at a height of 1710mm above the ground with length and width of 4500mm & 2099mm respectively & wheelbase is of 2730mm, ground clearance is 230mm. C5 Aircross will be assembled in India at the PSA group's Tamil Nadu plant, while they have been producing engines and transmission in India since 2017 and exporting around the world. Citroën will open 10 showrooms in cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Cochin & Kolkata. Their showrooms will be called “La Maison” in French and “House of Citroën” in English. Citroën aims at 90% localization parts in India.

Production of C5 Aircross has already commenced in India and SUV is expected to be priced above ₹28L and the tentative launch will be in March-April month. C5 will be a head-on competitor to Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan, Jeep Compass 2021, Toyota Fortuner & Ford Endeavour. The company has claimed C5 Aircross will be a Luxury SUV with leisurely drive due to the addition of progressive hydraulic cushions suspension (patented technology by Citroën) giving the passengers “Flying Carpet Effect”.

Now let's see whether a French car can speak the Indian language.

Citroën C5 Aircross - Inspired by India