04 Mar 05
Citroën has broadened its range in the most literal way, with the new C1 at the bottom and the almost-final production version of the C6 at the top.
We'll start with the C6, a car that's been lurking in the background since the C6 Lignage concept car showed Geneva showgoers the new-look Citroën face back in 1999. Its long front overhang is very big-Citroën (and happens to suit today's pedestrian impact legislation well, too), while the stubby tail and concave rear window give a flavour of the old CX. That the head of the C6 project, Carlo Bonzanigo, is happy to talk about past big Citroëns shows that the company is nowadays comfortable with its iconoclastic past - which is, after all, one of its biggest assets in today's world of brand differentiation and techno-awareness.
"The C6," Bonzanigo says, "is a comeback in a segment where Citroën should be. And it's interesting that some of the letters to the German car magazines show that even German buyers are becoming bored with luxury German cars. They want more individuality, and there's a good opportunity for us here."
Based on a stretched C5/Peugeot 407 platform, and featuring double wishbone front suspension and full electronic control of the hydropneumatic springing and damping, the C6 will come with a choice of petrol (3.0-litre) or diesel (2.7-litre) V6 engines as already seen elsewhere in the PSA group. Inside it's a luxury cocoon with drop-down, semicircular wood-veneer storage boxes in the doors able to hold an A4 document wallet, individual electrically adjustable seats and the facility for a rear passenger remotely to move the front passenger seat well out of the way in true limousine fashion. The instruments are augmented by a head-up windscreen display, standard for the first time in a European car.
Outside, the falling waistline and frameless doors are DS-like elements, and there's a four-position rear spoiler: flat, two stages of tilt according to roadspeed, and vertical to act as an air brake. "This is a car of beauty to last through the years through its proportions and overall simplicity," declares Bonzanigo. "If you see it 10 years from now, it will be older in a sane way. It will mature nicely."
But there's more to tempting Mercedes, BMW and Audi buyers away from their cars than just making an individual alternative, however high in quality it may be (an issue in itself, although the signs are promising). Citroën, especially in the UK, needs to find a way of selling the C6 that doesn't tangle it up with discounts and entry-level superminis. "We have about a year to work out how to do it," says a UK spokesman, "and we don't underestimate the task." Likely price? Around £30,000.
