Citroen To Bring Compact EV To India By 2023

Last Updated on May 20, 2022 by Anu Joy

Citroen made its India debut last year with the premium C5 Aircross SUV. The company has been preparing to debut its newest model, the C3, into the market soon. Now, it has has ambitiously revealed plans to bring a compact EV into the country by next year.

The company is still in its early stages in India, with only a few dozen dealerships spread across the country. It is still a long shot for them to launch an EV. Citroen claims that they are rapidly expanding its dealer network in order to meet the higher sales volumes that vehicles like the C3 are expected to deliver.

Talking to the media, Carlos Tavares, CEO of the Stellantis group, said, “First of all, I want to say our electric vehicles under the smart-car programme are engineered in India and the first EV will arrive next year.”

Citroen EV Plans

The company’s leadership has not released any details about the upcoming EV other than the fact that it would be a sub-4-meter model based on the same platform as the C3. Citroen may bring in more models with diverse body types in the country as a result of their popularity. The company also intends to establish India as a worldwide hub, producing MPVs, CUVs, and similar products that will be exported to overseas markets.

Carlos Tavares, CEO of the Stellantis group further added that the EV model coming to India will be affordable, adding, “The task for EVs in India is twofold: to have clean energy to power them and to make them affordable, and that second part is in our hands.”

According to the company’s leadership, the cars will be localised to save money, but the most expensive component in an EV, the battery, will be imported at first. The cars, like the C3, will be manufactured at Citroen’s Chennai plant. Citroen is attempting to source batteries from local partners, but this has proven difficult, pushing the company to hunt for partners outside.

Citroen is not the only carmaker with huge EV intentions. In the previous few weeks, Tata, Hyundai, Honda, Maruti Suzuki, and Mahindra have all presented their electric car plans. Honda and Maruti Suzuki intend to launch compact EVs in the country by 2025, while other players are already working hard to bring their EVs to market within the next two years.