Citroen C4 Cactus News

It's no secret that 2020 has been hard for the local car industry.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of safety recall notices, with models from Nissan, Jeep, Ford, Mazda, Infiniti and Citroen affected.

The Australasian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced another set of national safety recalls, with models from Mazda, Tesla, Mitsubishi, Peugeot and Citroen impacted.

Tesla has issued a voluntary recall for its electric Model S sedan and Model X SUV after discovering a potential manufacturing issue that could stop the electric park brake from functioning properly.

Citroen C4 Cactus petrol with auto transmission is set for Australia.

It can take a hit from a runaway shopping trolley travelling at 40km/h. Meet the car that can’t be dented.The car that can’t be dented by shopping trolleys goes on sale in Australia today.In a world first, the French-made Citroen Cactus has large rubber panels on the doors, with air bubbles that can absorb the impact of a runaway shopping trolley travelling at 40km/h -- with 40kg of groceries on board.Shopping trolley dents and other dings cost car owners and the insurance industry millions of dollars in minor repairs each year.But dent removal experts say they don’t believe the Citroen Cactus will damage their business, because the car is sold in relatively small numbers -- and the full size protection strips with built-in air bubbles are unlikely to be fitted to other models.There is just one catch with the dent-free car.You need to be able to drive a “stick shift” manual transmission to buy the cheapest version of the Citroen Cactus.The $26,990 petrol model is available with manual transmission only.An automatic is available for $29,990, but it has a diesel engine.The Cactus is part of the growing trend towards SUVs that are more like high-riding hatchbacks than genuine bush bashers.Executives from the French car maker admitted when they came up with the name ‘Cactus’ it was meant to inspire images of a great weekend escape.They were not aware the word ‘Cactus’ in Australia can also mean something doesn’t work anymore or has conked out, as in “she’s cactus”.“The naming was a prickly issue and a thorn in the side of our marketing team, but it’s fundamental to the design philosophy of the vehicle,” said Citroen Australia spokesman Tyson Bowen. “It’s a fun name for a fun car.”Buyers clearly don’t mind being seen in the oddly-designed Cactus.One in three Citroen Cactus SUVs ordered in Australia so far are bright yellow -- even though there are 23,184 configurations from which to choose once you take into account all colour and trim combinations.Do you find the trolley-proof Cactus appealing? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

The future of Citroen in Australia hinges on a single car, the C4 Cactus.

Citroen has announced that its unique C4 Cactus compact SUV will hit Australia in the first quarter of 2016 to rival cars like the new Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V. The Cactus brings a number of unique family-friendly features to the compact SUV segment, which aim to give it a practical edge over its rivals.One detail that all city-dwellers will appreciate is what Citroen calls Airbump technology – essentially a group of plastic-surfaced air capsules built into parts of the body that are usually prone to dents and scrapes.No maintenance is required and should someone ding your door or run a shopping trolley into parts of the car equipped with the bubbles no damage will be done. The clever design continues inside where the passenger airbag has been mounted in the roof allowing for a massive 8.5-litre storage compartment in the dashboard. The Cactus also features two digital displays – one for the instrument cluster and another larger centrally mounted screen housing the air-con and multimedia controls. If someone dings your door or runs a shopping trolley into parts of the car equipped with the air bubbles, no damage is done. Another quirk is the gear selector which is a simple switch located where you might ordinarily find air-con controls, and the door handles are leather straps. Cactus engine options in Europe include a 60kW 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol, 80kW petrol and 74kW turbodiesel unit capable of using as low as 3.1L/100km combined on the European cycle. Riding on a variation of the award-winning Peugeot 208’s platform, the Cactus is 4160mm long, 1730mm wide and 1480mm tall. Remarkably, it weights less than 1000kg (in European trim) tipping the scales at just 965kg. It's also around 200kg lighter than the standard C4 hatchback. Local pricing and specifications for the C4 Cactus SUV will be revealed closer to the car’s Australian launch early next year. 

A car that comes with a drone to see what’s causing the traffic snarl ahead, another that accepts deliveries while you’re at work, and a self driving car with seats that face backwards.