Citroen has revealed the second of three deliberate small automobiles for rising markets with the New C3 Aircross, an SUV accessible with 5 or seven seats.

The C3 Aircross will go on sale in India and South America in late 2023, adopted by a brand new market, Indonesia, in 2024.

The Stellantis model is focusing on 30 p.c gross sales exterior Europe by 2025 in contrast with 15 p.c in 2021, and in 2019 it introduced the C-Cubed program to develop fashions tailor-made for worldwide patrons.

The C3 Aircross will likely be in-built Porto Actual, Brazil, and Thiruvallar, India, the place Stellantis has a three way partnership manufacturing facility with CK Birla.

“Our technique is to enter and develop in high-potential and fast-growing key areas and markets with a differentiated providing for purchasers which is inexpensive, locally-tailored and locally-built,” Citroen’s new CEO, Thierry Koskas, mentioned in a press release. 

The New C3 Aircross will permit Citroen “to achieve a brand new group of shoppers who need an interesting, value-for-money and spacious household B-SUV with robust, muscular design,” he added. Koskas grew to become Citroen CEO on March 1, succeeding Vincent Cobee.

The C3 Aircross revealed on Thursday differs from the mannequin of the identical identify that has been offered in Europe since 2017.

The European C3 Aircross was developed collectively by GM and PSA Group; the India-built mannequin is on a model of the CMP structure that was modified with assist from Tata Consulting. The automobiles do share comparable styling, with a big C pillar, however the European mannequin is 160 mm shorter.

It follows the New C3 small automotive launched final yr; a full-electric model went on sale in February. Stellantis has not mentioned if it’ll convey any of the fashions to Europe.

The New C3 Aircross has 200 mm of floor clearance, protecting cladding and strategy and departure angles that guarantee it received’t scrape the bottom on steep hills, Citroen mentioned. The suspension has been tuned for rougher roads.

Citroen didn’t launch full technical specs for the New C3 Aircross, however will probably be powered by Stellantis’ 1.2 liter three-cylinder gasoline engine, which is regionally in-built India.

Consolation and comfort options embrace an non-compulsory 10-inch central contact display and as much as 5 USB ports, together with for third-row passengers.

Citroen launched the New C3 Aircross in India, the place small SUVs are thought-about household autos. The 4320-mm lengthy automotive suits into the bigger of two tax brackets within the section (the opposite is sub-four meters), however Citroen says gross sales of longer small SUVs elevated by 32 p.c in 2022. The model says the C3 Aircross will stand out as a result of it’s a true SUV, with a “muscular” design, fairly than a minivan or multi-purpose car (MPV).

In South America, Citroen hopes to extend its market share four-fold from 2021 to 2024, however it’ll face robust competitors within the small SUV section, the place there are actually 16 fashions accessible in Brazil and 17 in Argentina, the 2 largest regional markets. The New C3 would be the solely mannequin with seven seats, Citroen says.

Renault has launched the same mannequin program in India, beginning with the Kwid mini-SUV. Lately it has added the Triber small seven-seat crossover and the Kiger, a small five-seat SUV. 

Renault and alliance accomplice Nissan lately introduced a reboot of their technique in India. The automakers will make investments $600 million to spice up their operations in India, together with the deliberate launch of six new joint fashions.

The Indian market has remained sturdy for the reason that pandemic introduced gross sales to a halt in mid-2020, with gross sales in February up 9 p.c yr over yr, in keeping with a report from LMC Automotive. Passenger car gross sales had been up 16 p.c in comparison with the pre-covid month of February 2020, LMC mentioned in April.

Nonetheless, the market is going through a problem in rising costs, with a year-over-year enhance of about 4 p.c. The implementation of recent real-world emissions norms on April 1 will tack one other  4 p.c on to costs, LMC mentioned. 

Gross sales of passenger autos in 2023 are anticipated develop by 6 p.c to a brand new file of 4.64 million, LMC mentioned.

As traditional, the Indian market was led by Maruti Suzuki, with 101,000 gross sales for the month, greater than twice as a lot as second-place Hyundai, which registered 47,000 gross sales.

The highest European model was Renault, in ninth place with 6,600 gross sales. Citroen, in seventeenth place, registered 328 gross sales for the month, but it surely has simply began promoting the New C3.