Citroen will be commencing its sales operations in India with the C5 Aircross SUV scheduled for launch in late 2020
PSA will be entering the Indian market through the Citroen brand sometime later this year with the C5 Aircross premium SUV. It has already been spied several times and was showcased in 2019 as part of the brand officially announcing its return to India. The French manufacturer has a wide portfolio that caters for local customers.
It is the primary reason why Citroen has been chosen instead of highly recognised Peugeot brand and moreover, PSA is eager in expanding Citroen’s reach beyond European borders. Groupe PSA wants to introduce one new model every year from 2021 and they can be expected to sit on a new architecture tailor-made for India.
A test mule spotted recently do suggests the same. The Peugeot 208 hatchback, having the potential to compete against Hyundai Elite i20 and Maruti Suzuki Baleno in itself, is a no stranger to being caught on camera over the years. But what is more interesting is that the test mule is indeed a previous generation 208.
The latest generation Peugeot 208 is the 2020 Car Of The Year and it looks significant different in design compared to the previous model that has been spied testing on Indian roads with heavy camouflage in OMR, Chennai. We do suspect that it carries the India-spec platform that will be used in the forthcoming models in the near future.
Citroen has intentions to enter into the popular segments including SUVs with high localisation and the said platform, presumably modular, could serve that purpose. The company will initially be establishing itself as a premium offerer rather than going after volumes against mainstream brands as it focusses on setting up a good brand image like Kia and MG.
Recently, we showed you pictures of Citroen’s first dealership being established in Ahmedabad. Back in 2017, Groupe PSA and CK Birla Group signed two joint ventures to produce passenger cars and engines in the state of Tamil Nadu. An investment of more than 100 million Euros has been earmarked for the initial stages.