Citroen recently launched its first vehicle for India known as the C5 AirCross. We already know that they are working on a small sub-compact SUV for our country. The new vehicle has already been spotted on our Indian roads and has been codenamed CC21. The compact SUV has been slated to be unveiled on May 20th internationally. In India, the launch is expected to happen before the end of this year.
The CC21 will be based on a simpler version of Citroen’s CMP or Compact Modular Platform. This is being done to save costs and increase the localization rate. We have already seen a similar strategy from Skoda and Volkswagen with their MQB-AO-IN platform.
The new compact-SUV will achieve a localization rate of up to 95 percent as per Roland Bouchara, head of Citroen’s on-site business operations. The CC21 will be manufactured in India and will also be exported. The vehicle will also be produced in Brazil and the whole program is called “C Cubed”. The program aims to reduce the costs of production and to make cheaper and more competitive vehicles.
In the spy shots, the CC21 looks smaller than other compact SUVs like Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. It looks like the size of Mahindra KUV100. So, expect it to go against the Maruti Suzuki Ignis, upcoming Tata HBX, Mahindra KUV100 and the upcoming Hyundai AX1. However, the pricing of the CC21 could be on the higher side. The pricing should compete against the hatchbacks like Maruti Suzuki Swift, Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Tata Altroz.
Powering the CC21 will be a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine. The engine is expected to produce a power output of around 100 PS with a peak torque of around 160 PS. It will be offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox as well as an automatic transmission.
The speciality of the engine is that it should be able to run on a Flexi-fuel system. It essentially means that the engine would be able to run on petrol as well as ethanol blends (from 27% to 100%). Citroen is doing this because they want to take the first-mover advantage of offering Flexi-fuel systems.
Just like the C5 AirCross, the CC21 will also have a bit of a rounded off and funky elements throughout its design elements. At the front, there is expected to be a split headlamp setup with the upper lighting element neatly integrating with Citroen’s logo. The headlamps are expected to come with halogen lamps. The rear is expected to be more rounded and bulbous.
The interior will come with a three-spoke steering wheel with multi-function buttons. There will be no adjustable headrests on offer so expect them to be integrated with the seats. The centre of the dashboard will be taken by a large touchscreen infotainment system that will offer Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The squared elements are expected to carry on to the interior as well. We expect Citroen to offer features like automatic climate control, push-button to start/stop, keyless entry, rear parking sensors, rear parking camera etc.