Citroen C3 goes under the knife

The Citroen C3 hatch has been updated for 2020 just two years after it went on sale in Australia.

Updated to help fight off cars like the latest Volkswagen Polo and all-new Renault Clio, the refreshed C3 supermini boasts a pair of new LED headlights and new chrome finishing strips that extend to the LED daytime running lamps.

Upfront and you might also notice the front fog light surrounds can now be colour-matched with the rear quarter panel and side Airbump colour flash – just one example of the changes the French car-maker hopes will attract buyers keen on customising their own C3.

Other changes include new black plastic wheel-arch extensions (depending on trim) and new alloy wheel designs that now stretch up to 17-inch in diameter.

Throw in new two-tone colour options – including four roof colours alone and fresh colour inserts -- plus an updated range of graphic packages and Citroen claims there's now 97 possible colour combinations (up from 36).

Inside, Citroen has added more soft-touch materials and introduced a light fabric covering for the head restraints and upper part of the front chairs, which are the same Comfort seats borrowed from the bigger C4 Cactus and C5 Aircross SUV.

Bucking recent trends, the quirky C3 even gets the option of a Techwood dash covering that looks like real timber.

The small C3's 7.0-inch infotainment system, meanwhile, has been overhauled to work with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and now features voice recognition.

In Europe, there's even a free three-year subscription to real-time traffic info via the TomTom sat-nav, plus an integrated dash-cam.

Handy front parking sensors also become standard.

Under the bonnet, the 1.2-litre Puretech three-cylinder petrol engine, which is combined with a six-speed automatic in our market, carries over unchanged so it produces 81kW and 250Nm of torque.

European deliveries of the upgraded Citroen C3 begin this June, so it's expected we'll get our cars before the end of the year.