NEW CITROËN C3 – VISIODRIVE

Beautiful, young, intelligent. The new C3 by Citroën. Coming out in November 2009, the new Citroën C3 has a strong ambition: to replace a bestseller that has sold more than 2 million units. “This is a major renewal for the Marque and gives us the wherewithal to achieve our target of increasing market share even more, among both individual and corporate customers,” says Frédéric Banzet, Managing Director of Citroën.

The winning formula: take the best of the C3 and make it even better. The new C3 is packed with seductive
features: tauter styling, high-class trim, intelligent architecture creating exceptional interior space in what is still one of the most compact vehicles on the market, and superior on-board comfort and road handling, both in the city
and on the open road. With the most advanced features in the segment, the new Citroën C3 will be ideal as the
main family car or core fleet vehicle.

But that’s not all. The Zenith windscreen makes the new C3 unique. As well as drenching the cabin in light and
expanding visibility, this windscreen introduces passengers of our Visiodrive to a new driving experience. “With the
new C3, Citroën is opening up a new automobile universe. A universe where reason and responsibility leave room for new driving pleasure. And new sensations,” says Vincent Besson, Products and Markets, Citroën.
These quality features are confirmed in the design and manufacturing of the new Citroën C3. Made in France, on
the industrial sites of Aulnay and Poissy, the new vehicle meets high quality standards, both new and over time. To guarantee optimum reliability, and iron out the last imperfections, it will be put through more than 2 million
kilometres of on-road testing before the market release.

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A NEW ERA – CITROËN REINVENTS ITS SELF

Today, at 90 years of age, and on the birthday of its founder, Andre Citroën, French car manufacturer CITROËN is turning a new page in its history, and begins a global brand project that encompasses a new visual identity, a new relationship with its customers and an exciting new line of automotive products.

In a difficult economic climate, and in a period of changing relationships between customers and brands, CITROËN is taking action and reinventing itself. The Marque aims to pursue the excitement generated by the success of its products launched over the past ten years, by enhancing the CITROËN brand to strengthen and support the range.

New Identity
Developed jointly by CITROËN’s Marketing and Styling teams, headed by Jean-Pierre Ploué, and the Landor agency, an international branding and design network, the logo is the first visible sign of change. The chevrons have broken free from their frame and become three-dimensional, gaining in strength and body. Bridging CITROËN’s past and future; the colour red is used for the new brand name typography. The red assumes a new, deeper tone.

Brand identity: Créative Technologie
CITROËN strongly recognise the alliance between creativity and technology; being the first to propose Stop & Start technology, on the CITROËN C2 and C3. It also leads the European market with its automated manual gearboxes and has pioneered particulate filters. The Marque illustrated its ecological and economical commitment in 2008 by confirming its European leadership on vehicles emitting 110 g/km of CO2 or less, thanks to the CITROËN C1.

Rather than aiming for pure technological exploits, CITROËN innovates for the benefit of its customers. It invented Hydractive suspension, the wide-angle panoramic windscreen, and new driving aids such as the lane departure warning system. It has also developed new designs with maximum use of space, as seen on its latest new model, the CITROËN C3 Picasso.

CITROËN has the boldness to completely rethink the automobile. The CITROËN C4 Picasso has transformed the segment, becoming the leading model in its class in 2008 and going on sale in the first-quarter of 2009, the CITROËN C3 Picasso has the same ambitions. With the new CITROËN Berlingo Multispace, launched in May 2008, and CITROËN Nemo Multispace, coming in early 2009, CITROËN will have a range of five, renewed MPV vehicles, making it the standard-setter in this segment.

For the future, the CITROËN Hypnos concept car heralds diesel hybrid technology and the CITROËN C-Cactus is a new vision of the automobile.

Non-conformist advertising spirit
CITROËN’s new advertising strap line is Créative Technologie. Written in French, identical worldwide and rich in meaning, these words form the basis of the new advertising strategy. Every advert demonstrates the promise of the brand and the benefits for the customer, whilst remaining playful and optimistic.
For the first time since 1983, the Marque is launching a new advertising campaign co-developed with Agence H, a subsidiary of the Havas group.

Graphic principles for visibility and consistency
Today CITROËN is introducing new graphic designs, a single typography and a unique tone of voice to boost the visibility and consistency of the brand. The new brand will universally reflect the Marque’s new status. The key colours are white, denoting openness and elegance, and red, to express vitality, together with black, grey and chrome, for status and power.

Websites to win new customers
A full 70% of customers who walk into a CITROËN outlet today have visited the brand website beforehand to find information. The www.citroen.co.uk website, the initial contact point between the Marque and its customers, will now fulfil a compass role, pointing web users to local sales sites.

To ensure the consistency of all media, CITROËN is applying the new visual identity to its 20 European websites on the morning of 6 February, using cutting-edge full 3D technology for all web communication concerning the new image.

CITROËN will enter a new internet era starting in the second-half of 2009, with a new European web strategy.

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With the Citroen DS Inside concept car Citroen is launching a new line of products to broaden its current range. The new line will consist of three new cars, positioned in the small, medium and large car segments, launched successively from 2010.

The Citroen DS Inside concept car and vehicle line are characterised by forthright choices on styling, onroad performance and use. These are accessible objects of desire, cars that stand apart by their creativity, intelligent design and build quality, embodying the very best of Citroen. The new product line will perfectly illustrate Citroen’s new spirit of “Créative Technologie”.

The new line will also have a new naming system. Like the main range vehicles, which carry the letter C and a number, and, like the MPVs, which sport the Picasso signature, the new models will feature a special name: the DS line.

DS stood and continues to stand for a new approach to automobiles and the future. Citroen is taking inspiration from its design DNA to strengthen the positioning of its new product line. The range instills the different spirit, that the name DS inspires. Hence the distinctive model line up will be called DS3, DS4 and DS5. DS: Different Spirit.

Citroen has revealed a plan to restore its reputation for desirability by creating a range of niche models, to be called Distinctive Series and badged Citroen DS.

The plan will kick off with the launch of a near-production Mini Clubman-sized concept, called the Citroen DS Inside, at next month’s Geneva motor show.

See all the official pics of the Citroen DS Inside

The modernisation project, which invokes the name of Citroën’s classic saloon from 1955, is described as “a breakthrough strategy to create rarity within the mass market”.

The new Citroen DS models will be positioned above Citroen’s mainstream cars, which continue as normal. They will offer “the best of the Citroen brand” and are designed to help lift what the company’s marketing men see as a flagging brand image.
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The nimble, dynamic and ingenious C1 is easy to live with and a practical all-round performer. The city car’s innovative compact design, economy and environmental respect underline Citroën’s creative approach. The C1 earned the highest mark in the “essential car” category in a 2008 survey conducted by JD Power and L’Automobile Magazine on customer satisfaction in France.

Since launch in June 2005, Citroën has sold 310,000 C1s worldwide. The Marque is taking advantage of the years’ end to unveil an upgraded version of its popular city car. The new model keeps all the assets that made the original such a success – compact, appealing and playful body styling, excellent roadholding, uncompromising safety and impressive quality levels – while gaining a redesigned, more expressive front end. Fuel consumption and emissions remain outstanding. The 68 bhp 1.0i petrol model equipped with a five-speed manual gearbox consumes just 4.5 l/100 km over a combined cycle, emitting a mere 106 g/km of CO2.

Spirited and refined styling
The redesigned C1 is set for launch in November. The styling upgrade enhances the car’s cheerful, curvaceous looks with several changes to the front end, including stronger bumper outlines that underline the C1’s get-up-and-go spirit. Citroën has made several changes inside, notably in terms of trim and interior design scheme. The C1 is now available, depending on the market, with a third, particularly refined trim level that adds to the car’s seductive powers.

Economical and environmental prowess
The C1 is fitted with high-performance engines that make it equally at home in the city or out on the open road. Combined with the light weight of the C1, these powerplants also ensure low fuel consumption. The 68 bhp 1.0i petrol model equipped with a 5-speed gearbox is an environmental benchmark, consuming a miserly 4.5 l/100 km over a combined cycle and emitting just 106 g/km of CO2.

The upgraded C1 retains all of the strong points that made it a success, namely excellent road manners, top-level safety, compact proportions for city driving and low retail price and running costs.
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Peugeot and Renault lowered their national car sales estimates for Brazil at the International Autoshow in Sao Paulo on Monday.
Peugeot President Laurent Taste said 2008 should end with national auto makers selling 2.7 million cars compared with earlier estimates of 2.9 million.
Renault President Jerome Stoll said he expects similar numbers from Brazil’s national auto market and revised figures to 2.75 million units compared with in-house figures nearing 3 million in May.
In the January-September period, car makers sold 2.21 million units, up 27% from a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea.
“We expect sales to be stable next year, which isn’t a bad thing considering the [financial] crisis,” Taste said referring to the global credit crunch and the likelihood of an economic slowdown in Brazil.
Stoll and Taste said costly credit would also impact the sector.
Banks have raised interest rates sales on new and used cars in response to a general risk aversion among lenders.
“At the beginning of the year we financed up to 30% of new car sales and now it’s gone to 40% and could even reach 60%,” Taste said.
Stoll said tighter credit in Brazil could impact the local auto market, which has been a key driver of economic growth in Brazil over the last several years.

Following its cues from global auto giants like General Motors, Renault-Nissan, Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai et al, PSA Peugeot- Citroën is also chalking out robust plans to roll out low cost cars for emerging markets like India. This car, which is expected to be introduced by 2011, will be accommodating up to five people and will be having sufficient space for luggage and stowage. The details of the model are limited, but its prospects to arrive in India is high as the French car maker reported that it will be offered in emerging markets like India and China. Chances of battery and hybrid cannot be ruled out as 2011 may see introduction of a number of small cars powered by non-conventional sources of power.

According to reports circulating in the media, PSA Peugeot-Citroen’s low cost car, that will have five doors, is expected to be assembled in Turkey or Poland, and will be sold in markets the Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, Turkey, Africa, South America, China and even India. This car, which is likely to wear Peugeot-Citroen badging, will not be sold in Western Europe.
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French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen is considering launching a new brand in Europe for its low-cost vehicles, business daily La Tribune reported on Monday, without identifying its sources.

It said the group was considering reimporting into western Europe future low-cost models made in emerging economies and was looking at a new brand to market the vehicles.

The newspaper said the group did not want to damage its Peugeot or Citroen brands and was considering using one of the existing brands it owns, such as Talbot, although it said the plan was still “at the stage of reflection.”

The Talbot brand was used to sell models formerly made by Chrysler Europe when its operations were acquired in 1978.

No comment was immediately available from Peugeot.

source : Reuters

Mitsubishi Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroën of France said Monday that they would set up a joint venture in Russia to produce cars starting in 2011.

The factory in Kaluga, located 180 kilometers, or 110 miles, southwest of Moscow, will produce midrange sport utility vehicles for the Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Citroën brands, as well as midsize Peugeot and Citroën vehicles, with an overall capacity of 160,000 vehicles.

Production is due to start in 2011, the companies said.

The two automakers had separate deals with the Russian government granting them financial incentives to assemble cars in the country, and had said they were open to joining hands with undisclosed partners.

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