by Gilles Guillaume
MEUDON (Hauts-de-Seine) (Reuters) – Citroën, one of Stellantis’ 14 brands, unveiled its new electric ë-C3 on Tuesday, a strategic model starting at the tight price of 23,300 euros to counter Chinese ambitions on the car market. the affordable electric car.
The vehicle, which will be produced in Slovakia and marketed in the second quarter of 2024, is the size of the current C3 city car, but its silhouette is less rounded and around ten centimeters higher, in accordance with the current fashion for SUVs.
The announced price of 23,300 euros on a European scale is understood without public aid – as in France the ecological bonus of at least 5,000 euros or the conversion bonus for the scrapping of an old thermal model, of 2,500 euros.
“This is the most important launch for the Citroën brand in at least ten years,” Thierry Koskas, general manager of the chevron brand, told the press. “It’s a way of breaking market codes again, a European electric car at 23,000 euros, there isn’t one.”
To achieve this feat, while the current price of a European electric city car is around 30,000 euros, Stellantis is reusing the simplified “Smart Car” platform inaugurated in India and for which a high rate of 90% of suppliers are based. in low-cost countries.
Citroën is also reducing the diversity of its models, with only two versions, one entry-level and one more equipped at around 27,000 euros, without options, compared to three finishing levels for the current C3.
This strategy and the “Smart car” architecture made it possible to reduce the manufacturing time of the car by 25% compared to its predecessor and the number of parts by 15%, said Renaud Tourte, head of the platform at Stellantis, to journalists.
The car also offers a battery with a limited range – 320 km – and imported from China, using cheaper LFP technology.
The first level of finishing, which could make the vehicle a candidate for “social leasing” at 100 euros wanted by the French government, also does without an “infotainment” screen, swapped for a device allowing the car to be connected to the features of a cell phone.
Thierry Koskas claims a choice of equipment at the “necessary” level and a desire not to make the new C3 a “technological Christmas tree”.
“But we arrive with a car which is absolutely not a sub-car,” he explains. “It has comfort attributes and electrical attributes that are at the best level.”
The ë-C3 thus offers the ultra-flexible suspension with double progressive hydraulic stops, which succeeded the brand’s legendary hydropneumatic suspension, which Citroën until now reserved for larger models.
PREMIERE OF A C3 FAMILY
In a European market which is preparing for a flood of Chinese models – according to the company Inovev, their market share has doubled in two years to 8%, and the trend should continue – Citroën plans to strike even harder a year later.
The brand should therefore launch another version of the even cheaper electric C3 at the beginning of 2025 – from 20,000 euros – with a range reduced to 200 km, added Thierry Koskas.
“The new ë-C3 heralds a family of C3s which will play a major role in strengthening the European range (…) of the brand,” explained Citroën in a press release.
A larger silhouette – 7 seats – and more SUV-style will follow in particular, added Thierry Koskas.
The “smart car” platform, although designed from the start for electric vehicles, should also accommodate gasoline engines at a still very affordable price.
“We experienced an exceptional period marked by product shortages, in which there were very few promotions because there were few (…) vehicles available,” continued the general director of Citroën. “There, we are returning to more competitive practices and therefore ë-C3 arrives at exactly the right time (…) when the market is in demand for good deals.”
The C3 is a great Citroën classic. Last year, the car occupied 11% of the city car market in Europe and since its first generation in 2002, the small versatile sedan has sold more than 5.6 million units.
It currently accounts for 40% of the brand’s car sales in Europe and the new generation should help Citroën achieve its goal of one million global sales by 2025.
Unveiled in the immense Hangar Y in Meudon, where airships were assembled at the end of the 19th century, the car also inaugurates the brand’s new design, with a new logo incorporating the stylistic codes of the origins.
It is a way, as for other automobile brands more than a century old, to claim a legitimacy sometimes undermined by the ambitions of newcomers to the automobile industry, who are riding the wave of the accelerated transition to electric.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, with Nick Carey in London, editing by Kate Entringer)
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