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Paris - Citroen's C4 Cactus is more than just another compact car. It's a manifesto on wheels for the brand's move down-market as parent PSA Peugeot Citroen struggles to return to profit.
The car, lent to reporters for test drives as European sales get underway, sports slightly wacky features including bench seats and rugged-looking squishy plastic "Airbump" exterior door panels developed by Basf.
Amid signs of a mass-consumer shift from driving performance to functionality and technology, Citroen is drawing on its utilitarian French genes expressed in historic models like the 2CV, produced from 1948 to 1990.
Industrial base
"This is not supposed to be a niche car; it's a vehicle with broad appeal," Citroen product chief Pierre Monferrini said of the new model during a media briefing in Amsterdam.
Under new group chief executive Carlos Tavares, the plusher DS lineup - named after another iconic past model - is separating from Citroen to become a standalone premium brand.
That frees Citroen to hone its funky-but-frugal image while stablemate Peugeot tackles mid-market Volkswagen head-on.
Throughout a prolonged European slump, the group has been punished by its costly domestic industrial base and a lack of budget models to counter hot-selling rivals such as the Dacia Duster offroader, built in Romania on Renault's low-cost vehicle architecture.
Engine size
Paris-based Peugeot recently sold stakes to the French government and Dongfeng Motor Group, raising €3bn to fund its turnaround plan after posting €7.3bn in losses for the last two years.
In the absence of a dedicated no-frills platform, the Spanish-built C4 Cactus trims costs by using the modified underpinnings of the smaller C3 and Peugeot 208 subcompacts.
Its stretched frame approaches rivals from the larger compact category in length but not engine size. Versions range from 75-110 horsepower, compared with 85-300 for the VW Golf.
