Citroen India brand launch to take place on April 3 in Chennai
Citroen India will formally launch its foray into the Indian market with a brand launch press conference in Chennai on April 3. Further, the company will also showcase its first car for the Indian market here. Present at the event will be Carlos Tavares, chairman of the managing board, Groupe PSA, Ms. Linda Jackson, CEO of the Citroën Brand, and Emmanuel Delay, executive vice-president and head of India-Pacific and Roland Bouchara, senior vice president sales and marketing, Citroën India.
We expect the first car to be either the C3 Aircross SUV or the C5 Aircross SUV. Given that most new manufacturers entering India are launching SUVs, these two seem like the most viable options. The C3 Aircross SUV is slightly smaller than the Creta in size while the C5 Aircross is larger, comparable to the Volkswagen Tiguan. The C3 Aircross for India would be best powered by a version of the 1.6 litre turbo diesel with 120PS available internationally. The C5 Aircross gets another 150PS version of the 1.6 litre motor. A more powerful 180PS engine is also available which should make sense here as well.
The PSA Group is entering in partnership with the CK Birla Group. It will launch its first car by the end of 2021. Before this, production of powertrains will begin. In 2017, PSA group entered into a partnership with CK Birla Group with two joint agreements. The first one is that the PSA Group will hold a majority share in a joint venture company that is being set up with Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation Limited (HMFCL), a subsidiary of the CK Birla Group. This company will handle the assembly and distribution of PSA's passenger vehicles in India. The second agreement is that the PSA Group and AVTEC Ltd (another subsidiary of the CK Birla Group) will enter a 50-50 joint venture to manufacture and supply powertrains.