9:00 am, September 30, 2016
CITROEN will introduce an SUV in 2018 as part of a model offensive that will see four new cars arrive in as many years.
Speaking at the Paris Motor Show, Linda Jackson, the French company’s CEO told Car Dealer: ‘Citroen will introduce an SUV in 2018. This comes inside four new models across the next four years.’
An SUV is one of the key model areas missing from Citroen’s line-up, which largely focuses on small cars, hatchbacks and MPVs.
There is no word on how the SUV might look, but it is thought that it will be larger than the existing C4 Cactus, and may use similar underpinnings to sister company Peugeot’s new 3008 SUV.
Whatever size the new model is, though, it is likely to share at least some design cues with the Cactus. The Airbump body protection panels, for example, which have been used on numerous concept cars and the forthcoming C3 supermini, are almost certain to feature.
Jackson suggested that reaching out into the rapidly growing SUV market would not be done at the expense of the brand’s smaller, core models, which will include the C1 city car, the C4 Cactus and the new C3.
‘Some customers are trading up into SUV, although many are also choosing smaller cars,’ she said.
According to Jackson, the model offensive should lead the company to huge growth.
‘We’re expecting growth of 30 per cent worldwide by 2021,’ she said.
At present, Citroen is selling around 80,000 vehicles a year in the UK, and holds a market share of just over three per cent.
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