Citroen DS3 Cabrio Racing confirmed

The Citroën DS3 Cabrio Racing will go into production and is likely to go on sale early in 2014.

Citroën officials confirmed to Autocar that the Racing cabriolet will cost in the region of £30,000 when it goes on sale.

The announcement was made at a media event run by the Citroën Racing team in France.

A concept version of the DS3 Cabrio Racing was shown at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year.

The car will be powered by the same 1.6-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine as the DS3 Racing hatchback, putting out 207bhp. Just one trim level will be available, while the cabriolet will share almost all of its underpinnings with the hatchback model, too. Only the bodywork will be altered to accomodate the cabriolet roof.

Several of the features seen on the original concept, such as the use of watchstrap leather on the seats and the inclusion of a DS-styled child's seat are not expected to feature on the production version.

Citroën has not yet confirmed how many units of the DS3 Racing cabriolet are likely to be sold in the UK, but officials have previously confirmed that any allocation is likely to be less than the 200 units of the DS3 Racing hatchback that were assigned to the UK. Potentially, that means that as few as 100 examples of the DS3 Cabrio Racing will be available in the UK.