[dark.knight]

My stance will be the same as with other cars - wait till it's out, reviewed and owned for a complete opinion on build quality, reliability and value.

That said, it's completely refreshing to see a brand (other than Hyundai) focus on comfort, NVH and overall refinement, the other European brands generally focus on bone-jarring, thud-bam suspension and huge rims with rubber bands as tyres. Hope it is more comfortable than the Tucson.

In a market that is completely saturated, with each brand having carved out their customer base and repeat-buyers, Citroën seems to be taking a good amount of risk with a product that'll cost about 3 million rupees, customers with that budget can well afford a higher price tag and a luxury brand isn't too far off from this point.

All said though, I'm a fan of French engineering and manufacturing, they are quite underrated and their neighbors the Germans are quite overrated, as far as their India specific cars go, will perceptions change? This year could tell.

[Diesel_Drives]

Spotted couple of C5s at Manesar and KMP expressway today morning. One Pearl white and the other is what they called Tijuca Blue. Each of them had an Innova toeing behind. So I am assuming either the media drive or commercial ad shoot was taking place.

[invidious]

From what I understand these French car makes would have gone under like storied British car makes had it not been for French Govt. support. I don't know if I have been unlucky but I had the misfortune of renting a couple Renaults a decade ago in the EU and they were utalitarian at best. Of course Renault is not Citroën and a decade is a long time - just compare Hyundais from then and now so I could be way off mark here.

India has had bad experiences with French manufacturers - Peugeot PAL disaster in the mid 90s and then the weird Mahindra Renault Logan. I wouldn't hold my breath for the Citroen as a brand doing well in India. This one looks good though.

[Axe77]

What is this car closest in size to? Creta or Tucson? Bigger than Tucson or smaller than creta?

And any intelligent guesses on broadly where it is likely to price slot itself? Compass / Karoq (30'ish on road)? Higher than that? Lower?

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by Axe77

What is this car closest in size to? Creta or Tucson? Bigger than Tucson or smaller than creta?

And any intelligent guesses on broadly where it is likely to price slot itself? Compass / Karoq (30'ish on road)? Higher than that? Lower?

If Im not wrong the C5 AirCross is bigger than the Jeep Compass, but slightly smaller than the Tucson. In terms of pricing, all reports indicate that this would be in the 30-35 lakh price segment.

[DeKay]

SOLELY by the looks of the interior, it doesn't feel like a 30+ Lakh on road car. I expect this to be priced very competitively. Even the Jeep Compass' interior looks way more premium than this.
Plastics look hard, especially the door-pads and the top of the dash, the Sonet has almost all the features this car has.

The engine (based on how it performs), its ride quality and space (it's wider than the Tata Harrier and Safari) will be the C5's USPs. I don't see anything else going for it unless it has an invincible price tag. That said, super excited to take it out for a spin!

[SaiSW]

So basically this SUV has more power and torque than its compact SUV rivals, about the same figure as the endeavour. The fortuner weighs more if I remember correctly, so I assume those extra power and torque figures wouldn't amount to a significant difference in performance.

And not to forget, the car looks absolutely stunning both inside and out.

This will be one very interesting car to drive.

[Gurgaon_lyon]

Originally Posted by Axe77

What is this car closest in size to? Creta or Tucson? Bigger than Tucson or smaller than creta?

And any intelligent guesses on broadly where it is likely to price slot itself? Compass / Karoq (30'ish on road)? Higher than that? Lower?

Aircross measures 4,500 mm in length, has a width of 2,099 mm and is 1,710 mm tall. The wheelbase figure is at 2,730 mm. For comparison purposes, the corresponding figures for Tucson are at 4,480, 1,850 mm, 1,660 mm and wheelbase of 2,670 mm.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Originally Posted by Gurgaon_lyon

Aircross measures 4,500 mm in length, has a width of 2,099 mm and is 1,710 mm tall. The wheelbase figure is at 2,730 mm. For comparison purposes, the corresponding figures for Tucson are at 4,480, 1,850 mm, 1,660 mm and wheelbase of 2,670 mm.

That 2099mm seems way too wide! Wider than the Fortuner or the Endeavour. Is this with mirrors open or something?

Wikipedia says 1860mm, I guess for the Chinese version.

[abhijet.sen]

Originally Posted by Gurgaon_lyon

Aircross measures 4,500 mm in length, has a width of 2,099 mm and is 1,710 mm tall. The wheelbase figure is at 2,730 mm. For comparison purposes, the corresponding figures for Tucson are at 4,480, 1,850 mm, 1,660 mm and wheelbase of 2,670 mm.

Sorry but Citroen is pretty cheeky in marketing. They are marketing width as 2099 mm, which is inclusive of side mirrors. If every company starts marketing like it, all the cars will have immensely big back seats. Its actual width is 1859 mm.

Not sure what price it gets launched but given it is CBU, it might come at a pretty steep price, which will make it a non-starter for most of the people. This will not be a model that can make Citroen a mass market player.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by QuadraticAmoeba

That 2099mm seems way too wide! Wider than the Fortuner or the Endeavour. Is this with mirrors open or something?

Wikipedia says 1860mm, I guess for the Chinese version.

2099mm is with mirrors open. Please refer to the brochure attached in Post #165 earlier. It says that with mirrors folded, the width is 1969mm.

Originally Posted by abhijet.sen

Sorry but Citroen is pretty cheeky in marketing. They are marketing width as 2099 mm, which is inclusive of side mirrors. If every company starts marketing like it, all the cars will have immensely big back seats. Its actual width is 1859 mm.

The brochure says with with mirrors folded, the width is 1969mm. I am just curious to know there do they mention 1859mm? Thanks.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by abhijet.sen

Not sure what price it gets launched but given it is CBU, it might come at a pretty steep price, which will make it a non-starter for most of the people. This will not be a model that can make Citroen a mass market player.

Mass market or not, personally I feel if the long term plan for Citroen is for this model to follow a CKD pricing, then even initial models should be priced and sold like CKD priced models. It makes no sense to sell the same model initially at CBU price and later at a lower CKD price. It will either deter people from buying the initial lot or leave a bad taste with them when later models are sold cheaper.

I’m conscious this has been done before but from a strategic perspective even from Citroen’s shoes I do not favour such an approach.

Get the package right, the pricing right and finally the sales and importantly the service / warranty experience right. Citroen is in the process of establishing the brand with this model. There is no room for missteps at this stage. Selling initial models as CBUs instead of the intended CKDs is an internal issue of Citroen so they should absorb the pricing consequence rather than reduce prices later.

[abhijet.sen]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

2099mm is with mirrors open. Please refer to the brochure attached in Post #165 earlier. It says that with mirrors folded, the width is 1969mm.
====
The brochure says with with mirrors folded, the width is 1969mm. I am just curious to know there do they mention 1859mm? Thanks.

Mirror folded still does not mean mirror excluded. With Mirror excluded it is 1859. Courtesy brochure downloaded directly from Citroen France site.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by abhijet.sen

Not sure what price it gets launched but given it is CBU, it might come at a pretty steep price, which will make it a non-starter for most of the people. This will not be a model that can make Citroen a mass market player.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Mass market or not, personally I feel if the long term plan for Citroen is for this model to follow a CKD pricing, then even initial models should be priced and sold like CKD priced models. It makes no sense to sell the same model initially at CBU price and later at a lower CKD price.

It is not a CBU. There is no question of launching at CBU pries. This is a CKD car, manufactured in Tamil Nadu, India. Page 11 of this thread shows photos of the roll out from the Indian manufacturing plant.

[abhijet.sen]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Mass market or not, personally I feel if the long term plan for Citroen is for this model to follow a CKD pricing, then even initial models should be priced and sold like CKD priced models. It makes no sense to sell the same model initially at CBU price and later at a lower CKD price. It will either deter people from buying the initial lot or leave a bad taste with them when later models are sold cheaper.

I’m conscious this has been done before but from a strategic perspective even from Citroen’s shoes I do not favour such an approach.

Get the package right, the pricing right and finally the sales and importantly the service / warranty experience right. Citroen is in the process of establishing the brand with this model. There is no room for missteps at this stage. Selling initial models as CBUs instead of the intended CKDs is an internal issue of Citroen so they should absorb the pricing consequence rather than reduce prices later.

In terms of dimension, it is not even equal to Hector/Harrier. It is bigger than Creta/Seltos and even Tuscon. However, pricing it at Tuscon's category and car will end in a flop. Maruti, Hyundai, Kia, Tata and Mahindra (the top tier of Indian auto industry), they all have one thing in common that they have multiple cars in their portfolio which have over time become hit. While rest most of the industry struggle because they hardly have 1 to 2 hit cars in their portfolio. Toyota being the only exception as they have 2 behemoths success which generates enough profit for them.

A company which wants to establish a base considering long term sustainability should be doing product launch how Kia and MG did. Great features, Great looks and cut throat price. Your first launch and trying to establish through look or feature with high price is not going to click in our price sensitive market.