Citroën C5 To Tread Indian Roads
Citroën had been scrutinising the Indian car market for a long time and now it has made a beginning in the country by collaborating with the CK Birla group.
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Photo credit: Gaadiwaadi.com
Mohd Haroon Siddiqi
The French automotive company, “Citroën”, unveiled C5 Aircross in India in February. Citroën had been scrutinizing the Indian car market for a long time and now it has made a beginning in the country by collaborating with the CK Birla group.
Citroën France has been a part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën Group since 1976. It was founded in March 1919 by industrialist André-Gustave Citroën, and it mass-produced the first car with front-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension, and unibody construction. The car omitted a separate chassis and used the body of the car itself as its main load-bearing structure. In 1954, Citroën set in motion the concept of hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system. In 1955, it launched DS (Direct Spring Acting), the first car model with disc brakes. All these ingenious formulations led this company to win several international and national awards.
Interestingly, Citroën uses creative styles of marketing for its cars. Andrë Citroën was a pioneer of communication and executed outlandish ideas in his time. In 1925 he lit up the Eiffel Tower with the brand name scrawled across the iconic monument. This gigantic display could be seen from 60 miles away and was also recorded as the world’s largest advertisement in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 1922 Andrë Citroën arranged for an aeroplane to display the name of the brand in the sky during the Paris Motor Show. He also invented Citroën toy cars which led to the brand becoming a household name in France.
The PSA Group has already signed two joint venture agreements with CK Birla Group, which will manufacture Citroen cars and powertrains in its Tamil Nadu unit, allowing the C5 to be completely manufactured in India. Under the bonnet of the SUV, there will be a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine (producing 180hp) and will be paired to an 8-speed torque convertor automatic gearbox. The engine will also come with idle start-stop technology to maximize its economy.
