Cutting-Edge Citroen e-C3 Aims to Slash EV Expenses with a £21,000 Price Objective
Citroen has big plans to transform the C3 into one of the most affordable electric cars in the UK when it unveils the all-new generation in early 2024, according to the company's new CEO.
The upcoming Citroen e-C3, a supermini yet to be seen by the public, will take on a cost-effective platform unlike many of its counterparts within the Stellantis Group. Additionally, it will boast a pricing structure that aims to eliminate the need for haggling. As a result, CEO Thierry Koskas asserts that the starting price should be below €25,000 (£21,000), potentially making the e-C3 more than £10,000 cheaper than the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and even undercutting most petrol-powered variants of the Corsa range.
“We consider it a breakthrough in the market,” Koskas said. “We don’t think that, at launch, there will be another car that offers its three main attributes – made in Europe, a proper car with all of the features that buyers expect, and under 25,000 euros.”
Koskas revealed that the e-C3 will have a range exceeding 300km (186 miles) and a length of around four meters, similar to the current C3 model. The vehicle will be based on Stellantis's 'Smart Platform,' a cost-optimized evolution of the existing CMP and e-CMP architectures primarily employed in India and South America. Koskas explained, “This is one of the main reasons we are able to have such a price, the Smart Platform is extremely well optimised and very competitive.”
While no specific details have been provided regarding battery capacity or performance, Koskas confirmed that the new Citroen e-C3 will be manufactured at Stellantis's factory in Trnava, Slovakia—the same facility that produces the outgoing C3 and Peugeot 208 models. He did not comment on whether a combustion-engine version would accompany the electric variant, but considering that other Smart Platform models come with a 1.2-litre PureTech petrol engine, it seems plausible.
Stellantis aims to position Citroen as one of its key defences against the rapidly expanding group of Chinese automakers introducing more affordable electric vehicles in Europe. "It is a challenge," Koskas acknowledged, “but we need to answer it. We can’t just sit there and watch the train go past. Can we compete with them [the Chinese] on production costs? This e-C3 is a good example of that. But we don’t have to be on the defensive; we can also be on the offensive by showing how, as a brand with more than 100 years of history, we have, for example, a large sales network with a good spread of reach.”
Citroen has set ambitious targets for its sales, with the aim of increasing its market share in Europe to five percent, a 25 percent rise from the previous year. Additionally, the brand intends for 30 percent of its global sales to come from regions outside of Europe, including the Middle East, South America, India, Turkey, and Africa.
While Citroen's sales strategy will not adopt the fixed-price model seen in Dacia's offerings, CEO Koskas acknowledged that there would still be some flexibility and incentives. However, the goal is to prioritise transparency in pricing, ensuring that the listed price closely aligns with the actual price paid by customers.
The highly anticipated e-C3 is scheduled to debut in the autumn, with sales expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024. Furthermore, a larger successor to the current C3 Aircross compact SUV is slated to join the line-up in the following year. Koskas emphasised the brand's commitment to maintaining the C3 as a B-segment hatchback, stating, “The C3 remains a B-segment hatchback; we’re not about to claim anything else. So we still need a proper B-segment SUV; we’ve had feedback from people wanting a bigger car, and that’s what we need to address.”