In February 2019, the French auto giant, PSA Group announced its plan to enter the Indian market with Citroen brand. The Citroen C5 Aircross will be the company’s very maiden product for India with its launch lined up for early next year. Prior to its official launch, the automaker has commenced trial production of a few units of the C5 Aircross at a plant based in Tamil Nadu. Reports revealed that these made-in-India C5 Aircross models have been manufactured for testing purpose.
While the exact details on the Citroen C5 Aircross remain unclear, the car is expected to enter our country via the CKD format and then assembled locally. Since Citroen is planning to strengthen its market presence with its “C-cubed” programme, many of Citroen cars will be designed and developed domestically in India with around 95% local components.
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Being a mid-size SUV, the India-spec Citroen C5 Aircross will measure around 4,500 mm in length and it’s said to borrow a lot of design cues from the model sold in Europe. Some of the key features of the C5 Aircross might be a panoramic sunroof, an 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, powered driver seat, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, hands-free parking, dual-zone climate control and more. As far as safety is concerned, the upcoming SUV will feature important safety kits such as multiple airbags, hill-start assist, front and rear parking sensors among others.
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The Citroen C5 Aircross is expected to be available with both petrol and diesel engine options. The petrol configuration is said to be a 1.6-litre turbocharged motor that is tuned to deliver 180 PS and 250 Nm while the diesel burner is likely to be a 2.0-litre unit making 175 PS of max power and 400 Nm of peak torque. Globally, both the engines are offered with an 8-speed automatic transmission but we expect the Indian-spec car to come with an additional manual gearbox alongside the automatic option.
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Since the Citroen C5 Aircross is a mid-size SUV, it will compete with the likes of Hyundai Tucson, Honda CR-V and Skoda Karoq. Prices of the C5 Aircross is estimated to start from Rs 30 Lakh (ex-showroom).