Citroën will be the first to launch a small, affordable EV costing less than €25 000. The ë-C3 will be available in Spring 2024, earlier than already announced competitors like the VW ID.2 and the Renault 5 Electric.

The affordability of an EV in the lower segments is a big concern for car manufacturers. Until now, there’s practically no offer, and individual car buyers clearly hesitate to go for the energy transition because of the cost.

It seems that the battle to produce affordable small EVs has finally begun. We already talked about the plans of Renault and Volkswagen to build modern, comfortable EVs costing less than €25 000, but now Stellantis-daughter Citroën seems to take the lead.

Of course, the Chinese are also looming behind the corner. BYD recently announced that the attractively priced Seal and the Dolphin will soon come to Europe, and other brands are preparing their ‘invasion’ too.

ë-C3

In its design center in Vélizy near Paris, the new Citroën boss Thierry Koskas invited some automotive journalists to have a look at the new ë-C3, to be launched at the beginning of next year. Taking pictures was strictly forbidden, and the info on the car was still scarce.

The first info indicates that the little electric car has a 29,2 kWh battery. The electric motor has an output of 42 kW and a torque of 143 Nm. The top speed should turn around 110 kph.

The ë3 will be built in the Stellantis factory in Trnava, Slovakia. The car will be based on the same architecture as the electric cars Citroën is already selling in other continents, the ëC3 in India, for example. Still, the European ë-C3 will look completely different.

In response to our article, Chris Rux, Head of Communications for Citroën, confirmed the arrival of the new car and stresses that the small EV will be entirely developed and produced in Europe. “They share the same name”, he says on Twitter, but apart from that, it will be a new car, different from the one in India and South America.

Moreover, German n-tv reports that the EV will have a range of 420 kilometers, which is 120 kilometers more than what the version sold in India and Latin America has to offer. That means that the ë-C3 sold in Europe will be fitted with a bigger battery.

Conquering strategy

At the beginning of the year, Citroën CEO Vincent Cobée was ousted by his Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares and replaced by Thierry Koskas, also an ancient employee of French competitor Renault. Koskas is also the director of sales and marketing for the whole Stellantis Group.

Koskas’ aim and message are clear: “Citroën is not a low-cost brand; its aim is to be a popular brand.” And the iconic brand of the past wants to be innovative and even disruptive again. An example of this is the Ami four-wheeler, of which the sales are much higher than originally expected.

“Today, electric mobility is the challenge,” says Koskas, “and that’s why we will have a unique offer affordable for everyone.” It’s not illogical that the new electric car of Citroën will carry the C3 name, by far the most popular model of the brand, and representing more than 30% of its total sales, being one of the more popular models in the whole of Europe (5,5 million sold in total already).

One million in 2025

In 2022, Citroën sold some 680 000 cars, a 19% decline compared to earlier, leaving the brand only a 3,3% market share in Europe, its most important market. Koskas wants to sell one million Citroëns again in 2025, 700 000 of them in Europe (for a 5% market share) and 300 000 in other continents, mainly South America, Northern Africa, and India.

To realize this, Citroën will also have to go for a younger image. In France, for example, still the brand’s largest market by far, the average age of an individual car buyer is 55, and the average new Citroën buyer is… 62. It is with ‘cars’ like the Ami and derivatives of the Oli concept that the brand wants to rejuvenate. We’ll see what this brings when the ëC3 is presented in the fall. It will undoubtedly be the first of the ‘European’ small EVs.