Citroen’s new C3 is very cheap

Citroen has revealed the pricing for the new e-C3 and C3. The electric one is going to cost from £21,990, while the combustion-engined supermini-turned-crossover is edging towards Dacia territory at only £17,790.

The fourth-gen C3 has a completely fresh look, with a boxier front end, redesigned headlights, 17in two-tone alloys and the revamped Citroen badge. There’s a two-tone roof with cargo rails and those divisive plastic black wheel arch extensions, which come as standard.

The 1.0-litre PureTech petrol engine, mated to a six-speed gearbox, has the sub-£18k price tag.

The not-quite-as-cheap-but-still-very-cheap electric C3 has an 83kW electric motor and 44kWh battery, capable of 199 miles of range. It can handle up to 100kW fast charging, which’ll take the battery from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in less than half an hour.

Citroen hasn’t skimped on the cabin’s creature comforts to find that price point, either. The C3 will come in ‘Plus’ trim level, where the electric C3 can be specced out in that, or the fancier ‘Max’ trim, too.

Inside, where you might expect to find a docking station – a la the Ami – the C3 Plus is generously kitted out with a 10in central touchscreen, wireless integration with Carplay and Auto and a year’s worth of free data to use the connected services.

Citroen makes mighty claims of ‘extreme’ comfort and there’s a decent amount of driver assist features including lane departure warning, cruise control and speed limit detection.

The e-C3 Max brings a rear parking camera, auto air-con, privacy glass to the party, and heats the windscreen, front seats and steering wheel as desired. There’s more connectivity too.

Despite the C3 using stop/start tech to reduce carbon emissions to 128g/km, that’s still no match for the zero carbon of the e-C3’s tailpipe. That means the latter falls into a more favourable salary sacrifice bracket (2 per cent BiK, versus the ICE’s 30 per cent). Citroen says it expects to launch a full hybrid version of the C3 later in the year.

Meanwhile, order books open for these models in July.