Clean Green Cars: REPORT: Citroën preparing low-cost brand

REPORT: Citroën preparing low-cost brand

Filed under: Manufacturing/Plants, Citroen, Europe/EU

_{Citroën C-Cactus prototype - Click above for high-res image gallery}

Citroën is apparently going in both directions with its new range of upscale models, the DS series, and a new rumored line called “essentiele” (essential). The essential line could take the concepts in the C-Cactus model and turn it into a complete low-cost range of cars. The idea is a return to how the automaker marketed vehicles in the 1950s, when the humble 2CV and the DS were on the market at the same time. Let’s not forget, too, that rival Renault’s most successful product in the recent years is the entire Dacia lineup. The C-Cactus, designed to be lighter and have fewer pieces, could be lower-end in the low-carbon sense as well. The French newspaper La Tribune also mentions the possibility of hybrid versions of the cheaper Citroën line, surely borrowed from sibling marque Peugeot. The range is expected to be launched worldwide in 2012-13.

Gallery: Citroen C-Cactus Concept