The Citroën C3 is one of the brand’s best sellers in 2020 and 2021. A great performance, especially since the C3 range is the only one not to offer a 100% electric version. The manufacturer intends to correct this shortcoming from 2023.
Slowly but surely, Citroën continues to electrify its fleet. After the success encountered with the Citroën Ami, the small electric city car without a license at €6,900, the chevron brand recently presented the Citroën ë-C4 X, a brand new electric sedan/SUV.
This new model therefore completes the C4 range made up of the Citroën C4 and ë-C4. For the moment, it should be specified that this is of the only 100% electric vehicles offered by the manufacturer (excluding the AMI, which targets a particular market). Nevertheless, Citroën intends to diversify its offer soon, by launching an electrified version of the C3 and C3 Aircross. These city cars, available in diesel and petrol, have established themselves in the TOP 5 of the best sales in France in 2020 and 2021.
These variants should land in 2023 according to the statements of the manufacturer. For the occasion, the city car should also change platform, swapping PSA’s PF1 platform for the CMP platform of the parent company Stellantis. As a reminder, this platform is found on several electric vehicles of the group such as the Peugeot e208 or the latest electric Opel Corsa.
Also read: The Citroën Ami is a hit with more than 20,000 sales
Citroën switches to the CMP platform for the ë-C3
In fact, we should therefore find the famous 100 kWh engine block and its 50 kWh battery, for a power of approximately 136 horsepower. On the autonomy side, it should oscillate between 320 and 350 km in use mixed. Arnaud Ribaud, boss of Citroën Europe, confirmed the use of the CMP platform to our colleagues on the AutoExpress site.
“The work we are currently doing is to reduce the costs or to be able to compensate for the increase in the cost of raw materials and electrification in all the projects that we are developing”. The executive also specifies that he intends to offer with the new e-C3 a “cheaper alternative to Vauxhalls and Peugeots” electrical. To give you an idea, the Peugeot e-208 is trading from €34,550.
Now it remains to know how Citroën intends to go about offering a lighter bill with the e-C3 : a less powerful engine at the risk of having a reduced autonomy? Or rather cut back on production costs? At a time when the prices of raw materials are soaring, we are curious to know what will be the miracle solution adopted by the manufacturer.