Thierry Koskas, Citroen’s CEO, as well as chief sales and marketing officer, since March 2023 told Automotive News the next-generation C3 as a “small hatchback with SUV elements”, but didn’t think it could be categorised as a true crossover. 

He also claimed the all-electric e-C3 will start from under €25,000 ($40,000), although it’s not clear if that’s before or after government incentives. 

To put that in context, the current seven-year old C3 range starts from €16,590 ($26,500) in France, and accounts for roughly 30 per cent of the brand’s sales on the Continent. 

The new C3 range will be unveiled during the third quarter of 2023, but won’t go on sale in Europe until 2024. 

Like Australia, EVs from Chinese manufacturers, such as MG and BYD, are capturing the affordable end of the EV market. Kaskas acknowledged “they have very competitive products, and said Citroen’s “response [will be] the e-C3”. 

Either way, the Citroen e-C3 will undercut all “fully equipped” EVs being sold in Europe. 

Sources have told Reuters the Euro e-C3 will have a battery pack sourced from China, and its range should be around 300km. 

It’s unclear at this stage how much the new European C3 will share in common with the C3 sold in India and Latin America. Launched in late 2021, it rides on the CMP architecture developed by Groupe PSA before it became Stellantis. 

An electric version of the developing market C3, known as the e-C3, features a 43kW/143Nm electric motor driving the front wheels. Paired with a 29.2kWh battery, it has a range rating of 320km under the Indian testing standard. 

By way of comparison, the similarly-sized European Peugeot e-208 has a gutsier 100kW motor, and a larger 50kWh battery pack. 

In France, pricing for the e-208 starts from €34,800 ($55,600), but buyers may be eligible for between €5000 and €7000 in government rebates. 

The slightly larger all-electric MG 4 hatch starts from €29,990 ($48,000) before government rebates.