Automotive giant Stellantis, which owns no less than 14 car brands including Citroen, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep, will reveal an affordable battery electric vehicle later this year that will have a starting price below $27,000, according to Bloomberg and Autocar.
Set to be built under the Citroen brand at the group’s factory in Slovakia, the upcoming model will bear the e-C3 moniker and slot somewhere between the Chinese-built Dacia Spring and the electric Opel Astra. In other words, it will presumably have a similar size as the soon-to-be-retired Chevrolet Bolt EV, all while offering a driving range of more than 186 miles (300 kilometers) on a full charge.
The upcoming French-branded EV will also compete with the next-generation Renault 5, as well as Volkswagen’s planned affordable electric hatchback that’s still about two years away.
“Citroen has a history of making affordable cars and its role now is to make electric mobility accessible to all,” Citroen CEO Thierry Koskas said. “There is no equivalent to this car today.”
Back in March, the Hexagon-based car manufacturer said it was planning on unveiling a mix of small electric vehicles that will be priced around the $27,000 (25,000 Euro) mark, undercutting their main European rivals by a couple of thousand dollars.
Concrete technical details have not yet been revealed, but the French automaker noted that the new e-C3 will be around 157 inches (4 meters) long and that it would be “fully equipped” as standard, meaning it will most likely have air conditioning and electric windows.
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Furthermore, Citroen mentioned that its new affordable zero-emissions hatchback will be based on a so-called “BEV-native” platform, without going into more detail. Autocar writes that it will be strongly related to the C3 that debuted in India last year and later in South America based on a version of the group’s CMP architecture that also underpins the Jeep Avenger and Opel Corsa.
To keep costs low, Citroen’s CEO said that the new EV will be offered in just three trim levels, each with a maximum of five options, a tactic that’s been recently employed by other carmakers such as Ford, in a bid to streamline the production process and increase profit margins.
The French automaker which was established 104 years ago is aiming for a 5 percent market share in Europe, which it could reach as soon as the second half of this year, up from 3.7 percent last year, according to its head honcho.
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