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NEWS
First look at Citroen's production C4 Picasso
But new model will be strictly a five-seater, ruling it out for AustraliaCitroen's radically different C4 Picasso was unveiled earlier this week. Based on the Technospace concept car that debuted in Geneva a month ago, the new model replaces a seven-seat people mover critically praised since its debut in Australia back in 2007.
But according to Jaedene Hudson, Citroen's PR and Communications Manager in Australia, this new model is exclusively a five-seater, which means we won't see it here.
"We currently have no plans to take [the new C4 Picasso]," she told motoring.com.au earlier this week. Ms Hudson said that the C4 Picasso formerly distributed in Australia by Ateco Automotive was the seven-seat model only. Citroen already sells a number of five-seat cars in Australia, including the C4 hatch on which the C4 Picasso was based. The importer doesn't need another five-seat model in the local range.
"We've never taken it here..." she explained, "because we have other five-seat offerings obviously. C4 itself is five-seat – and that's the strategy going forward..."
Australians have always preferred to buy SUVs over MPVs, but in Europe it's the reverse, so a five-seat C4 Picasso with plenty of space jammed into a small footprint is a big seller there – but not here. On the other hand, the seven-seat amenity of the C4 Picasso we can buy in Australia is welcomed by those buyers who prefer not to be seen in an SUV and need the extra seating.
But following the introduction of the new C4 Picasso, there'll be no seven-seat version available for the local market. Citroen will instead introduce the Grand Picasso, which we have been told to expect next year. It's anticipated to be an altogether new model shared with Opel. The new model may yet make it to Australia though, as the Opel Zafira.
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Written byKen Gratton
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