Citroen Aircross designed for global markets

The Citroen brand is about to get a major boost from the debut of a new SUV design study, the Aircross, at China's Shanghai motor show.

And if the show car receives a favourable response from the viewing public, it will go into production – with Australia on the list of world markets expected to take it.

"Officially there's no word on production confirmation," Citroen Australia's PR & Communications Manager, Tyson Bowen, told motoring.com.au this morning.

"If it was to get to that point, we'd certainly be putting our hand up high in the air for the car."

"It's something that sits in a category that's very buoyant and very active in the Australian market, so of course we'd consider it."

Citroen in Australia is committed to filling out the local range with products that cater to the SUV frenzy here – but it will be on the importer's own terms. Its small SUV, the C4 Cactus, is due to lob here late this year, effectively replacing the discontinued C4 AirCross, which was built by Mitsubishi and based on the ASX.

The new concept car, which measures 4.6 metres in length, is as long as the Mitsubishi Outlander and any production version will be positioned above the C4 Cactus, in the VFACTS medium SUV segment.

Citroen remains committed to embracing SUV buyers in Australia, despite the C4 AirCross's commercial failure. Within Citroen, the Aircross (concept) and the C4 Cactus are perceived to be a stronger embodiment of the company's brand image and reputation for innovation than the Mitsubishi-built product was.

Bowen says that "the Citroen brand is definitely going to focus on design and innovation."

"For a while there it was something that was lacking in some of the product, and it's definitely a focus that you'll see coming through in either concept cars or the vehicles that we launch – specifically in the case of Cactus."

"Innovation and design are going to underpin everything we do."

It's unlikely the factory would say non to Sime Darby, the local Citroen importer if the Aircross goes into production. The plan all along was to grace the Aircross with "a body style intended for sale around the world" as the company expressed it in a press release for the show car.

At its global debut in Shanghai, less than two weeks from now, the Aircross will take that 'international' look to a wider audience, offering frontal styling shared with the Picasso people movers and a new style of the 'Airbumps' introduced with the C4 Cactus. For the Aircross application the airbumps are a honeycomb structure in aluminium foam.

A major element of the car's interior design is the use of two 12-inch high-definition infotainment screens, one of which is fixed and the other being portable – for the purpose of handing it to other passengers.

Riding on 22-inch wheels, the Aircross is powered by a plug-in hybrid drivetrain, comprising a petrol motor and a rear-mounted electric motor. According to Citroen, the electric motor is rated at 70kW and 200Nm, with power for it sourced from lithium-ion batteries. The petrol engine displaces 1.6 litres and develops 160kW and 275Nm.

The car can run in pure electric mode over a range of 50km before recharging, but requires a 16-Amp outlet to replenish the batteries in 3.5 hours.

With the prospect of the Aircross entering production, and the in-house designed C4 Cactus already in production, the question left begging concerns the viability of PSA Peugeot Citroen's on-going commercial relationship with Mitsubishi.