In the fall of 2021, Citroën will return to the large sedan segment with the C5 X, a very unusual machine. Still in the development phase, the French wagon will be presented next spring. L’argus takes stock of the latest news from China, where it will be produced.
[Mise à jour le 24/09/2021] After its official presentation in spring 2021, the C5 X, Citroën’s large sedan with iconoclastic style, now has its online configurator. Four finishes are available, three engines, including a plug-in hybrid offer. The car, assembled in China, is displayed from € 32,900, more than € 3,000 below the price of its cousin the Peugeot 508. The first deliveries are expected at the start of 2022
TO READ. Citroën C5 X (2022). Price, range and equipment
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In view of our information on the future Citroën C5 and the various stolen photos of prototypes circulating in China, our illustrator gives us an image of what could be the third generation of the family sedan. Ground clearance higher than the average, hatchback silhouette … the car will display a certain originality. A model well in the spirit of the brand. Which will (finally!) Take over from the C5 removed from the catalog in 2017. At the time, the brand’s priority was not to replace it but to reposition itself within the PSA group.
Citroën has since rediscovered its colors. The brand has launched successful SUVs like the C3 Aircross and C5 Aircross, which have been among the best sales in France since their launch. It is dusting off its compact sedan offer with the third generation of C4, marketed in January 2021. Finally, it has developed new original products, such as the Ami electric quadricycle. The time has come for the builder with the rafters to reconnect with the D segment, that of family sedans. Thus, the release date of the third generation of C5 is now known: it will be for 2021. Known by the internal code name E43, it should initially have been released in 2020 if the manufacturer had not decided to anticipate one year the replacement of the C4.
TO READ. Renault Arkana vs. Citroën C4: first match
Close to the CXperience concept
For the past few months, speculations on the brand’s high-end future have been rife. We already know that the C5 III will take over certain features of the CXperience concept. Unveiled at the Mondial de Paris in 2016, he initiated the brand’s new identity. Chrome elements start from the rafters and join the headlights up and down, forming a V. This new gimmick has also been taken up for a few months by the restyled C3 and the new C4.
In profile, the C5 will play on several tables. The sedan will have both a streamlined look like the CXperience concept was, while adopting SUV codes. Such as body guards at the bottom of the doors, large wheels and increased ground clearance. At the rear, the sedan will opt for a hatchback, where the previous generation had a trunk. Access to the trunk was however facilitated by the concave bezel.
A Peugeot 508L platform
On the technical side, the third generation Citroën C5 is developed on the EMP2 platform of the PSA group. Although in the photos, it appears narrow, the large Citroën borrows the technical basis of its cousin the Peugeot 508 … and more exactly that of the Chinese version, the 508 L.
TO READ. All about the future DS4
Plug-in hybrid for the C5
On the engine side, the C5 2021 will take over some of PSA’s classic heat engines, in particular the 1.2 Puretech (130 and 155 hp) or even the 1.5 BlueHDi diesel unit of 130 hp. The sedan will also be equipped with Plug-in hybrid versions whose power will peak up to 225 hp. A 150 hp variant, inaugurated by the future Peugeot 308, will lower the entry ticket to electrification. Because, like the Peugeot, a 100% electric version is not on the program since it is not considered profitable enough by Carlos Tavares.
The third generation Citroën C5 will be unveiled in spring 2021, at the Shanghai Motor Show (April 21 to 28, 2021). A time scheduled in the Rennes plant for the European version, it will ultimately only be manufactured in China and will join the Citroën catalog in the fall of 2021. A choice justified by the higher sales potential in Asia.
