The Stellantis group’s Indian entity PCA Automobiles India is planning to launch one new model every year in India in the next five years, and it has commenced its commitment by debuting Citroen C5 Aircross today. The company has already received over 1,000 bookings for the new vehicle.
Launching the SUV, Roland Bouchara, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, said the company plans to launch one new model every year for the next four-five years. This will be primarily on the C-Cubed programme that the company is developing for the Indian market, with over 90% local content. A petrol engine will power all the models. PCA Automobiles India also plans to export C-Cubed vehicle platforms from India in the future. However, it will not ship fully built vehicles developed on this platform.
PSA AVTEC Powertrain supplies powertrain for C5 Aircross. Located in Hosur, near Bangalore, the company has an installed annual capacity to make 300,000 units of powertrain and has been exporting to a few locations in Europe.
PCA Automobiles India has so far invested about INR 2,000 crore for the manufacturing plant in Tiruvallur, near Chennai and an R&D centre. The plant has an annual capacity of 100,000 units. C5 Aircross is assembled at this plant with SKD kits that comprise of painted body shells, tyres, seats and battery.
The Citroen C5 Aircross comes in three variants – Feel (Mono- Tone) priced at INR 29.90 lakh, Feel (Bi-Tone) INR 30.40 lakh and Shine (Mono-Tone and Bi-Tone) INR 31.90 lakh. The vehicle is powered by a 2.0L diesel engine and mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Citroen offers the C5 Aircross with quite an impressive features list. Features like 18-inch ‘Swirl’ two-tone diamond-cut alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, front fog lamps with cornering function and rear fog lamps are all standard. The top of the line Shinetrim will add on LED projector headlamps, panoramic sunroof and a hands-free tailgate. The SUV gets a customisable 12.5 TFT display as the instrument cluster. Dual-zone climate control, alloy pedals, embossed scuff plates and satin chrome finish on the door handles are all standard. The 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system features a mirror screen feature with Apple carplay and android auto. A 6-speaker audio system is also standard in the C5 Aircross.