Citroen unveils DS4 Racing Concept

Begin petitioning your local Citroen dealer. Stage a sit-in protest. Threaten to write a damning letter. Because this is the new DS4 Racing Concept, and Citroen needs to build it.

Revealed on our Internet ahead of its Geneva motor show debut in March, the DS4 Racing is a replay of the company's work on the DS3 Racing: take a fizzy, funky posh hatch-coupe-thingy, and apply many layers of speed.

Gallery: the Citroen DS4 Racing Concept

The DS4 Racing uses the same 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot petrol engine from PSA, but ratchets up the power to a rather dizzying 256bhp, making it the most powerful car the company has produced. Powerful, but clean, too: Citroen reckons it emits just 155g/km of CO2.

Though no performance figures have been released, you could bet some pounds that it'd hit 62mph in less than seven seconds; perfect ammunition for its potential sparring partners, the upcoming Vauxhall Astra VXR and Megane RS.

Citroen has lowered the car by 35mm and widened the track front and rear by 55mm and 75mm respectively, so we live in hope that the car's squishy handling will have been rectified, what with 256 horses running amok. The brakes have been beefed up, with four-piston fixed calipers at the front with 380mm discs, sitting snug inside 19in alloy wheels.

You'll also notice some new carbon fibre goodness too, like that air diffuser, front splitter and flared arches. The matt grey paint job looks rather tasty too, doesn't it? We'll have more details from the Geneva show, but don't be too disheartened at the ‘concept' tag. Citroen did the same with the DS3 Racing. And now we have one.

Whaddya reckon, you digital fiends?