Citroen C4 Cactus lifeline

The Citroen C4 Cactus may not be cactus in Australia after all.

While the French brand has already ditched the Berlingo, handing over van duties to sibling Peugeot, the Cactus still has a lifeline.

While it’s been widely reported that Citroen Australia is settling on a line-up comprising the C3 hatch and the C3 Aircross and C5 Aircross SUVs to rebuild its sales, company spokesman Tyson Bowen confirmed to carsales.com.au the C4 was under active consideration.

“Does it have place? Can we get it at the right price? Does it have a purpose and can it bring any value to our line-up? We are working through all those elements now,” he explained.

The oddball C4 Cactus small SUV was launched in Australia in early 2016 – not long before the standard C4 hatch was axed.

But while its airbumps and distinct styling gave it character, pricing started at $26,990 and the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine lacked an automatic transmission.

Final stocks of the original Citroen C4 Cactus are now on run-out in Australia.

Bowen revealed Peugeot Citroen Australia managing director Ben Farlow viewed the updated model last month during a visit to Paris.

“His take is he has now seen it in the flesh, knows what it looks like and understands how it differs from the previous model,” said Bowen.

A key issue for PCA is the closeness of the C4 and C3 Aircross in overall size and key dimensions such as bootspace and legroom.

“How do you approach two cars that are very, very similar with a brand that really needs to focus on its core models; do less, but do it very well?

“We just have to sit down and have a considered discussion rather than rushing a decision through the door and making knee-jerk reactions.”

Bowen explained the launch of the C3 Aircross prompted Citroen to reposition the C4 Cactus as a small car in late 2017.

The airbumps were downsized, but the automatic drivetrain that arrived in Australia in 2017 to bolster the Cactus would still be available.

Bowen also said the Cactus part of the name had been globally dropped as part of the repositioning.

However, various prominent Citroen websites still refer to the updated model as the C4 Cactus.

Separately, Citroen product boss Xavier Peugeot has been reported as saying the Cactus will not get a direct replacement when its time expires in the next few years.