Forthcoming Citroën C1 city-car to grow

These seem to be the first ever spy photos of the next Citroën C1. The prototype in these grainy images is thought to have been snapped on a mobile phone in a customer clinic.

Citroën is currently experimenting with the C1’s design, but judging by these pictures the next C1, it will be more daring and bold, compared to the current model. This is most obvious when the c-pillar blends into the roof-mounted rear spoiler.

However, it’s not all change. Huge over-the shoulder blindspots and single piece rear tailgate glass will remain.

Having killed-off the C2 supermini earlier this year, the C1 will grow approximately 15cm over the outgoing model, shoving the C1’s overall dimensions north of 3.6m long, thus rivalling head-on with Renault’s Twingo city-car, seen by PSA as an important competitor.

The trio (Peugeot 108, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo) will sport revised front and rear fascias from one another, however, due to costs, certain body panels will be shared. Out of the French twins, the C1 will have bolder styling over the 108.

Citroën’s product CEO, Vincent Besson, said that Citroën will be the brand that’s “taking risks, opening new territories” while Peugeot would be “the reference”.

Powering the trio will be a brand new 1.0 litre, 3 cylinder, naturally-aspirated 74bhp petrol engine, and is likely to include a 1.2 litre turbo-charged 133bhp petrol engine. No diesel engines will be available this time. The 74bhp 1.0 is expected to emit a mere 90g/km and return around 70mpg.

These engines will be made in a plant in Douvrin, Pas-de-Calais region. The C1 is currently outselling its 107 and Aygo siblings. In France, Toyota sold less than 8,500 Aygos between January – September, but in the same period, Citroën sold 24,000 C1s, representing 10% of Citroën’s sales in France.

The PSA and Toyota trio will continue to be built in Toyota’s assembly plant in Kolin, Czech Republic.

Citroën is at liberty on the C1 since it’s currently working on an independent range of simple models that will be placed alongside in its line-up. These new models will have smaller amount of ‘premium’ equipment but, significantly, not a drastically lower price.

Citroën will still use the C1’s tiny size increase to expand the model’s possibility. The new C1 line-up is expected to include entry-level 3dr and 5dr variants, through to a range-topping ‘Exclusive’ trim level.

Via Autocar