Citroen C4 gets revamp

Sales have dropped, so to help stave off a major slump in volume, the company has a revamped C4 coming into showrooms.

Citroen Australia general manager Miles Williams says the company is aiming at 2500 cars this year, down from the 2703 tally last year and a level not seen since 2004.

"Things are tough, we're finding the market extremely hard, our objective is to get 2500 cars this year,” he says.

"We're hoping that the doom will lift and our sales will lift with it, but probably not for 12 months or so, business is hard," he said.

Williams says the company was focussing on volume cars - the C3, and the updated C4, as well as the medium-sized C5, which had suffered from being launched in the middle of the crisis at a low exchange rate.

"We'd love to see it go a little harder and it's a stunning car that deserves better - but we had to put the price up $3000 before we launched it so that's making it hard for the car to compete," he says.

The brand has a good model range in Australia and Mr Williams said the brand would ramp up its marketing from June to back up the new C4 and Berlingo models.

Williams believes the market will be tough well into 2010.

"I think we've probably got the better part of 12 months, to June next year before we start seeing buyers feeling more confident.

"Having said that there's 800,000 probably going to be sold here this year, that's still a lot of cars - it's a competitive market and we'll fight and grab what share we can," he says.

The bulk of the new C4 range has gone up by $1000 due to currency changes, with the exception of the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol model, which is priced identically to the two-litre model it replaces.

"We're going to be out there competing and give it our best shot, the aggressiveness in the marketplace is unbelievable," Williams says.

The updated C4 has a new-look grille covering the two new petrol powerplants - shared with co-developer BMW - which boast better outputs and lower fuel consumption and emissions.

The C4's tachometer has been moved to the central LCD display as part of the cabin's makeover, as well as Citroen's NaviDrive satnav system being added to the options list.

The sound system has been upgraded to include a built-in 30GB hard drive and the system also offers a video auxiliary socket and a USB connection.

The C4 is now available with two new petrol engines - the 88kW 1.6-litre 16-valve powerplant and the 1.6-litre 16-valve turbocharged unit in 103kW and 110kW variants.

The new C4 range is priced from $26,990 for the VTi five-speed manual, or $28,990 for the four-speed automatic versions, while the same trim and equipment level with the 1.6 HDi diesel engine and the EGS six speed automated manual is $31,990, or $30,990 with a conventional five-speed manual.

The new turbo 103kW 1.6 petrol model starts at $33,990 in Exclusive model trim with a standard automatic transmission and the high-pressure 110 kW 1.6 litre turbo performance model with a five-speed manual gearbox is priced from $31,990.