Say “salut!” to Citroën’s cheeky addition to the family, the C3 Picasso.
The five-seat C3 joins the larger C4 Picasso to cover all bases in the MPV market. Like the C4 and C5, the junior Picasso demonstrates that Citroën is undergoing a design renaissance. Bland, derivative designs are out and bold, charactertful statements are in.
The C3 Picasso will go head-to-head with the Renault Modus and Vauxhall Meriva and, on the evidence of these pictures, brings a more youthful vibe to the segment. Citroën itself describes its new baby as ‘impish’ although we're not sure that it's quite as small as it looks in this person's lounge.
Like the bigger C4, the C3 features a large, three-piece windscreen to offer unrivalled visibility and airiness and there’s more than a hint of last year’s C-Cactus concept car to the styling.
The rear seats slide and fold to choose between passenger space and load capacity while the front passenger seat can be folded flat to create a table.
The car will be officially unveiled at October’s Paris Motor Show, while UK sales will start in mid-2009.
Two new petrol engines with 95bhp and 120bhp will be offered, as well HDi diesels in both 90bhp and 110bhp guises.
We’ll be in Paris later in the year to see if it looks as good in the metal as it does in these pictures.