In 2018, when PSA Groupe confirmed its interest in the Indian market, for a while it kept us guessing of its first product. Finally, in March 2019 carandbike exclusively reported about the French carmaker making its foray with the Citroen C5 Aircross in India. While like many other models, even its debut has been postponed to next year, Citroen has started with the trial production of the C5 Aircross in India.
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The Citroen C5 Aircross will be a CKD model with over 70 per cent localisation.
The Citroen C5 Aircross which was globally unveiled in 2018 will come to India via the completely knocked down (CKD) route and will be assembled at CK Birla's Thiruvallur plant in Tamil Nadu. It will use about 70 per cent of local contents which will certainly let the company keep a check on its pricing. Groupe PSA which owns the Citroen brand has invested Rs. 600 crore in the plant so far and is targeting to manufacture 50,000 units in the first year of its operation including exports. The manufacturing plant has a capacity to roll out 200,000 powertrains and 300,000 transmissions annually.
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Citroen C5 Aircross gets a well-laid-out cabin with an 8.0-inch infotainment system.
The C5 Aircross measures 4,500 mm in length and is offered with options of a 2.0-litre diesel engine and 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine which are mated to an eight-speed auto transmission as standard. These drivetrains are already being exported to other markets from India. The cabin is equipped with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system along with a 12.3-inch TFT-digital instrument screen. It gets 20 new age driver assistance features as well. The Citroen C5 Aircross, when launched, will compete with the Jeep Compass, Hyundai Tuscon, Skoda Karoq and Volkswagen T-Roc in India.
