Citroen C4 News

Somewhere under all this black plastic is the next C4, and while Citroen has tried to make sure there’s little to see under the camouflage, it’s easy to identify the car from its signature sharply raked windscreen and rounded rear.But this test car, caught out and about by spy-snappers Carparazzi, also shows new tail-light clusters and changes to the headlight components – although it’s unlikely Citroen will do away completely with the cluster’s current claw-like shape.The next Citroen C4, tipped to debut at the Paris motor show in September next year and be  launched at the end of 2010, will be lighter and more efficient than the current car, the company’s product boss Vincent Besson has revealed. Speaking at the recent Frankfurt motor show, Besson also said that the new hatchback is likely to be offered with three cylinder engines and, possibly, petrol-electric hybrid power during its lifetime, although not from launch. Besson also laid out the company’s strategy for hybrid and electric vehicles, saying that petrol-electric power is not necessary or economically viable in small city cars, and only for high-end versions of the next C4.  The smaller cars are likely to be developed from a model based on the Mitsubishi i-Miev.However, he expects that ‘a large part of a future C5 range’ will have hybrid power.

CHAD Reed hit another major milestone in his American motocross career when he scored his first outdoor race win on a 450-class bike last weekend in Pennsylvania. After a pair of third-place results, the indoor supercross star qualified fourth and completed a 1-1 sweep that also moving him to the top of the championship pointscore with his Makita-Rock Star Suzuki.A monster off-track shakeup has changed the operation of V8 Supercar racing. CEO Cameron Levich is out, chairman Tony Cochrane will run the day-to-day operations as caretaker CEO until the end of the year, Mark Skaife has joined the board as an independent and technical chief Campbell Little is working through a three-month notice period after tendering his resignation.A lacklustre 31st place was all Marcos Ambrose could take home from the high-speed Sprint Cup battle at Michigan International Raceway last weekend. Ambrose had a tail-happy car all weekend and only qualified 33rd after a string of recent top-10 efforts in his Toyota Camry, although he still holds 20th place after 15 races on this year's Nascar circuit.AUSTRALIAN co-drivers Dale Moscatt and Glenn MacNeal were close to the front at the Acropolis Rally in Greece, as world title leader Sebastian Loeb made a rare mistake and handed victory to Ford's Mikko Hirvonen after destroying his Citroen C4 in a massive crash. MacNeal took 10th place and third in Group N production cars with Japan's Toshi Arai in a Subaru Impreza as Moscatt guided Russian teenager Evgeny Novikov to four fastest stage times and a points place in a privately entered Citroen C4.DICK Johnson is now officially an icon. The retired touring car racer was one of 150 icons named by the Queensland government last week, joining a list which included everything from barbecues to sunshine after votes from 30,000 Queenslanders.JAMIE Whincup and Steven Johnson teamed up for a surprising off-track success on the Gold Coast last week. The two V8 Supercar stars, who are deadly rivals on the track, combined in a B-grade indoor cricket team _ the Tank Slappers _ to take their championships with a convincing win.A major innovation has come to the Australian Rally Championship with a top-10 shootout ahead of the next round in Adelaide on July 31-August 2. The Pedders No Bull Shootout will match the top-10 seeded drivers over a single special stage for additional title points a $1000 prize ahead of the two-day main event. 

RYAN Briscoe has slipped to second in the IndyCar championship chase after a fourth-place finish behind defending champion Scott Dixon at Kansas Speedway last weekend. Briscoe led for more than 50 laps in his Team Penske racer and managed to improve three spots from his starting position.CHAD Reed must win the grand final of the AMA and World Supercross series in Las Vegas this weekend to have any chance of beating James Stewart to the crown, after a controversial second-place finish last weekend in Salt Lake City. Reed was badly baulked by Stewart's team mate as they battled for top spot in the second-last round of the series, although the Australian refused to blame the incident for another second-place finish behind Stewart on his Rockstar Suzuki.CASEY Stoner was only fourth on his Ducati as Jorge Lorenzo took a surprise win for Yamaha at the Japanese MotoGP at Motegi. Lorenzo led home Valentino Rossi and Honda's Dani Pedrosa.SEBASTIAN Loeb and Daniel Elana stretched their unbeaten run in this year's World Rally Championship to five events when they took an easy victory in Argentina last weekend, with their Citroen C4 team mate Dani Sordo following them home. Loeb's job was made much easier when his only potential title rival, Mikko Hirvonen of Ford, retired with engine trouble.JAMES Davison finished where he started in the latest race of the Indy Lights series in the USA. He qualified eighth and was in the same slot at the finish of the oval race at Kansas Speedway.CHRIS Atkinson will be back in a rally car on the weekend of May 8-10 when he drives a Subaru in Rally Queensland. But it's not what the World Rally Championship refugee really wants, as he will only be the course car for his home event in this year's Australian championship, currently led by defending title holder Neal Bates in his Corolla.WARREN Luff is back with Dick Johnson for this year's V8 Supercar enduro races. The former fulltimer with the Queensland team has been signed to race again for Jim Beam Racing at Phillip Island and Bathurst, with Jonathan Webber filling the final endurance seat for the team alongside James Courtney and Steven Johnson.JOEY Foster extended his lead in the Australian Formula 3 championship when the Shannons Nationals classes competed at Wakefield Park in NSW last weekend. The latest English raider got the job done despite 2007 champion Tim Macrow taking a race from him, with Garry Holt and Adam Wallis also on the winners' list in the Australian manufacturers championship and the V8 touring car series.TALENTED young co-driver Rhianon Smyth has earned a big break with a spot in this year's Asia-Pacific rally championship. Smyth, who has done most of her work alongside her brother Brendan Reeves in the Australian series, was chosen by Emma Gilmour as her partner in a Subaru WRX STi for this year's Asia-Pacific series, starting with Rally Queensland next week. 

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.

Starting with a revamped logo from this week to update its identity, the French auto firm promises and extra range of new models using its famous DS prefix, new customer service standards and eventually a new showroom look at its dealers.The major revamp includes its advertising theme that now will carry the baseline Creative Technologie.Also, starting with the Cyprus Rally four weeks from now, Citroen Sport will change its name to Citroen Racing. The outfit is the dominant team in the World Rally Championship, thanks to reigning champions Sebastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena, who already have won the first two rounds of the 2009 WRC in their Citroen C4.The team's new name of Citroen Racing is to promote the "speed, vitality and impetus" of car rallies, the carmaker says.For its road car line-up Citroen says at present it has the largest and most diverse range in its 90-year history. But over the coming three years it will launch six new models in Europe, and time will tell how many of those come to Australia.In Australia, Citroen offers a six-model range now. Not many car brands span a market from $16,490 to $108,750. The Citroen Berlingo light van is from $16,490 and the Dispatch van from $34,990. The C3 car is from $19,990, the C4 from $25,990, the C5 saloon from $51,990 and the luxury C6 tops the range at $108,750 in Australia.But just as the mainstream car models have the C prefix, and extra tier of new models will use the DS prefix from decades ago. The first idea of the new DS is the DS Inside concept car and its expected new models will be called DS3, DS4 and DS5. 

...to try and find the backing to re-launch his shattered career.Chris Atkinson was left without a drive when Subaru pulled out of the world series, but a promising fifth place in Rally Ireland — the first event of the 2009 season — has created a lifeline from Citroen.The French brand, which has dominated the WRC in recent seasons with five-time champion Sebastian Loeb, has a car for up to eight events this year if Atkinson can find some backing."I've got to find some sponsors. The more support I get the more events I can do," Atkinson told the Herald Sun yesterday."That's just the situation and the circumstances. It's frustrating and not a great situation to be in, but I think we offer a good opportunity to a sponsor. We have a blank car, a blank helmet, blank overalls and we offer a good return."But Atkinson is realistic and, despite ranking in the top six drivers in the world, knows he faces a tough time in 2009."At the moment I've got nothing. I've got nothing," he said."I'm just coming back home to work on some sponsorship deals. I've still got the base here."Ironically, Atkinson's Subaru setback comes at a time when he was finally getting paid to drive.He originally used backing from a small Australian consortium to buy a place in the British-based Subaru team, which was run by the same Prodrive motorsport empire which owns Ford Performance Racing in V8 Supercar racing. The pay-to-play gamble probably cost him millions and he was finally looking to cash-in after hitting the black-ink years in 2008.Atkinson made a strong impression on the Citroen team, running close to Loeb's times in Ireland, although two driving mistakes in icy and wet conditions, and an error in shutting the bonnet, cost him minutes and any chance of a podium place."I was happy with the performance. Ok, you can always do better, but in a rally like that to come away with a solid result and some good stage times was the most we could hope for," he said."It wasn't a normal event. It was more about survival and and to learn a new car in those conditions was tricky."Atkinson admitted the Citroen C4 was hard to drive, but he was happy that it responded to his tuning and rewarded his commitment with good stage times.But he has no idea if he will be back in the WRC, or when."People want us in the championship, which is amazing. But it's a little disappointing, after all the hard work we've done in the last few years."There are some opportunities, but not paid opportunities."And Atkinson admitted he is looking at the Group N showroom class, and even driving opportunities in Australia, while he waits to see what happens with the WRC."I've still got eight or 10 years in rallying, so one year isn't a disaster. You don't always have a smooth career. But I can't sit out of the game."I think would be nice to do some tarmac rallies in Australia, just for fun. At the moment I'm not signed to anyone. I'm a free agent and I can drive what I want." 

  

Proving that you can always try to squeeze one more creative angle out of a great idea, Citroen has released another dancing robot ad. The first of the series – in which a C4 unfolded like a Transformer and then grooved its way through some great dance moves developed by Justin Timberlake's choreographer to rave master Jacques Lu Cont ‘s infectious track Jacques Your Body – went viral when it was launched in 2005, and still logs views on the internet, as well as having spawned a million spoofs It was followed by Citroen putting a robot on ice the following year, and now with another parroting John Travolta’s swagger through Brooklyn in the opening scenes of Saturday Night Fever to mark the release of the restyled C4. The theme music, Stayin’ Alive, keys in with Citroen’s claim that the C4 is `alive with technology’ but the concept is starting to look as dated as the disco era it references. The ad has just started airing in Britain, but there are no plans yet to show it here.  

A check of the NRMA's Petrol Watch website revealed the average price of petrol in Sydney this week was 164.1 cents a litre compared to diesel at 182.1 cents a litre 18c more.The thing is, even at this price a diesel vehicle is still going to be cheaper to run, at least in terms of the amount of fuel consumed.But most people only see the price and have difficulty grasping this fact.We had a look at the 12 fuel savers this week in the booming small car segment, comprising two hybrids and 10 diesels.We compared the fuel consumption of petrol models to that of the fuel-saving hybrid or diesel alternative, along with the difference in purchase price of the two.Our comparison shows the average fuel consumption of the petrol model followed by that of the diesel or hybrid, with the extra cost of purchase for the fuel saver shown in brackets.In the case of the Prius, which has no directly comparable model, we compared it to the most expensive Corolla, the Ultima sedan.The cheapest of the fuel savers is Hyundai i30 CRDi at $21,490, with the most expensive by far and away Toyota's much-vaunted Prius hybrid at $37,400.There's more to the story than just fuel economy as the initial cost of the car has to be taken into account as well as its resale value, which in the case of a diesel is going to be higher.For example, take Hyundai's i30, a car that comes in 2.0-litre petrol and 1.6-litre turbo diesel form, both with a five-speed manual gearbox.Both have a 53-litre tank but the petrol model uses 7.2 litres/100km compared to the diesel's 4.7 litres/100km.That makes the cost of filling up the petrol car $86.97 and the diesel, $96.51 $9.54 more.That's a significant difference and enough to put most people off.But here's the thing.Because the two cars consume fuel at a very different rate, the petrol model will, in fact, cost $11.81/100km to run, while the diesel one will set you back $8.55 a saving of $3.26/100km.Taking this argument a step further, diesel would have to hit 252.1 cents a litre before the two cars would start costing the same to run.Doubting Thomases will point to the difference in the cost of servicing the cars as well as the higher initial cost of buying a diesel vehicle.My mechanic reckons there's very little difference in the cost of servicing the two.But, in most cases, you'll certainly pay a premium of some kind for a hybrid or diesel vehicle at least $2500 more or, in the case of the Prius, $5410.Using the i30 as an example again, the SX petrol model is priced from $18,990 while the same model with a diesel engine is $21,490 a difference of $2500.With the cost of fuel at the current prices, that means you'd have to travel 76,000km before you'd recoup your initial outlay and start to reap the benefits of diesel's lower fuel consumption.Therein lies the rub because, for the majority of people, that's about when they'd begin thinking about getting rid of their car and updating to a new model. COMPARATIVE CONSUMPTION:extra cost of purchase in bracketsCitroen C4: 7.1 vs 4.7 litres/100km (+$4000)Dodge Caliber: 8.0 vs 6.1 litres/100km (+$4000)Fiat Ritmo: 7.1 vs 5.6 litres/100km (+$3500)Ford Focus: 7.1 vs 5.6 litres/100m (+$4000)Holden Astra: 7.8 vs 6.0 litres/100km (+$3000)Honda Civic: 7.2 vs 4.6 litres/100km (+$4000)Hyundai i30: 7.2 vs 4.7 litres/100km (+$2500)Mazda3: 8.6 vs 6.0 litres/100km (+$4000)Peugeot 308: 6.7 vs 4.9 litres/100km (+$4000)Renault Megane: 8.2 vs 5.8 litres/100km (+$3000)Toyota Prius (Corolla): 7.7 vs 4.4 litres/100km (+$5410)VW Golf: 7.5 vs 5.5 litres/100km (+$2500) 

The quirky but pedestrian-friendly little French car, with its five-star safety rating and full glass roof, has sold nearly 900,000 models so far around the world.The second generation will be unveiled at the Paris International Motor Show in October, before making its Australian debut in the middle of next year.The two new 1.6-litre petrol engines, co-developed with BMW, are the 88kW VTi, which features variable valve lift and timing injection, and the 110kW THP (Turbo High Pressure). They replace the current 1.6i 16V and 2.0i 16V powerplants.While the petrol engines will be changing, the C4 will nevertheless retain its current 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines.The C4 has been known for its unique styling, which has been updated with a snazzy front end that borrows from its new big brother, the C5.Citroen points to added chrome, a curvier bonnet and a restyled grille as signs the car's image will be more dynamic. Inside, the C4 is distinctive because of its dominant central dashboard display unit.In the new model, the rev-counter will be repositioned there to keep information in one spot.European models get Citroen's navigation system, MyWay, which comes with an 18cm (7-inch) screen, Bluetooth, USB connectivity plus a 10-gig hard drive built into the audio system.However, how much of this is included in the Australian models won't be clear until next year when pricing will also be revealed.The C4 currently sells from $23,990 for the 1.6-litre VTR two-door coupe. Top of the current range is the $36,990 VTS coupe with the diesels from $29,990.