Citroen will show this rougher, tougher new C1 Urban Ride concept car at the 2014 Paris motor show – giving a glimpse into an SUV-inspired supermini in the works.
Another Nissan Juke rival? Or an Allroad by Citroen? You get the idea. Manufacturers are desperately trying to hoover up the sales interest in baby crossovers and doing a model like this is certainly a faster shortcut to having a baby SUV than developing a new model from scratch.
Citroen’s enjoyed only limited success in its cooperation to build crossovers with Mitsubishi in the past decade… now it looks to be developing its own crossover flavoured models in-house.
Citroen C1 Urban Ride: what’s new?
This C1 rides 15mm higher than the conventional supermini, to give it a taller, tippy-toes stance.
Bulkier, more utilitarian bumpers are added at both ends and there are Range Rover Evoque-style, exaggerated wheelarch housings for the 10mm wider track.
Two boydstyles
Tellingly – in a sign that the Urban Ride has a production future – the concept car will be shown in two bodystyles, a five-door and an open-top version.
Called Airscape, the convertible mini features a fold-back roof for al fresco motoring. Citroen claims it has the biggest roof opening in its class.
‘Visitors will be able to cast their votes on a terminal near the concept, to say whether they would like to see this version in production in the future,’ says Citroen.
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